Time-based differences in the effects of personality on accredited MSW newcomers’ professional competence and attachment in China

The four teacher competencies are very important and cannot be separated from one another. Professional competence, pedagogic competence, social competence and personality competence. One competency complements other competencies, so there is no more major competency. Assessing overall competence has often been done, especially with regard to professional competence. The author is interested in discussing specifically about pedagogic competence, with the assumption that professional competence will be meaningless if a teacher cannot carry out the learning process using methodical didactics. In other words, professional competence will not have any effect without understanding pedagogic competence. Pedagogic competence actually when applied correctly contains elements of other competencies, both professional, social and personality. Teacher competence, does not necessarily happen without a certain ability to be taught, then teaching competence must be followed by a strong basis as a form of social and personality abilities. The competence of lecturers, of course, has always focused on professional abilities in accordance with their fields of expertise, even as if ignoring other competencies. These conditions will be a problem when applying and the condition of students who are not ready. A good teaching ability must of course be supported by an expertise, which makes him a teacher. If as an instructor, this is not a problem, but when knowledge and skills must be shared with students, the problem arises how to do it, especially for students with vocational characteristics. Optimal learning quality produces good achievement for students. Many factors are the cause so that students are not satisfied in learning in class/school and of course become an obstacle to student achievement. In addition to psychological factors and internal factors, there are also other external factors. Therefore, researchers are interested in studying specifically pedagogic competence, so that the problem in this study is the Professional and Pedagogic Competence of Faculty of Technology Unima Lecturers. How is the level of professional and pedagogic competence of Faculty of Technology Unima Lecturers?. Are there differences in the competence of female and male lecturers?

The magnitude and speed of social work's development in mainland China is unprecedented in human history. This inevitably gives rise to multiple perspectives on its nature and future development, particularly as part of the international social work discourse. Some of these perspectives are based on unexamined assumptions about China. In the present paper, we examine three of these assumptions, namely the homogeneity of Chinese culture, the global–indigenous dichotomy, and social work as an academic discipline and practice profession. We argue that in order to understand the development of social work in China we need to locate our discussion at the discursive intersection among different competitive articulations in both local and international arenas. Based on this critical examination, a brief discussion on the future development of social work in mainland China is offered.

The Chinese Central Government has focused significant attention on the social work profession as a pivotal solution to address social issues and tensions resulting from rapid social and economic development. In 2006, the Chinese Government announced an ambitious target of educating a workforce of three million social workers by 2020. Even when, subsequently, this number was halved, it continues to remain an ambitious goal. To achieve the new target of 1.5 million social workers, graduates from associated disciplines are allowed to become social workers by taking the Professional Level Examination. Despite these measures, and although social work in China is advancing rapidly, the social work profession remains relatively underdeveloped. China faces many challenges in developing both social work education and the profession itself. This thesis argues that to meet these challenges, Chinese social work needs to experience an indigenisation and a professionalisation process to adapt Western values, theories, and knowledge into the Chinese cultural, social, and political contexts. Three main issues relate to this process of indigenisation and professionalization: social work’s low status, a lack of knowledge about the profession, and its blurred professional roles in China. These factors have led to reluctance by many Chinese students to study and practise social work. Little is known about the experiences of Chinese social work students who have straddled both Western and Chinese education boundaries, with their different learning styles and practices. This study investigated Chinese undergraduate students’ experiences of learning social work in both a China-based program and in a joint China-Australia program, by asking two research questions. Why and how do Chinese students learn social work in China and in Australia? What is Chinese students’ understanding of the social work profession both in China and in a cross-cultural context? This research draws on participants within a joint social work program between GU and CCNU, the first collaborative initiative at the undergraduate level (CCNU, 2019) and established in 2011 with a collaborative Bachelor of Social Work program to deliver a 2 plus 2.5-year joint degree program between China and Australia. This study recruited participants from two cohorts of Chinese students. One cohort studied exclusively in China, while the other studied first in China and then in Australia. From 2014 to 2015, a qualitative study with an insider approach was adopted. Data were collected from several stages of semi-structured interviews with two cohorts of participants over 1.5 years of learning in China and in Australia. Data were first transcribed in Chinese, then translated into English, and converted into NVivo for analysis. Six steps of thematic analysis were applied, from familiarisation with the data, coding, searching for themes, reviewing (including translating)) and refining. The study concludes that participants reported five different reasons for studying social work, with only one student who studied social work because of an interest in the profession. In regard to how they learned social work, five components emerged that were used to compare and contrast between Chinese and Australian universities, namely classroom learning experiences, experiences of undertaking assessment, teacher and student relationships, support systems, and challenges in learning. In terms of how participants learned social work in practice, the application of learning emerged with two themes including the ability to use theory in practice and learning influenced values. In relation to the second research question regarding students’ understanding of the profession, the study found three perspectives and the results on professional identity. The first perspective reported participants’ perceptions of social work with two themes. The second perspective was the influence of the government on the role of social work, and two themes were reported. The third perspective related to incongruities in values and ethics, and two themes emerged. The study has concluded that the weak professional identity that both cohorts developed led to their reluctance to choose social work as a future career. Although a relatively small study in terms of number of participants, this research has some implications for social work education in both China and Australia. It concludes that Chinese universities would benefit from improved promotion of social work to assist Chinese students to understand the profession and that Chinese social work education could adopt five possible changes to provide students with practiceoriented learning in the Chinese context. It also concludes that Australian universities could provide more specific and tailored assistance to Chinese students to enable them to participate fully in their education.

