Specific competencies in social work higher education in the framework of the European higher education area: the perception of future professionals in the Spanish context

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present the results of a study that aims to determine whether young future social work professionals value the specific competencies that they are taught as students and will put into practice as professionals. The study analyses how these students value the professional competencies taught in university social work programmes in Spain, which are under the auspices of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We consider that this study can contribute to the review and improvement of the design of these university curricula. The study is descriptive and employs the survey method. The sample comprises 220 subjects who are university undergraduate students in social work. The findings indicate that undergraduate students express a high valuation of the specific competencies of the degree. Students’ sociodemographic variables have little effect on their valuation of specific competencies, although we can nuance this conclusion with some partial results that show an influence of these sociodemographic variables on students’ valuations.