Adult learning models have emerged that help social work students to make links between their lived experiences, narratives, and their developing identity as practitioners. This educational methodology involves students exploring and co-constructing their own personal and professional narratives through dialogue, sharing them within a reflecting team format. Reflecting teams emerged out of the work of family therapist Tom Andersen, and have been further developed for practitioner education by narrative therapist, Michael White. A detailed description of the learning model is provided, with an overview of the orienting principles and some guidelines for application. / The educational practice of reflecting processes is examined through a conceptual framework drawing on the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) and Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). Bakhtin was a literary theorist, philosopher, and teacher who was interested in language, literature and human consciousness, and was fascinated with dialogue in relationship as a site of knowledge construction as well as a model for understanding the dialogic nature of human consciousness. Vygotsky was a psychologist, cultural theorist, and activist who conceptualized learning as a social process that occurs in relationship. He also investigated language as a psychological/cultural tool, and was curious about human consciousness as "inner speech." Their writings act as a theoretical foundation for the dissertation, providing a series of heuristic devices or lenses through which to view reflecting processes: individual/social, self/other, outer word/inner speech, language, monologue/dialogue, and authoritarian/internally persuasive discourse. / The dissertation includes an alternative to traditional academic rhetorical style in the form of conversations between various writers. Drawing on Bakhtin and Vygotsky, a dialogical genre is developed as an approach to engaging with the texts of Andersen and White. In developing this methodology, the dialogic form of inquiry is expressed in a conversation between Bakhtin, Vygotsky and a student persona. This dialogic genre also occurs as an extended series of conversations in the format of a reflecting process between Andersen, White, Bakhtin, Vygotsky, and a student, Mishka. The dissertation concludes with an overview of Bakhtin's exploration of moving from monologue to dialogue and from authoritarian to internally persuasive discourse, and how this is accomplished by means of the "penetrated word" and transformative discourse in the context of relationship.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Social Work) / The workplace, as an arena for social work practice, demands a paradigm of service delivery, addressing needs on both a micro and macro level. The social worker is in the ideal position to facilitate organization development by addressing individual and environmental issues. Social workers are however trained in generic social work practice and therefore do not necessarily posses the required skills to work on a macro level Within the workplace. A training programme to train social workers in organization development therefore needed to be developed. During the literature study it was found that the ecological perspective provides a useful theoretical framework when bringing about organizational development in social work practice. Due to the dual focus. on the person and environment, the ecological perspective as discussed in chapter two, serves as the basis for a programme in organizational development. An overview of organization development, as intervention strategy, is given in chapter three. The functions, characteristics and underlying values are discussed, and the development process is positioned within the ecological perspective. The final chapter of the literature study focuses on an organization development programme, suitable for the social work practitioner within the workplace. The training model is described in chapter five and chapter six offers an overview of the research methodology used. An integrated developmental research model serves as methodology whereby this research is conducted. The training model is designed and a pilot test conducted to determine the social worker's attitude towards this intervention strategy in organizational development. The analysis of research data (See chapter 7) obtained from administering the questionnaires showed that social workers (westem Province Command, South African National Defence Force) found in-service training for social workers practising within the workplace as a necessity. Proper contextualisation of individual problems is essential to address issues on macro level. The final chapter deals with specific conclusions and recommendations regarding in-service training of social workers wtthtn the workplace. The value of a macro orientation to social work practice inthe workplace was found necessary for effective service delivery.

No description available.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1995. / Een kopie mikrofiche. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The application of the support function in supervision of undergraduate students in social work liberates the students' emotional energy in order to contribute to the success of the students. To be a source of support to the students, the supervisor must be aware of the possible causes of stress, the students' reaction thereto and methods in which they could deal with it. This exploratory study endeavours to create a scientifically based framework for the application of the support function in supervision of undergraduate students in social work in order to deal with stress. The causes of, reaction towards and ways in which undergraduate students in social work deal with stress were determined by means of questionnaires and described in terms of the students' personalities and their unique circumstances, their contact with the client system and supervision of the students. The respondents were 60 undergraduate students in social work. Conclusions and recommendations were made which focussed, amongst others, on the development of knowledge regarding the application of the support function in supervision, pro-active support, communication during support and application of the support function with regard to the practice education of the students. The framework of this research can be utilised by supervisors for effective supervision of undergraduate students in social work. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die toepassing van die ondersteuningsfunksie in supervisie aan voorgraadse maatskaplikewerkstudente stel die studente se emosionele energie vry ten einde tot suksesvolle studente by te dra. Om 'n bron van ondersteuning vir studente te wees, moet die supervisor bewus wees van die moontlike oorsake van stres, die studente se reaksies daarop en die wyses waarop stres hanteer kan word. Hierdie verkennende studie het ten doel om 'n wetenskaplik gefundeerde raamwerk daar te stel vir die toepassing van die ondersteuningsfunksie in supervisie aan voorgraadse maatskaplikewerkstudente ten einde stres te hanteer. Die oorsake, reaksies en hantering van voorgraadse maatskaplikewerkstudente se stres is deur middel van vraelyste bepaal en in terme van die studente se persoonlikheid en omstandighede, hulle kontak met die klientsisteem en supervisie aan die studente beskryf. Die respondente het uit 60 voorgraadse maatskaplikewerkstudente bestaan. Gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings is gemaak wat onder andere gefokus het op ontwikkeling van kennis oor die toepassing van die ondersteuningsfunksie in supervisie, pro-aktiewe ondersteuning, kommunikasie tydens ondersteuning en toepassing van die ondersteuningsfunksie met betrekking tot studente se praktykopleiding. Die raamwerk van hierdie navorsingsverslag sal deur supervisors vir effektiewe supervisie aan voorgraadse maatskaplikewerkstudente benut kan word.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