In this article, “China” refers to “mainland China.” Social work as academic discipline was first introduced to China’s most important universities, such as Yenching University, in the 1920s. However, social work, like other social science disciplines, was labeled as “bourgeois pseudo-science” and removed from Chinese universities in the 1950s, based on the idea that there were no social problems in socialist China, and thus no need for social work education. After the introduction of the Open Door and Economic Reform policy in 1978, social science disciplines were gradually reestablished in universities in mainland China beginning in the late 1980s, after a lapse of over thirty years. China’s rapid social and economic transformation has created different social problems since the late 1970s. As a measure to alleviate emerging social problems, the return of social work programs was advocated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and by leading academics, who saw the need to develop professional social workers to handle the increasingly complex social problems arising from rapid social and economic transitions. Thus, the Chinese government reintroduced social work education programs to the universities in the late 1980s, for the clear political mission of establishing social stability and a harmonious society. Peking University was the first higher educational institute to launch a social work program at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in 1988. Gradually, other universities and cadre training colleges in China followed its lead. In China in 2018, there were 348 undergraduate social work programs and 150 master’s of social work (MSW) programs. In China’s specific context, rural social work is one of the major subfields of social work. As social work was developed in the Western urban context, when it was reintroduced to China, some of the Chinese social work educators were aware of the differences in cultural and societal context between China and the West. They emphasized the indigenization of social work in China, and rural social work was regarded as the major component of this effort. They also thought social development and poverty alleviation should be a major factor. For example, Professor Wang Sibin, a leading social work scholar from Peking University, opined that social development and poverty alleviation should be the primary focus of social work education in China, and that individualized practice should only constitute a supplementary and secondary role in the social work curriculum. This is the context and direction of rural social work development in China since it was reconstructed in the 1980s. However, even today, rural social work is underdeveloped in terms of academic research and publication. Most of the bibliographies are in Chinese, and very few academic papers have been published in English in the area of rural social work in China. Nonetheless, in this bibliography, priority will be given to English academic papers. Only important and high-quality Chinese articles will be cited.

Evidence Based Social Science in China Paper 2: The History and Development of Evidence Based Social Work in China

Hutchings and Taylor, in their article entitled ‘Defining the profession? Exploring an international definition of social work in the China context’[International Journal of Social Welfare 16: 381–389], no doubt had good intentions in offering their account of the development of social work in China, as the opening and concluding sections of the article show. Within the text, however, their critique of contemporary social work in China is, in my opinion, unfair in relation to, among other things, (i) the undemocratic nature of the Chinese political system, which they say hinders the development of social work in China; (ii) the ideology of the Communist Party, the government, and traditional Chinese culture, which they say are at odds with Western social work's value system and methodology; thus concluding that (iii) it is doubtful whether social work development in China could integrate with that of the international community. In this response, I comment on (i) the information base of the authors; (ii) the disconnection between their conceptualisation and historical facts; and (iii) their use of the international definition of social work.

The instrumental role of government in the development of social work in China has led to questions about its political function. So far, little has been reported on how the government has “made” social work in China. To fill this gap, we first provide a brief chronological review of major policies and activities of the Chinese government in its making of social work in China. The state's intervention has indeed been massive and crucial although, politically, it may limit the mandate of social work in China. Yet, we argue that the development of the social work profession in China is generating institutional space for the emerging civil society to take a more active role in welfare service delivery. Situated and mediating between the state and the emerging civil society, the social work profession in China will need to constantly negotiate its mandate to meet the needs of both sides.

Healthcare Social Work is always a power engine for professional social work development. In the west Almoners’ work in hospital has a history of over a century. In China Hospital social work has begun in early 1920s and shared a common educational heritage with their counterparts of the United States. However, its development has hibernated until 1980s when social work in China is allowed to re-emerge. Social Work services since then are offered in both hospitals and communities. Basically, development of Healthcare Social Work in China cannot be separated from three factors, namely (1) Recognition of the government for the career of social workers (2) Recognition of the need for social work services by the healthcare sector and last but not least (3) Recognition for the need of professionalization by social work practitioners in health related services. This chapter examines through secondary data analysis and literature review the recent growth of social work in health services in China taking situations in the Guangdong province as a major reference. Prevailing difficulties and how NGOs and Social work educators can help to meet the challenges for professionalism in this expanding field are discussed.

One of the problems faced by student teachers is the low level of pedagogical and professional competence. To overcome this problem, one must find out the teacher's perception of these two competencies. Therefore, this research aims to analyze pre-service teachers' perceptions regarding the pedagogical and professional competence of students in the pre-service teacher professional education study program at the Islamic University of Malang. This type of research is quantitative research with a survey approach. This research population was conducted in 66 schools. The research sample consisted of 120 civil service teachers who assessed Teacher Professional Education (PPG) students who carried out practical learning activities. This research instrument is a questionnaire to determine the teacher's perception of students' pedagogical and professional competence, consisting of 64 valid and reliable statements. The results of filling out the questionnaire were analyzed by determining the average. The research results show that the average teacher's perception of prospective teacher students' pedagogical and professional competence is 4.61 and 4.66, which means very good. It is concluded that prospective teacher students have excellent pedagogical and professional competencies for each study program in Teacher Professional Education. Apart from that, the implications of the results of this research can be used by lecturers to improve professional and pedagogical competency indicators, which, on average, are still low through classroom learning.

The professional competence of experts in helping professions was investigated in centers for social work, Republika Srpska. Using a questionnaire, 100 experts from the fields of psychology, pedagogy and social work were questioned. Their communication skills, mediation skills, teamwork skills and the ability to empathize were investigated, as well as the connection between the level of professional competences and the level of education, age and length of professional experience. The results showed that experts in helping professions have a high level of professional competence for psychosocial work. Experts of older age and longer working experience have a lower level of competence, while the level of education does not affect their professional competence. Supervision is recommended as an efficient way to prevent professional burnout, but also to develop personal and professional competencies.

The article proposes a solution to a scientific problem, which is to substantiate the feasibility of using online courses in the professional training of masters in the pedagogical university, to develop an online course and experimentally test its effectiveness as a means of developing the professional competencies of masters in the speciality 014~Secondary Education (Mathematics). The author used the following methods of scientific research: pedagogical experiment, observation (for systematic perception and analysis of learning activities, motivation and personal growth of students in the context of blended learning), testing (to determine the level of logical thinking and development of students’ professional competences), questionnaire (to monitor the ergonomics and efficiency of the online course and the Mathematics teacher’s e-portfolio), expert evaluation of the developed online course, and methods of mathematical statistics (for proper processing of experimental data and verification of the online course’ effectiveness). The results of the control stage of the study indicate a positive trend in the development of mathematical, information and educational, methodological, psychological and pedagogical, and professional and technological competencies of students in the experimental group. The final test of the online course was chosen as a tool for determining the level of mathematical competencies of the masters in the experimental group. The reliability of the assessment of the masters’ professional competencies was confirmed by testing the hypothesis of the normal distribution of test results according to the Shapiro-Wilk test. In addition, a close correlation between students' academic achievement level in an online course and the level of logical thinking development was substantiated using the Student’s t-test. Prospects for further research include the development of online courses on Mathematics teaching methods with an emphasis on methodical, professional, and technological competencies; a detailed study of the impact of the latest information technologies (artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, web programming, etc.) on the development of students’ information and educational professional competences in distance and blended learning.

