Work Qualification Research Articles

Social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand: the impacts of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing

ABSTRACT In Aotearoa New Zealand, approximately 3000 people are enrolled in a recognized social work education programme at any one time. A collaboration between researchers at two social work education providers sought to understand the experiences of student financial hardship, and its impact on wellbeing, amongst current social work students and recent graduates. In total, 346 students and recent graduates participated in a survey that gathered information Glossary of te reo Māori terms regarding financial circumstances, caring responsibilities, mental health and social wellbeing. As social work qualifications require a significant component of unpaid field education, this study reflects growing interest in the financial impact of studying for a social work qualification. This article explores some of the findings with particular focus on the impact of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing. In particular, the study found that nearly one in four respondents reported experiencing moderate or severe financial hardship while studying, and that this had a significant impact on their mental and social wellbeing. In addition, those with caring responsibilities, especially accumulative caring responsibilities for children and others, were more likely to experience financial hardship. These results add weight to the call for greater support for those preparing to enter the social work workforce.

Current problems and opportunities for development of the social work profession and education in Bulgaria

ABSTRACT The article presents research on challenges and problems of social work profession and education in Bulgaria. The purpose is to establish the impact of policies and legislation on their current condition and the opportunities for changes and development. The methodology includes content analysis and online interview for the study of respondents’ opinion on reforms in social work profession and education. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of content and empirical data confirm the accepted purpose. They reveal that the challenges and problems in the current situation are the result of deficits in legislation, policies, and practices in the management and provision of social services and neglect by the authorities of the need to introduce regulations and standards in the social work profession and social work education. This leads to the formation and dynamism of a tendency to blur the boundaries of social work and its gradual deprofessionalization. The analysis of results presents need for reforms in areas regulations of social work profession and education, quality of professional resources, comparability of social work qualification with European Union countries, and integration of neoliberal, market and humanistic concepts in social services.

Assessing the impact of peripheral vision on construction site safety

PurposeThis study aims to observe the impact of peripheral vision on construction safety. The study further intends to create awareness of eye diseases in construction safety, an important root cause for most construction-related hazards and accidents.Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on the impact of peripheral vision in terms of construction site safety. Experiments were conducted with construction employees with different qualifications, ages, expertise and previous safety training experience. The experiments were conducted with an experiment set consisting of a tangent screen to measure the peripheral angle of the participants. The study measured peripheral vision, which helped determine the vision field accordingly. In this context, a total of 32 participants were investigated in terms of their peripheral visual angle and the field of vision. The data collected were analyzed in terms of several statistical tests such as One-Sample t-test, multivariate ANOVA and multiple linear regression.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that there are significant differences in peripheral vision in terms of age of participants, work qualification, work experience, area of expertise and previous safety training experience. The study further revealed that most of the participants failed to satisfy both OSHA requirements about peripheral vision, and normal limits defined in the previous literature. The study further implies that participants, who reported previous sight problems or eye diseases are more vulnerable to construction site accidents.Originality/valueConstruction site safety remains a major concern for most construction companies despite the latest developments in technology. Several companies are struggling with poor safety performance, occupational injuries and illnesses, and work-related accidents resulting in fatalities. However, the root causes behind several construction accidents are still vague due to different dynamics in the construction industry. Among these root causes, poor sight, vision and or eye diseases constitute an important part. Hence, the study provides empirical evidence with the workers checked for eye health to help policymakers and industry practitioners in terms of developing awareness for eye-related injuries and accidents and review their safety programs accordingly.

‘Gateway’: An Innovative Pedagogical Approach to Prepare Social Care Workers for Social Work Training

This article presents a case study of an innovative course requested, funded and designed by the West London Social Work Teaching Partnership (WLSWTP). Due to difficulties in recruiting social workers across these local authorities, the graduate certificate in social care recognised and developed the skills of the current local social care workforce, many of whom were already undertaking roles previously undertaken only by social workers. Many social care workers were unable to access social work qualification routes because they were not in a position to study independently or did not have the required qualifications for bursaried programmes at universities or through fast-track providers. The delivery of a graduate certificate in social care, over one academic year, one day a week, offered the opportunity for social care workers across adult’s and children’s services to provide evidence of their ability to study at degree level. Those students completing at a 2:1 level met the academic entry requirements for the MSc course at one of the partner universities and one fast track route. The case study outlines the course development, curriculum design and preliminary findings from an ongoing evaluation.

