While striving for excellence in an increasingly market-dominated, multicultural, multilingual, service-oriented, and globalised society, language practitioners – translators, text editors, interpreters, audio describers, sign language interpreters and subtitlers – in South Africa and Flanders find themselves under increasing pressure to defend the professional status of their work, and to justify the conception of their different occupations as a homogenous profession. Given the cultural and mediatory role of the language practitioner in this decentralised, dynamic, complex, and virtual market, the professionalization of language practitioners is rapidly developing into a matter that needs urgent academic consideration. Scientific and multidisciplinary research on the occupations collectively and colloquially referred to as the “language professions”, or more academic, language practice, is therefore currently of the utmost importance and relevance to ensure market-related expert language services. Unquestionably, without such research language practice cannot become a bona fide profession. From the point of view of the sociology of professions, language practitioners are an extreme example of an understudied professional occupation (Sela-Sheffy & Schlesinger, 2011). By focusing attention on the marginal status of the language occupations (which persists despite the ever-increasing need for professionalized expert language services in a globalised multilingual and multicultural world), this research project aims to identify the perceived impediments to desired professional status for language practice, thereby creating a more systematic basis for future professionalization endeavour. The sociological literature on the professions as manifest in the functional, interactional and conflict approaches of Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx, as well as a critical, postmodern approach offers a body of history and theory of the development of modern professions and their attributes. The service ideal; a viable income congruous with expert status; occupational autonomy and monopoly; career oriented training and continuing education; professional training institutions; professional bodies; ethics, and jurisdiction (see for example Abbott, 1988; Barber, 1963; Freidson, 1983, 1994; Goode, 1969; Hughes, 1963; Larson, 1977; Macdonald, 1995; Torstendahl & Burrage, 1990; Wilensky, 1964) are attributes unique to the “true profession”. These characteristics served as the matrix to establish a framework for the prototypical profession whereby the current professional status of language practitioners in South Africa and Flanders could be ascertained, and a formal language practice “professional project” initiated. Using the “professional project” (Larson, 1977) as a conceptual tool advantageously establishes the concrete, historically bounded character of the professions as empirical entities (Witz, 1992:64) within the context of three different approaches to categorisation as described in this project: the classical model, the critical model, and the prototype model. The identification of perceived obstacles to the professionalization of language practice as per the literature provided the context for a comparative appraisal of the current professional state of affairs of language practitioners in South Africa and Flanders. An objective investigation into the character of these obstacles revealed the catalyst opportunities inherent in the alleged barriers to professionalization. This perspective provides a rational framework for the implementation of essential measures to augment a viable professional project of language practitioners in general. / Thesis (PhD (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

While striving for excellence in an increasingly market-dominated, multicultural, multilingual, service-oriented, and globalised society, language practitioners – translators, text editors, interpreters, audio describers, sign language interpreters and subtitlers – in South Africa and Flanders find themselves under increasing pressure to defend the professional status of their work, and to justify the conception of their different occupations as a homogenous profession. Given the cultural and mediatory role of the language practitioner in this decentralised, dynamic, complex, and virtual market, the professionalization of language practitioners is rapidly developing into a matter that needs urgent academic consideration. Scientific and multidisciplinary research on the occupations collectively and colloquially referred to as the “language professions”, or more academic, language practice, is therefore currently of the utmost importance and relevance to ensure market-related expert language services. Unquestionably, without such research language practice cannot become a bona fide profession. From the point of view of the sociology of professions, language practitioners are an extreme example of an understudied professional occupation (Sela-Sheffy & Schlesinger, 2011). By focusing attention on the marginal status of the language occupations (which persists despite the ever-increasing need for professionalized expert language services in a globalised multilingual and multicultural world), this research project aims to identify the perceived impediments to desired professional status for language practice, thereby