social work qualifications and regulation in european economic area (eea)
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Social Work Qualifications and Regulation in European Economic Area (EEA). Dr Shereen Hussein Senior Research Fellow Social Care Workforce Research Unit King’s College London [email protected]. Presentation prepared for the IFSW. Rational for the research. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Social Work Qualifications and Regulation in European Economic Area (EEA)
Dr Shereen Hussein
Senior Research FellowSocial Care Workforce Research Unit
King’s College [email protected]
Presentation prepared for the IFSW
Dr Shereen Hussein 2
Rational for the research
• Commissioned by the General Social Care Council (GSCC) and Skills for Care and Development (SfC&D)
• Increasing mobility of social work (SW) professionals across Europe and Beyond.
• Demand for a transparent and fair approach to facilitate SW mobility within the European Economic Area (EEA)
• Diversity of SW qualification and regulation processes across Europe
Dr Shereen Hussein 3
Research aims
• Provide up-to-date and standardised information on the status of social work profession and its regulation in the EEA.
• To assist the GSCC, and subsequently HPC, and other European regulatory bodies in decision-making process.
• Facilitate SW mobility across Europe.• Identify areas of commonality and diversity in
SW training and regulation across Europe
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Research methods
• Took place from December 2010 to June 2011• Examined non-UK qualified SW professionals
statistics• Reviewed the literature• Collected primary data from 24 European
countries through an online survey and electronic communications
• Documentary data analysis of communications and documents held by the GSCC
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Social Work professional activities in the EEA
• Variability of activities – Most countries identifying ‘Assessing individuals,
families, cares risks needs’ as one of the main SW activities
– Least number of countries identifying ‘statutory responsibility of individuals they are working with’ or ‘advocacy’ as main core SW activities
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Social work regulatory and professional bodies in EEA countries
• Among the 22 countries completing the survey, 12 (54.5%) indicated that social work is considered to be a regulated profession according to Article 3.1(a) of the Directive.
• Out of the 10 countries indicating that the profession is not regulated, – half (5) indicated that SW education and training are
regulated and geared towards the profession.• The majority of countries (n=13) have recognised
(usually national) social work professional bodies.
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Social work education and qualifications
• Majority of qualifications are geared toward social work, however, definitions of social work are very variable.
• Great variability of practice placement lengths, timing and supervision.
• Inconsistencies in monitoring and assessing fitness to practise.
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Internal Market Information• The survey collected
information on whether each country intends to use the Internal Marketing Information (IMI), and the European Certificate of Current Professional Status.
• Out of the 22 countries responding to the survey, 12 indicated their intention to use IMI, 4 indicated that they do not intend to use it and 6 did not provide information
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Country by country details
• The report includes details of SW activities, qualifications and regulation for 24 EEA countries:
• http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/sshm/scwru/pubs/2011/hussein2011eea.pdf
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Conclusion
• The research has produced very valuable information on the social work profession, education and training, and regulation in a considerable number of European countries.
• The overall analysis indicates the variation of social work activities and regulatory systems across Europe.
• Of particular interest is the fact that taking statutory responsibility for individuals, whether children, families or older people, was not regarded to be part of social workers duties and activities in a considerable number of European countries.
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Points for further discussions
• Interpretation difficulties and different layers of regulation, definitions, terminologies and the potential for lost meaning in translated texts
• Opportunities through the EC Internal Market Information System (IMI) for mutual exchange on qualifications and regulatory fitness to practise issues.
• Extent and integration of practice learning, assessed alongside course curriculum or thereafter for the award of the qualification.
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Special thanks to
• Catherine Holland, Social Care Innovation Hub: [email protected]
• Cathrine Clarke, Policy and Research Adviser, General Social Care Council: [email protected]
• Further information, please contact:• Dr Shereen Hussein, Senior Research Fellow, King’s
College London: [email protected]• (44) 207 8481669