The Competency Assessment Model for Public Transport Drivers based on the Indonesian National Qualifications Framework (KKNI) uses Analytical Hierarchy Process

This driver behavior assessment model discusses the expertise of public transport drivers based on the national Work Qualification with graduate competency standards (SKL). Graduate competency standards have parameters, namely competence, competency elements and graduation indicators. From these three parameters, the competency unit is abbreviated as UK, the competency element is abbreviated as EK, and the graduation indicator is abbreviated as IK. Assessment of the first competency unit is upon attitudes and values, the second competency unit is upon the ability in the field of work, the third competency unit isupon the area of ​​knowledge mastered and the fourth competency unit is upon the rights and responsibilities. The first competency unit has 6 competency elements and 6 graduation indicators, the second competency unit has 27 competency elements and 41 graduation indicators, the third competency unit has 6 competencies and 11 graduation indicators, the fourth competency unit has 2 competency elements and 4 graduation indicators. The first unit is abbreviated as UK1, the first competency element is abbreviated as EK1, while for the first indicator of graduation is abbreviated as IK1. The combination of UK1, EK1 and IK1 becomes UK1EK1. The combination of the first competency unit becomes the first competency element and combined to become the first graduation indicator then becomes UK1IK1, and so do the next competency unit up to the fourth competency unit. The completion stages of this discussion is carried out in four steps, namely problem identification, model design, implementation and system evaluation. The calculation process uses Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).

Industry 4.0: changes in work organization and qualification requirements\u2014challenges for academic and vocational education

The following article is based on the observation that digitalisation in the world of work does on the one hand trigger processes of change, leading to shifts and new constellations in the required qualifications. On the other hand, the effects of digitalisation on qualification requirements are moderated by work organisation. Against the background of a generalist understanding of academic and vocational qualifications, the article deals with the question what curricula correspond to the changing requirements of digitalisation under the new organizational circumstances of Industry 4.0. Turning to the discussion of preparatory qualifications for occupations in Industry 4.0, it follows the hypothesis that the technological developments that lead to a change in qualification needs also increase the potential to meet those needs. This leads to the idea of a digital signature pedagogy.

‘The story behind the murals…’: creative art, human rights and critical social work at the University of Thrace – Greece

ABSTRACT This paper presents an action research involving the design and implementation of a creative art project and the analysis of in-depth individual and focus group interviews to reflect on the participants’ experience of ‘learning by doing’. It was held by a group of undergraduate and postgraduate social work students in the University of Thrace – Greece, under the supervision of a social work professor (one of the writers). The aim was to enhance the school environment and the students’ critical thinking. As critical and human rights perspectives are central in the social work academic curriculum, they formed the basis for this project. Empowering students to tackle stereotypes, challenge racist attitudes, promote equal opportunities and defend human and social rights are prerequisites for social work qualification. Creative and art group work has proved essential for the embodiment of critical practice and a challenging experience through ‘learning by doing’. How creative art may engage in critical thinking is explored, by the data analysis of the recorded semi-structured individual and focus group interviews transcripts, to reveal how the experience of participating in the project has affected students’ attitudes, perspectives and feelings about their studies.

The Effect of Organizational Factors on the Use of Evidence-based Practices among Middle Managers in Swedish Social Services

ABSTRACTThis study explores the effect of organizational factors, such as work unit size, diversity of services offered, geographic coverage, managerial culture, and staff qualifications on the degree to which middle managers in Swedish social services use evidence-based interventions. An ordered generalized logistic regression shows that most of these organizational factors are positively related to the use of evidence-based interventions above and beyond managers’ individual-level characteristics, such as interest in evidence-based interventions, education, gender, and managerial experience. Furthermore, a social work qualification is the only one of these individual-level controls that appears related to the use of evidence-based interventions.

Non-government organization study awards: enhancing successful completion of social work qualification

ABSTRACT The current study used a sequential, exploratory mixed-method design to explore how a social work study scholarship implemented in Aotearoa New Zealand impacted on recipients’ qualification completion and their professional and practice competence. Phase one involved 13 individual interviews with past award recipients which described how the study award impacted on their qualification completion. Thematic analysis was used to extract themes. These themes were examined in the second phase through a quantitative battery completed by 107 past recipients to examine their professional and practice competence. The findings from interviews showed the award enabled recipients to complete their studies and improve their social work practice without causing undue stress or financial pressure on the recipient and their family. Quantitative analysis corroborated and extended these findings to demonstrate that the award contributed to lifting the level of social work knowledge, competence, and skills in the recipients. Accompanying the successful qualification completion, these qualified social workers were equipped with essential skills, promoting social work values and competence to contribute and safeguard the benefit of children, families, and communities. The awards offered a ‘wrap around’ support and was not limited by age or ethnicity but provided a support system to achieve qualification completion.

Revitalizing the role of teachers in practice learning to increase vocational students readiness

Vocational teachers are the spearhead in practical learning should be responsive, anticipatory and proactive to the needs of current and future vocational graduates. 21st-century skills bring the consequences of teacher’s role in practical learning not only as facilitator, motivator, administrator. In practice learning, Teachers should act as supervisors who are responsible for product, quality, price, method, morale, practice, safety, and environment. In addition to hard skills, important aspects of soft skills needed in the world of work including discipline, responsibility, mental work, adaptability, and cooperation are important in learning in Vocational Schools. Revitalization of Vocational Teacher’s role in practical learning in line with future work qualification demands must be done immediately.

Publique, apareça ou pareça

O livro, construído a seis mãos, resultado de uma trama de ideias sobre a temática publique, pereça ou apareça, traz uma reflexão sobre os efeitos das transformações pelas quais passa a pós-graduação stricto sensu em termos de produção e veiculação/socialização do conhecimento. Os autores do presente livro, doutores em educação, apresentam importantes contribuições para o adensamento de pesquisas científicas, nomeadamente no campo educacional. Lucídio Bianchetti é professor aposentado, voluntário no Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Ppge/Ufsc), investiga, principalmente, pós-graduação, formação de pesquisadores, trabalho, tecnologia e qualificação profissional. Antônio Álvaro Soares Zuin é professor-titular do Departamento de Educação e do Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação (Ufscar) e assessor da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp), são focos de interesse: indústria cultural, cyberbullying, novas tecnologias, violência e educação, teoria crítica e educação. Ambos autores são pesquisadores do Cnpq. Obdália Santana Ferraz Silva é professora adjunta do Departamento de Educação XIV, Uneb, e do Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação e Contemporaneidade (Ppgeduc), atua em temas que versem sobre: linguagem, leitura, escrita, plágio, autoria, hipertexto, (multi)letramentos, trabalho colaborativo na Web, ensino de língua materna eformação de professor.

Child consultation and the law in the Northern Territory of Australia

AbstractConsultation with children is a delicate art, and consultation with vulnerable children, even more so. Experienced clinicians believe best practice in undertaking such work requires tertiary studies in social work or psychology combined with extensive supervised clinical experience. The current pathways to becoming a children’s lawyer in the Northern Territory do not involve mandatory training in child well-being, and yet lawyers are asked to consult with highly traumatised children and bring the voices of children into the courtroom. Lawyers for young children are additionally required to provide an opinion as to what they believe to be in the best interests of the child, without a social work or psychology-based qualification, training or in-depth guidelines to support their position. This article looks at what the law says about child consultation, what child development research says about child consultation and child consultation in practice in a Northern Territory child protection setting. At its conclusion, the author discusses potential pathways forward for lawyers and clinicians to work together in safe practices of child consultation.