creating a more systematic basis for future professionalization endeavour. The sociological literature on the professions as manifest in the functional, interactional and conflict approaches of Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx, as well as a critical, postmodern approach offers a body of history and theory of the development of modern professions and their attributes. The service ideal; a viable income congruous with expert status; occupational autonomy and monopoly; career oriented training and continuing education; professional training institutions; professional bodies; ethics, and jurisdiction (see for example Abbott, 1988; Barber, 1963; Freidson, 1983, 1994; Goode, 1969; Hughes, 1963; Larson, 1977; Macdonald, 1995; Torstendahl & Burrage, 1990; Wilensky, 1964) are attributes unique to the “true profession”. These characteristics served as the matrix to establish a framework for the prototypical profession whereby the current professional status of language practitioners in South Africa and Flanders could be ascertained, and a formal language practice “professional project” initiated. Using the “professional project” (Larson, 1977) as a conceptual tool advantageously establishes the concrete, historically bounded character of the professions as empirical entities (Witz, 1992:64) within the context of three different approaches to categorisation as described in this project: the classical model, the critical model, and the prototype model. The identification of perceived obstacles to the professionalization of language practice as per the literature provided the context for a comparative appraisal of the current professional state of affairs of language practitioners in South Africa and Flanders. An objective investigation into the character of these obstacles revealed the catalyst opportunities inherent in the alleged barriers to professionalization. This perspective provides a rational framework for the implementation of essential measures to augment a viable professional project of language practitioners in general. / Thesis (PhD (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The profession of psychology in South Africa has not always been regulated by a statutory body such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Currently, the profession of psychology is regulated by the HPCSA and psychologists and the HPCSA find themselves in a lawful and interminable relationship. The HPCSA’s motto is to protect the public and to guide the profession, but it was questioned whether psychologists actually experience guidance from the HPCSA. In response to this problem, this study aimed to explore the subjective experiences of a group of South African psychologists regarding the HPCSA as well as the ethical code which serves as a guideline for the conduct of psychologists. This study made use of a sequential mixed method design, which comprised of a qualitative phase followed by a quantitative phase. All participants in this study were qualified psychologists. Seven participants took part in the qualitative phase and 74 participants took part in the quantitative phase. The data from the qualitative phase was grouped into broad categories and served as the basis for compiling a questionnaire for the quantitative phase. After collecting the completed questionnaires, the data was read into SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), which was used for the statistical analysis of the data. The data was analysed by means of frequency distributions and mean scores. During the analysis of the data, six themes where identified: five regarding the HPCSA as the regulator of psychology and one regarding the ethical code that guides the conduct of psychologists. The themes include “guidance and mentorship”, “the HPCSA as a watchdog”, “the HPCSA’s motive”, “reverence that psychologists have for the HPCSA”, “the competence of the HPCSA” and “psychologists’ view on the ethical code”. The results indicated that an ambiguous relationship exists between this group of psychologists and the HPCSA, as these two entities seem to function separately. Generally, psychologists who took part in this research have a negative view towards the HPCSA, although they realise the necessity for the HPCSA as a regulating body for psychology. The recognition of this need is a platform for a workable relationship between psychologists and the HPCSA. The participants provided less detail and responded more neutral regarding their views on the ethical code, and it is concerning that quite a number of psychologists indicated that they did not know the code. This study concludes with recommendations for the HPCSA to be more approachable and to provide psychologists with more support. / Thesis (M.A. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

There are great expectations that collaboration among professions and various sectors will further develop health care and thus lead to improved public health. In the World Health Organization’s declaration “Health 21” the designated goal for health professions in the member nations in Europe by the year 2010 is to have developed health promotional competence, including teamwork and cooperation based on mutual respect for the expertise of various professions. The challenges faced by the interprofessional teams are, however, multifaceted, and these challenges place demands upon society, which, in turn, determines the fundamental conditions for collaboration among the health professions within the health care organizations. This licentiate dissertation contains discourse and content analyses of interprofessional teamwork in health care. The major objective of this dissertation is to study and describe how the team members construct and create the content and significance of teams and teamwork among health professions. One specific goal has been to study how the members of a multi-professional health care team refer to their team, especially the discursive patterns that emerge and the function that these patterns has (I). The second specific goal has been to identify and describe the difficulties that the health professionals have experienced within their interprofessional teamwork. One purpose has been to enable discussions of the implications for interprofessional learning (II). Focused group interviews with team members (n=32) from six teams were studied using discursive social psychological research approach. The analysis concentrated on the use of the pronouns “I”, “we” and “them”. The results were then analyzed in relation to theories on discursive membership and discursive communities (I). Individual semi-structured interviews with team members (n=18) from four of the six teams were carried out using critical incident techniques. The interviews were analysed via latent qualitative content analysis and the results were interpreted in the light of theories on sociology of professions and learning at work (II). The findings showed that two discursive patterns emerged in the team members’ constructions of “we the team”. These patterns were designated knowledge synergy and trustful support (I). The following three themes that touched upon the difficulties of interprofessional teamwork were identified in the personal interviews: (A) difficulties concerning the teams’ dynamics that arose when the team members acted as representatives for their respective professions; (B) difficulties when the various contributions of knowledge interacted in the team; and (C) difficulties that were related to the surrounding organisation’s influence on the team (II). The conclusion was reached that the discursive pattern provided rhetorical resources for the team members, both in order to reaffirm membership in the team and to promote their views with other care providers, but also to deal with difficulties regarding, for example, lack of unity in outlook. The conclusion was also drawn that, in addition to the individual consequences, one outcome of the perceived difficulties was that they caused limitations of the use of collaborative resources to arrive at a holistic view of the patient’s problems. Thus the patients could not be met in the desired manner. The practical implications of the research project concern the development of teams in which various forms of interprofessional learning can influence the continued development of the team and the management of health care in regard to the importance of implementation processes and organisational learning. / Stora förväntningar ställs på att samarbete mellan yrkesgrupper och mellan sektorer ska utveckla hälso- och sjukvården och leda till en förbättrad folkhälsa. I Världshälsoorganisationens policydokument “Health21” anges exempelvis målsättningen att hälsoprofessionerna i de europeiska medlemsländerna till år 2010 ska ha utvecklat en hälsofrämjande kompetens som bland annat innefattar teamarbete och samarbete på basis av ömsesidig respekt för de olika professionernas expertis. Det interprofessionella teamets utmaningar är dock mångfacetterade och kräver uppmärksamhet från det samhälle som skapar villkoren för hälsoprofessionernas samarbete inom hälso- och sjukvårdens organisationer. Denna licentiatavhandling innehåller diskurs- och innehållsanalytiska studier om interprofessionellt teamarbete i vården. Avhandlingens övergripandet syfte var att undersöka och beskriva hur teammedlemmar konstruerar och skapar innebörder av team och teamarbete mellan flera hälsoprofessioner. Det ena specifika syftet var att undersöka hur medlemmar i multiprofessionella vårdteam talar om sitt team, särskilt avseende de diskursiva mönster som framträdde och vilken funktion dessa mönster hade (studie I). Det andra specifika syftet var att identifiera och beskriva svårigheter som hälsoprofessioner har uppfattat vid interprofessionellt teamarbete, där avsikten även var att möjliggöra en diskussion om implikationer för interprofessionellt lärande (studie II). Fokusgruppintervjuer med teammedlemmar (n=32) från sex team analyserades utifrån en diskursiv socialpsykologisk forskningsansats och fokuserade på användningen av pronomina ”jag”, ”vi” och ”de”. Fynden relaterades sedan till teorier om diskursivt medlemskap och diskursiva samhällen (studie I). Individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer med teammedlemmar (n=18) från fyra av de sex teamen genomfördes med critical incident-teknik. Intervjuerna analyserades via latent kvalitativ innehållsanalys och fynden tolkades utifrån teorier om professionssociologi och lärande i arbetet (studie II). Resultaten visade att två diskursiva mönster framträdde i teammedlemmarnas konstruktioner av ”vi-som-team”. Dessa mönster benämndes kunskapssynergi och tillitsfullt stöd (studie I). Vid individuella intervjuer med teammedlemmar identifierades följande tre teman som rörde svårigheter vid interprofessionellt teamarbete; (i) svårigheter som gällde den teamdynamik som uppstod när teammedlemmarna agerade som företrädare för sina professioner i relation till teamet, (ii) svårigheter när medlemmarnas olika kunskapsbidrag interagerade i teamet och (iii) svårigheter som rörde den omgivande organisationens påverkan på teamet (studie II). Konklusionen gjordes att de diskursiva mönstren utgjorde retoriska resurser för teammedlemmarna, både för att bekräfta medlemskapet i teamet, för att hävda sina åsikter i kontakter med andra vårdgivare (”de andra”) och även för att hantera uppfattade svårigheter beträffande exempelvis bristande samsyn. Vidare drogs slutsatsen att en konsekvens av de uppfattade svårigheterna var, förutom individuella konsekvenser, begränsningar i användandet av de gemensamma resurserna för att nå en helhetssyn på patientens problem och att patienterna inte kunde bemötas på det sätt som önskades. Forskningsprojektets praktiska implikationer rörde teamutveckling där olika former av interprofessionellt lärande påverkar teamets fortsatta utveckling, samt ledning av hälso- och sjukvården avseende betydelsen av imple-menteringsprocesser och organisatoriskt lärande.

La presente investigación sociológica se centra en los valores y actitudes de la práctica enfermera actual, del día a día de mujeres y hombres que tomaron la decisión de iniciar la trayectoria profesional enfermera. El objetivo esencial de la presente investigación es la comprensión de la práctica enfermera actual a través del estudio de los valores y actitudes profesionales. Su estudio permite analizar, desde la Sociología, los valores y actitudes de ese grupo profesional, así como el grado de adhesión y jerarquización, para comprender la realidad social de una profesión inserta en el ámbito sanitario cuyas aportaciones a la sociedad son fundamentales porque revierten en la salud y bienestar de las personas. La base teórica que da soporte a la investigación la constituye la Sociología de las profesiones, los estudios sobre valores sociales y profesionales y la revisión crítica de diversos aspectos relevantes de la práctica profesional. La aproximación que se realiza en la presente investigación es cualitativa debido al carácter del tema de estudio, ya se trata de profundizar en la comprensión global y contextualizada del sentido social del fenómeno. Para conseguirlo, la tesis analiza distintas trayectorias profesionales de enfermeras y enfermeros. Se trata de unas trayectorias que se comienzan cuando la persona, influida por su contexto social y/o particular, toma la decisión de iniciar su formación como profesional de la enfermería. Una segunda etapa sería la que transcurre entre la Escuela y los centros asistenciales, mientras que la tercera etapa profesional se centraría en los primeros años de actividad laboral, cuando las enfermeras/os noveles asumen su responsabilidad. Finalmente,la cuarta etapa correspondería a quienes llegan a su madurez profesional. El periodo estudiado comprende las décadas de la década de los años sesenta del siglo XX hasta el años 2004. En base a los referentes teóricos de la presente investigación, se identifican las actitudes que el colectivo profesional desarrolla con más intensidad. También es importante señalar que, si bien la realidad social de ese colectivo profesional no es única, sí existen algunos rasgos generales que ayudan a identificar el proceso de profesionalización. Al tratarse de un colectivo mayoritariamente femenino, mostramos el proceso paralelo de la evolución social de las mujeres en España. Al inicio del siglo XXI, y según constatan los resultados de la presente investigación, la profesión enfermera mantiene unos rasgos identitarios débiles, si bien se registran importantes avances en el proceso de profesionalización que se ha producido en las décadas estudiadas. A través de estos elementos facilitadores (como por ejemplo un marco legal adecuado) las enfermeras/os pueden ser capaces de generar un proceso de reafirmación ideológica, que consiga elevar el estatus del colectivo profesional dentro de la sociedad. La profesión enfermera en el siglo XXI puede avanzar en la excelencia ofreciendo a la sociedad un servicio óptimo, a través del esfuerzo, del rigor y de la conciencia profesional. / The present sociological investigation is focused on the values and attitudes of current nursing practice on the day-to-day activities of the women and men who have made the decision to undertake professional careers in nursing. Nurses are a professional group, made up mostly of women, who provide a unique and essential service toward the recovery and well-being of people. Nurses build the nursing profession through their practice of it. The primary aim of the present investigation is to arrive at an understanding of current nursing practice by studying values and professional attitudes. The theoretical underpinning providing support to the investigation includes the sociology of professions, studies on social and professional values, and a critical review of diverse aspects relevant to professional practice. The approximation made toward the values and attitudes of nurses that make up their professional identity is of a qualitative nature. The period covered by the study runs from the 1970s through the year 2004. The study is based on the idea that attitudes may be identified in professional behavior, and they in turn are symbolic of certain values. On the basis of the theoretical referents of the present study, the attitudes which nurses develop with the greatest intensity are identified. Current nursing practice, in Spain and in Catalonia, is based on two fundamental values: altruism and human dignity. The capacity of the values to generate convictions leads to the adoption of attitudes. As the results of the present study demonstrate, at the beginning of the 21st century the nursing profession has weak identifying characteristics despite the singular advances made in the process of professionalization during the time period covered by the study. The positive point is that this process is an active one, with no signs of reverse. There are indeed factors present that can help bring about greater professionalization. Examples of these include the law that institutionalizes the responsibilities of nurses, the implementation of progressive career levels in healthcare institutions, and the recognition, widening, and consolidation of the nursing discipline in the universities. By means of these enabling elements nurses may be capable of setting in motion a process of ideological reaffirmation that will elevate their status as a group within society. In the 21st century, the nursing profession, through effort, rigor, and professional consciousness, may well advance in excellence, offering society optimal service.

Rural and remote areas of Australia remain the last bastion of health disadvantage in a developed nation with an enviable health score-card. During the last ten years, rural and remote health has emerged as a significant issue in the media and the political arena. This thesis examines print media, policy documents and interviews from selected informants to ascertain how they represent medical practitioners and health services in rural and remote areas of Australia, why they do so, and the consequences of such positions. In many of these representations, rural and remote medical practitioners are aligned with national and cultural mythologies, while health services are characterised as dysfunctional and at crisis point. Ostensibly, the representations and identity formulations are aimed at redressing the health inequities in remote rural and Australia. They define and elaborate debates and contestations about needs and claims and how they should be addressed; a process that is crucial in the development of professional identity and power (Fraser; 1989). The research involves an analysis and critical reading of the entwined discourses of culture, power, and the politics of need. Following Wodak and others (1999), these dynamics are explored by examining documents that are part of the discursive constitution of the field. In particular, the research examines how prevailing cultural concepts are used to configure the Australian rural and remote medical practitioner in ways that reflect and advance socio-cultural hegemony. The conceptual tools used to explore these dynamics are drawn from critical and post-structural theory, and draw upon the work of Nancy Fraser (1989; 1997) and Ruth Wodak (1999). Both theorists developed approaches that enable investigation into the effects of language use in order to understand how the cultural framing of particular work can influence power relations in a professional field. The research follows a cultural studies approach, focussing on texts as objects of research and acknowledging the importance of discourse in the development of cultural meaning (Nightingale, 1993). The methodological approach employs Critical Discourse Analysis, specifically the Discourse Historical Method (Wodak, 1999). It is used to explore the linguistic hallmarks of social and cultural processes and structures, and to identify the ways in which political control and dominance are advanced through language-based strategies. An analytical tool developed by Ruth Wodak, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl and Karin Leibhart (1999) was adapted and used to identify nationalistic identity formulations and related linguistic manoeuvres in the texts. The dissertation argues that the textual linguistic manoeuvres and identity formulations produce and privilege a particular identity for rural and remote medical practitioners, and that cultural myth is used to popularise, shore up and advance the goals of rural doctors during a period of crisis and change. Important in this process is the differentiation of rural and remote medicine from other disciplines in order to define and advance its political needs and claims (Fraser, 1989). This activity has unexpected legacies for the rural and remote health sector. In developing a strong identity for rural doctors, discursive rules have been established by the discipline regarding roles, personal and professional characteristics, and practice style; rules which hold confounding factors for the sustainability of remote and rural medical practice and health care generally. These factors include: the professional fragmentation of the discipline of primary medical care into general practice and rural medicine; and identity formulations that do not accommodate an ageing workforce characterised by cultural diversity, decreasing engagement in full time work, and a higher proportion of women participants. Both of these factors have repercussions for the recruitment and retention of rural and remote health professionals and the maintenance of a sustainable health workforce. The dissertation argues that the formulated identities of rural and remote medical practitioners in the texts maintain and reproduce relationships of cultural, political and social power. They have also influenced the ways in which rural and remote health services have been developed and funded. They selectively represent and value particular roles and approaches to health care. In doing so, they misrepresent the breadth and complexities of rural and remote health issues, and reinforce a reputational economy built on differential professional and cultural respect, and political and economic advantage. This disadvantages the community, professions and interest groups of lower value and esteem, and other groups whose voices are often not heard. Thus, regardless of their altruistic motivations, the politics of identity and differentiation employed in the formulated identities in the texts are based on an approach that undermines the redistributive goals of justice and equity (Fraser 1997), and works primarily to develop and advantage the discipline of rural medicine.

This study is concerned with the differences in career patterns and characteristics between the medical technology program graduates who remain in practice and those who leave the profession. The subjects of the study are the 155 graduates of the program for the period from 1970 through 1978. This study has three purposes. The first is to determine the retention rate of the graduates. The second is to assess the factors related to attrition of these professionals. The third is to describe a programming methodology that would enhance career retention.

Suivant un double regard, socio-historique et monographique, cette thèse propose une sociologie de la profession d’éducateur de la Protection judiciaire de la jeunesse (PJJ), administration du ministère de la Justice chargée de l’exécution des décisions de justice prises à l’endroit des mineurs dits « placés sous main de justice », notamment des mineurs délinquants. Membres de la fonction publique d’État, les éducateurs de la PJJ constituent une « bureaucratie professionnelle » (Mintzberg, 1982), dont le mandat et les finalités de l’activité sont principalement liés au projet politique fondateur de son institution d’appartenance : participer à la construction et à l’épanouissement d’un modèle de justice au sein duquel la connaissance de la personnalité des justiciables est une condition même de leur éducation. À partir d’une réflexion sur les savoirs, principalement les savoirs issus des sciences du psychisme, qui ont permis de délimiter ce projet politique et d’en légitimer les reconfigurations, nous proposons un regard sur la genèse et l’actualité de cette profession, de fait « placée sous main de justice ». Dans une première partie d’ordre socio-historique, nous mettons en lumière les principales tensions – indissociablement savantes, administratives et juridiques – qui émanent de l’histoire du secteur public de la PJJ, autant qu’elles en structurent le fonctionnement. Dans une seconde partie d’ordre monographique, à partir de plusieurs terrains d’observation (centre de milieu ouvert, centre éducatif fermé, prisons pour mineurs), nous analysons ce que les éducateurs font de ces tensions, et comment ils leur donnent forme, en situation de travail. Cette double méthodologie nous permet, in fine, d’interroger les reconfigurations de la profession d’éducateur de la PJJ, tout en nous frayant un chemin, par le terrain, au cœur des principales transformations qui, en France, agitent la justice des mineurs. / Following a double socio-historical and monographicpoint of view, this thesis tackles a sociological study of the profession as educator working for the Judicial Protection of Youth (Protection judiciaire de la jeunesse, PJJ). PJJ is an administration of the French Ministry of Justice applying the decisions taken by the juvenile courts. Educators working for PJJ are members of the State Civil Service. The profession therefore forms a “professional bureaucracy” (Mintzberg, 1982), whose professional mandate and aims are related to the founding political project of PJJ: participating in the development of a model of justice, in which the knowledge on the personality of individuals is a condition of their education. Here, we present a study on the genesis and the evolution of this professional bureaucracy from an analysis of the knowledge, in particular psychological knowledge, which helped to define the founding political project of PJJ and to legitimize the changes of this political project. As a first step, we enlighten from a socio-historical perspective the main intellectual, administrative and legal tensions, that arise from the history of PJJ, and provide its operational framework. Secondly, we analyze from a monographic perspective how educators deal with these tensions in practice. We use for this analysis a suite of observational fields: one open and one close educational institutions, and two juvenile detention centers. Our double point of view allows us to question the reconfiguration of the profession of PJJ’s educator, and to provide a bottom-up framework (i.e. from the field) to analyze the main transformations of juvenile justice in France.

