Critical Issues in Social Work Education.
Abstract The following critical issues facing social work education are reviewed: lack of an instructional methodology, effectiveness of practice, admissions to social work education programs, theories of people, assessment of competence, and generic curriculum. Possible avenues to effective education for practice are elaborated: relationship-building training, empirical bases of interpersonal helping, degree correspondence, and research on the instructional process. Where relevant, prototypes of effective training procedures and requisites are discussed briefly.
A Study of Common Dimensions of Social Work Practice in Field Instruction
{This study of the content of field instruction at one U.S. school of social work is focused on utilization of methods, selection of targets for change and exposure to social problem areas. Findings indicated that students used a range of methods in all placements. There was an underlying order to the range of methods and targets chosen and considerable agreement among field instructors on this range. Findings are discussed in relation to education for social work practice.]
REFORMA DO ESTADO E AS POLÍTICAS PARA A EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR NO BRASIL NOS ANOS 90
This article aims at discussing the federal policies for higher education implemented in Brazil in the 1990s. It assumes that such policies are based on socio-political choices and interests linked to the changes occurring in the contemporary Brazilian scene, changes that have deep historical roots, which emerge in the process of reformation of the Brazilian State. This situation implies alterations in the field of public policies, and more particularly in that of social policies, since the on-going official proposals and projects are characterized by a decrease of the role of State. The borders between public and private affairs have become increasingly blurred in a process detrimental to the former. The contradictions in the federal policies for higher education are analyzed here, as well as their results as for the following fields: institutional diversification and differentiation; assessment criteria, broadening and privatization of this level of education.