Vigilância Sanitária: a necessidade de reorientar o trabalho e a qualificação em um município

Introduction: The work of Health Surveillance should be expanded to transpose the inspection dimension, through the development of multiprofessional, educational and communicative activities, with social participation, integration with the Family Health Strategy and based on health information systems. To do this, Health Surveillance workers need to be qualified and work difficulties must be overcome. Objective: To verify the development of these activities, to relate them to the professional qualification and to identify the difficulties for the work. Method: Descriptive and quantitative study, carried out with the application of a questionnaire to 54 VISA employees of a municipality. A simple descriptive statistic was performed with the variables professional qualification, work process activities and difficulties. Results: It was verified that the activities were not developed by most workers, except for multiprofessional work (81.5%), and that the reported difficulties, such as the lack of vehicles (36.4%), exist in other services. The professional qualification (46.3%) expressed a relation only to the multiprofessional performance. Conclusions: It is necessary to reorient work and professional qualification to enable the development of activities that, in addition to supervision and control, make up the work of Health Surveillance.

Empirical Support and Considerations for Social Work Supervision of Students in Alternative Placement Models

Field education is a core component of the Australian entry-level professional social work qualification and has long been recognized globally as offering students significant personal and professional growth and learning. However, in Australia, as in other western countries, social work courses are under pressure to find sufficient placements for increasing numbers of social work students, many of whom bring their own complexities and learning needs. Field education programs have been responding by using a range of alternative supervision models to replace the traditional one-on-one approach but there has been little attention to their impact on the learning experiences for social work students. This paper firstly describes the major field education supervision models and their effectiveness in enhancing the student experience. It then considers the literature which discusses the various factors that contribute to quality learning in field education and developing students’ professional identity. Finally, this evidence base is used to draw implications for supervisors and social work field educators in ensuring that quality and professional standards are maintained in a changing organizational, economic and political context.

FORMAÇÃO ESCOLAR PARA O TRABALHO NO ESTALEIRO ATLÂNTICO SUL – EAS

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar a influência do conhecimento técnico na formação do trabalhador direcionado para o trabalho do Estaleiro Atlântico Sul – EAS, no território de Suape, particularmente, a partir da reconfiguração do território de SUAPE motivada pelo Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento – PAC. Ao olhar as mudanças dos processos de trabalho, procuramos contribuir para o entendimento do trabalho na perspectiva de uma política pública de desenvolvimento territorial. Esse fato tende a modificar a relação entre trabalho e qualificação técnica, assim como o cotidiano das pessoas que vivem do trabalho assalariado numa área marcada pela configuração de políticas de assistência social.

The Auckland MA Sociology (Option II- Social Welfare and Development): A social work qualification gone but not forgotten

INTRODUCTION: The University of Auckland MA in Sociology (Option II–Social Welfare and Development) (“the Programme”) was a qualifying social work programme that admitted students from 1975 to 1979. This article describes this programme and some of the issues that led to its short-lived tenure.METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 staff and students who had been involved with this programme. One person, involved in the accreditation of the Programme was also interviewed, and one person provided feedback in an email. Information was also obtained through archived University of Auckland documents, reports, and various forms of personal correspondence provided by June Kendrick. FINDINGS: The Programme was championed by the Head of the Department of Sociology (David Pitt). There were resource limitations and philosophical tensions within the Department about the qualification. There was little support for its continuation at the end of a three-year grant and after the departure of David Pitt. The New Zealand Social Work Training Council accredited it after its discontinuation.CONCLUSION: The Programme made a valuable contribution to the profession of social work and social work education and forms an important part of the history of social work in Aotearoa New Zealand.

From distance to online education: two decades of remaining responsive by one university social work programme

The introduction of distance education in the 1990s sought to broaden the access to a social work qualification to Australians who are excluded from educational institutions which have high attendance requirements. This paper describes the evolution of an online social work education at Deakin University from a programme which commenced in 1996 predominantly relying on print-based learning materials. In Australia, distance education in social work remains controversial and the quality of education possible is often questioned. Data from national surveys are presented indicating that high-quality student learning experiences can be reported by social work students studying at a distance when properly resourced. The paper concludes by contending that it is inappropriate to generalise about all online and distance education programmes in social work and that rather than considering the mode of delivery, individual courses should be evaluated as to whether or not graduates are appropriately prepared for professional practice.