The main instrument of improving the social work education in the Czech Republic is the guideline The Minimum Standards of Education in Social Work issued by the Association of Educators in Social Work. According to this Standard, a student of social work, as a future social worker, shall have not only theoretical, but also practical knowledge which include professional practical training and supervision. It is also essential to become aware of the fact that a student, as a future social worker, will bear the responsibility when helping people in difficulties. Therefore, the school should ensure that any information a student receives during his/her study, is supplied to him/her in a seizable form. That is why it is important that the school provides its students with a supervision which is to improve the quality of their professional preparation, offer them insight in social worker profession and help them solve not only any divergences a student can see between theory and practice. The aim of the Dissertation is to seek higher-education supervisors´ and students´ views of the supervision implemented as a part of future social workers´ studies. Two research questions have been raised within the Dissertation. How do the students future social workers perceive the supervision which is implemented as a part of studies? What do supervisors consider as the purpose of supervision (which is realised as a part of studies) for students future social workers? The necessary information for the elaboration of the Dissertation were acquired through qualitative research. Interviewing and a semi-structured dialogue technique were chosen as the most suitable data collection method. Two research groups were chosen for the needs of the Dissertation. The first group consists of highest-class students in the field of social work at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and Faculty of Theology at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The other research group consists of supervisors operating at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and Faculty of Theology at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. The research showed that students perceive supervision as useful and purposeful. Students appreciate the possibility of exchanging their experience. Differences appeared regarding the duration of the supervision session. Students mostly do not know what to talk about during supervision. Greater part of the students has not a problem to confide to a supervisor, but shortcomings were also found in this respect. Regarding the supervisors of professional practical training, in their opinion, the purpose of supervision is especially to educate students, improve students' knowledge, interconnect the theory and the practice, support students in the course of their professional practical training and give students the opportunity to reflect their own practical experience. There was also raised an idea to establish supervision directly in workplaces, where students exercise their professional practical training. The Dissertation may serve as a feedback for supervisors and as an educational material for students. It can also be used to obtain a more comprehensive picture of functioning of school supervisions of professional practical training that takes place in universities.

v anglickém jazyce Supervision is one of the possibilities of professional support, which helps in solving difficult working situations. They imply challenges, personal constraints and ethical issues. Uncertainties can be on the both sides of the social worker and his client. Supervision should not be a check of incorrect decisions or supervision of the choice of work outcomes. On the contrary, the supervisor should be supportive of his clients and provide them professional and correct leadership to ensure the quality of their work. The diploma thesis deals with the interconnection of supervision with burnout syndrome. The theoretical part draws attention to the preventive nature of the supervision process and the risks that are threatened in the absence of supervision. Both concepts, supervision and burnout syndrome, are described and explained in the diploma thesis. The theoretical part of the thesis contains basic terminology, division and important participants in such cooperation. The second section describes the situation regarding the use of supervision and the rate of burnout syndrome in selected social workers. The results of this survey are shown in the charts. The thesis is concluded with a discussion which contains comments on the legal anchoring of supervision in the Czech Republic and...