Reforming the system of educational institutions of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Ukraine is aimed at forming the professional competence of a new generation of future fire safety and civil defense specialists using innovative training technologies capable of effectively performing assigned tasks.
 Currently, the problem of forming the modern content of departmental education, implementing effective innovative learning technologies and creating a favorable environment for mastering the latest professional competence in the training of future fire safety and civil protection specialists is being actualized.
 The most important task of the educational system today is the formation of a new approach in which the following needs are expressed: active cognitive activity of those who are taught, partnership relations between teachers and those who are taught, an individual approach to learning - revealing the cognitive potential of an individual through the use of reserves laid down by nature.
 The problem of formation of professional competence of future specialists (from the standpoint of its continuity) in any field is in the field of view of many sciences.
 Of particular importance today is the development of the professional and pedagogical competence of the teachers of departmental educational institutions, which train future fire safety and civil defense specialists with the introduction of innovative learning technologies.
 A modern teacher of a departmental educational institution needs flexibility and non-standard thinking, the ability to adapt to rapid changes in life, the ability to creatively approach the organization of the educational process and achieve high work results. An important condition for intellectual and professional improvement is the mastery of motivational, technological, methodical, psychological-pedagogical, intellectual and communicative competences.
 Participation in master classes and professional trainings contribute to increasing the level of professional and pedagogical competence; updating the content of advanced training and internship; improvement of methodical competence in the inter-course period; participation in competitions of professional skills; mastering information and telecommunication technologies.
 The article, based on a theoretical study, scientifically substantiates the need for the formation of professional competence in the application of innovative learning technologies in the preparation of future fire safety and civil defense specialists using innovative learning technologies.

The profession of a social worker is one of the most important professions for the functioning of a household and society as a whole. A key feature of this type of activity is that an employer does not have economic benefits associated with the tasks that a social worker performs. The study aims to determine the components of job satisfaction of public social workers and to conduct a quantitative analysis of the dependence of these components on factors of the external (professional) environment. The research methodology is focused on considering the object as a system. To achieve a goal, other studies were analyzed with the allocation of categorical data of satisfaction components and external (professional) environment factors. Using the statistical method, categorical data are presented in the form of frequencies to conduct a quantitative analysis of the dependence of satisfaction components on external (professional) environment factors, using the correlation coefficient. The study focused on two categories - job satisfaction and the external (professional) environment. The most significant components of job satisfaction are interpersonal relationships and commitment to an organization; the most significant factors of the external (professional) environment are the interaction of social workers with different population groups and compliance with the law and regulations. On the other hand, the least significant components of job satisfaction are social connections and wages, and the least significant factors of the external environment are professional burnout and personal life. A positive relationship was established between the components of job satisfaction and factors of the external (professional) environment. This indicates that job satisfaction components have an inverse relationship with external environment factors such as rules and norms. The research results are applicable in the field of public policy development, as well as for managers of public institutions, in particular, human resource management.

Health care social workers' attitudes towards evidence-based practice (EBP) are an indispensable precursor of implementing EBP. Using a subset including 405 health care social workers from the first nationally representative survey of social workers in China, this study empirically assesses how transformational leadership (TFL) promotes health care social workers' attitudes towards EBP. The results show that organisational learning capacity (OLC) and professional competence (PC) fully mediate the positive relationship between TFL and EBP attitudes. Furthermore, TFL, OLC and PC explain 56% of the variance in health care social workers' attitudes towards EBP. This result supports the perspective that both organisational factors and individual factors may facilitate social workers' positive attitudes towards EBP, but organisational factors are more important. Therefore, to adopt, use and sustain EBP in health care social work, learning and innovation in the organisation should be increased. Furthermore, it is important to help social workers improve their PC.

Special issue on “Social Work in China - Histories, Opportunities and Challenges”: Call for papers