M.A. (Social Work) / Continuing education is an indispensable activity in any profession, including Social Work. The constant increase and renewal of knowledge and the learning and refining of practice skills are necessitated by the rate at which knowledge is generated in the twentieth century as well as rapid societal changes. At the same time the profession faces new demands, particularly those which are relevant to accountability, while social work aspirations towards professional status are sustained.Continuing education has for a very long time been an acknowledged and established component of social workers' activities, yet up till now, very little research has been done on this particular subject. In this study,· the following aspects of continuing education in Social Work are explored: it's principles and aims, the provision of training opportunities by educational institutions in South Africa and social workers' motivation for, participation in, and needs regarding continuing education. In chapter two, continuing education is defined in its relation to recurrent education, formal, non-formal and informal education, adult education and professional training. Attention is also paid to activities that constitute continuing education in Social Work. It is being argued that continuing education is supplementary to preparatory training, that it improves social workers' professional efficiency and that it stimulates the process of professionalization. Furthermore, it is instrumental in the provision of high level manpower for the profession and it contributes towards the maintenance of the corps of social workers by preventing professional burnout...

M.A. / 1. Motivation for the study Training programmes in sexuality education are limited within the social work curriculum of universities, although it seems to be important for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS and also the emotional trauma that goes with early sexual behaviour. The past four years social work students at universities received additional courses in sexuality education. The aim thereof was to equip students with knowledge, attitudes and skills to conduct group counselling with adolescents. 2. Aim of the study The aim of the study is to develop a training programme in sexuality education for social work students through development research. 3. The integrated developmental research model In order to achieve the aim of the study, an integrated development research model was conceptualised. The model mainly consists of Nel and Nel's (1993) model in which four phases feature namely, the analysis, design, development and evaluation phases. Existing knowledge of sexuality education was utilised for the development of this training programme. In the analysis phase it was found that there is no existing training programme for social workers in sexuality education and that there is a need for the development of such a programme. There are however programmes for other disciplines such as nurses, medical doctors and psychologists, but the aim of these programmes is on therapy and not prevention. During the design phase the aims and objectives were formulated for the programme, a practice model was drawn up, a tentative presentation was made of the innovation suggestions and innovation procedures was determined. During the development phase the development plan had been formulated, planned pilot uses and developmental testing took place. The implementation of the pilot application and developmental testing resulted in a number of modifications of the programme. The results of the evaluation phase showed that the training programme succeeded to improve the social work students' knowledge and attitudes of sexuality education. This programme could be used within the curriculum of social work students. 4. Main finding It was found that a training programme in sexuality education could be created which met the initial research aim. Findings of the research showed that this programme made a positive contribution to the knowledge, attitude and skills of the social work students who attended the course.

In this paper the researcher discusses the importance of specialized training for workers in child welfare who are responding to allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of custody/access disputes. The researcher has implemented an experimental design involving two matched groups of staff, equally sized, from an Ontario child welfare agency. Participants were requested to complete a pre-test and post-test which measured the priority assigned to a set of fictitious scenarios developed for the project. A training session was offered to the experimental group prior to the post-test. / The outcome data suggests that the training affected the coding which members of the experimental group applied to scenarios. The experimental group tended to consider dynamics related to the issue of custody/access when assessing the priority of response time given to a referral. The control group evidenced no consideration of such dynamics. / The researcher has included a number of recommendations within the analysis section so that future applications of similar studies may be improved. The conclusion of this study clearly states that adequate worker training is essential in order that objective, reliable, and competent service is available to child welfare clients.

Ph.D. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract