Educational Doctrines And Social Work Values: Match or Mismatch?
Abstract The CSWE accreditation standard requiring deans and directors to demonstrate commitment to the ethical values of the profession again raises questions about what commitment to ethical values means and about how determinations of adherence will be made. In this paper, two contrasting educational doctrines found in universities are reviewed. Aspects of each are found in social work statements of value. Special attention is given to their conflicting conceptions of students and the ideal learning environment. Following this, a sample of social work values and procedures for determining adherence to them are reviewed. Suggestions for further study are given.
A Critique of the Working Definition
WILLIAM E. GORDON, Ph.D., is professor of research at George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and chairman of the second Subcommittee on the Work ing Definition of Social Work Practice of the NASW Commission on Practice. The "Working Definition of Social Work Practice" (reprinted on pp. 6-7 of this issue) was developed by the first Subcommittee on the Working Definition in 1958. As the com mission worked within the frame of reference set by the Definition, it became apparent that the state ment needed to be further developed and clarified —a situation that had been anticipated earlier in charging the commission to keep up-to-date a work ing definition of social work practice. A second subcommittee was established to examine the exist
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.