Training of Social Workers

The greatest freedom of discussion should attend the development of training in any field of human usefulness. This fact is the reason for the present volume on the “Training of Social Workers.”

Most of the subjects discussed in this book are in the realms of controversy. As organized training for the social worker is relatively recent, no traditions guide the teachers of social work. The theories with reference to the organization of the work of the schools of social work, the content of the courses offered, the methods of teaching, the purposes of the schools, the pre- requisite requirements of students who enter the schools, are either derived from other schools which train professional workers in other branches of usefulness or else are born out of the necessity to qualify new people for the jobs of social work which need to be filled.

Those confronted with the organization of the curriculum of a school of social work are confronted with many baffling theories: (1) What is the relationship of the technical training in social work to the social sciences and psychology and biology? (2) Should the training ever be given in an undergraduate school? (3) Is the graduate training now offered in the schools really graduate in character? (4) Are trade school methods used in the work now offered? (5) Should the schools be organized in universities and university standards maintained, both in the character of courses offered and in the methods of teaching? (6) What emphasis should be placed on social research? (7) What time should be allotted to field work, and what should be the purpose of field-work training? (8) Should the principles of social work be taught chiefly by the case method of teaching or should the case method of teaching be restricted to the teaching of the various techniques?

CONTENTS
Preface
CHAPTER I : What Is Social Work
CHAPTER II : Scope of Social Work
CHAPTER III : The Need for Social Work
CHAPTER IV : History of Training in Social Work
CHAPTER V : Is Social Work Scientific?
CHAPTER VI : The Training in the Social Sciences and in Biology of Graduates of Colleges and Universities
CHAPTER VII : Graduate or Undergraduate Schools of Social Work
CHAPTER VIII : The Training of the Social Executive
CHAPTER IX : The Teaching of Research Methods.
CHAPTER X : Social Case Work Teaching
CHAPTER XI : Social Case Work
CHAPTER XII : Case Recording
CHAPTER XIII : Field Work Training
CHAPTER XIV : What Is a Profession?
CHAPTER XV : Is Social Work a Profession?