Putting practice at the heart of social work education: can practice skills be reliably graded by different markers in child and family social work contexts?

The Frontline programme is a social work qualification route, in England, which began in 2014. Students are based in statutory child and family contexts supported by an academic staff member and practice educator. The assessment strategy on the programme includes seven graded observations of students engaging in social work, marked by both staff. This paper investigates reliability of grading of direct practice between different markers on the programme. It reports findings for 30 recordings of direct observations of practice that were graded during the first cohort. These included observations graded by an academic and by a practice educator. Each was independently then graded by an academic, blind to the original score or who marked it. An acceptable level of reliability was found between the independent grader and the first mark (r = .621). In general the level of agreement was higher between the independent grader (a social work academic) and academics. In comparison, practice educators tended to give higher grades to students. Nonetheless, overall the reliability of marking suggests it is possible to agree on marks for students, which points to the potential for grading of practice to be more widely used in social work education.

The fear–avoidance model to predict return to work after an orthopedic trauma

The fear–avoidance model (FAM) is commonly used in musculoskeletal chronic pain (Vlaeyen 2012). Nevertheless, only few prospective studies have been conducted, especially on return to work (RTW). This study lays the hypothesis that the components of the FAM (catastrophizing, kinesiophobia and depression) can predict RTW 1 year after a vocational rehabilitation for orthopedic trauma patients. A total of 323 rehab orthopedic trauma inpatients (average time after accident: 9 months) were included. The following predictive factors were analyzed: pain catastrophizing (Pain Catastrophizing Scale, high score ≥ 20 points), kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia ≥ 45 points) and depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale ≥ 8 points). Patients were asked their professional status 1 year after discharge. RTW was defined as return to the same or accommodated job, full time or part time (at least 50%), over the survey period. Simple and multiple logistic regressions were performed to analyze the relation between predictors and RTW. A total of 194 patients replied at the 1-year follow-up. As they were starting rehabilitation, 35.6% had depressive symptoms, 53.2% had a high score of pain catastrophizing and 58.2% had kinesiophobia. One year after discharge, 51.3% had returned to work. There were less RTW among the patients with depressive symptoms than among the ones without (30% vs 62%; 0.33 [0.15, 0.76], P = 0.0001). There were less RTW among the patients with a high score of pain catastrophizing than among the ones with a low score (40% vs 66%; 0.43 [0.20, 0.92], P < 0.0001). Patients with higher kinesiophobia were less likely to get back to work, but no statistical association was found after controlling for confounding factors (age, gender, pain intensity, work qualification, French as preferred language, and employment contract). In the multivariate model, pain catastrophizing and depressive symptoms were still associated with RTW ( P < 0.0001). This study suggests the usefulness of screening catastrophizing and depressive symptoms in orthopedic trauma patients during vocational rehabilitation. In clinical practice, this may be achieved through the use of the proposed questionnaires clinical thresholds. Further interventional research is needed to investigate whether targeted interventions on psychological factors would then improve the prognostic.

Crossing borders: key features of migrant social workers in New Zealand

The emergence of a mobile, professional social work workforce, successfully managing the demands of service-users, policy makers and the public at large in different countries across the globe, provides unprecedented opportunities for professional border-crossing. It is timely to generate New Zealand-specific data on professionals employed in the social services workforce in New Zealand so as to inform educational and institutional responses to this complex phenomenon. A study that seeks to develop a profile of migrant social workers in New Zealand and key issues experienced by these professionals, is underway. This article reports on the first phase of the project, comprising an examination of the key features of registered social workers in New Zealand with an overseas social work qualification and a review of issues and challenges faced by migrant professionals more generally, and by migrant social workers in particular.