The universities and social welfare education in a post-industrial society

Abstract

How we think about universities, their purposes and about the place of post- compulsory education in our society is the exemplification of a number of attitudes about humanity and life in general. Perceptions about the place of tertiary or post- compulsory education in the life of the ordinary person have changed along with a broader sweep of changes in the way people view themselves in relations to the world. The meaning of education in general and in particular, that of tertiary or post- compulsory education in the life of people today occupies a very different one to that of as little as forty or thirty years ago. The recent movements in the policies and processes surrounding the structure, form and purpose of higher education in Australia signifies to some extent at least the depth of these shifts in perceptions.
In the field of social welfare education changes in political and social attitudes have led to calls for increased accountability in standards of practice in both service delivery and professional education, yet this call has come at a time of change in the cultural climate where there is decreasing clarity about what is expected of social welfare as a service, and of education for professional practice in the area.
This thesis contends that the practice of and education for social work and social welfare stand in an invidious position in the current society in that practitioners and teachers, agencies and universities are being called on to be more accountable both philosophically and pragmatically, but that at the same time as this call for accountability presses upon the profession, questions are also being asked about the value basis of professional practice. Criticisms are being levied at the profession some suggesting that it is ideologically bound and ineffective in dealing with social problems seen to be within its scope of contribution to society. With justification these same criticism are being aimed at social work and welfare training programs with suggestions that contend that the education of people to work in the social welfare sector is at a cross-roads. Unless a reassessment of the goals and purposes of education for this field takes place it may lose all social status and relevance, yet there are those who suggest that change is long overdue and that there has been little change in the philosophy and practice of social welfare education
The thesis has a primary contention that training people to work as social workers and other professional providers of social welfare in the current society is being placed under the microscope as a consequence of a number of movements in educational and political thought that have had their culmination in the competency movement that has impacted on both tertiary education, the professions and the industries.
The institutions in which this training or education takes place have been changed in form and function particularly since 1989, following the Dawkins restructuring of the tertiary education sector and the account of these changes provides a backdrop for the story about social welfare education in Australia.
These changes have included the construction of a national training platform with the espoused intention of formulating a seamless web of credentialling linking schools, the workplace, industry based training, DeTAFE and universities.
The introduction of Competency Based Education, where training is asked to demonstrate a higher level of accountability and transparency than has been the case in the past, and the introduction of higher, sharper demands for effectiveness and relevance have shaken the universities out of comfortable complacency.
In particular the competency movement has placed demands on the professions to demonstrate that they are able to describe their skills, roles and functions in accessible and assessable terms. This demand has also been placed on the social welfare profession. The requirement for the social welfare profession to formulate competencies has thrown into sharp relief an ideologically bound framework of practice that is seen to be out of touch with the needs of the current society, and this has had direct relevance for the education programs preparing people to practice in these areas.
Chapter One focuses on views of knowledge and education and goes on to critique the changes in higher education that have occurred over the last half-century in Australia in general and in South Australia in particular, specifically in reference to the programs for educating social welfare workers. This chapter is largely historical, but this history is told with more of an appreciation of the spectacle of history’s passing or recycling parade rather than of social progress.
Chapter Two addresses the impact and significance of the structural and policy changes within the higher education sector with a particular focus on the competency movement as a demonstration of one of the currently perceived purposes of education.
Chapter Three explores responses to the competency movement as further indicators of the views about the purposes of higher education in general and their relevance to those teaching with the social work and social welfare programs.
Chapter Four locates voices in the discourse about the social welfare field, the type of work involved in the area, the sort of training needed, and the dilemmas inherent in the profession in the current society. This chapter highlights the need for a consensus position to support the formulation of standards for practice as implied in the design of competencies, and the ramifications of the lack of such consensus.
Chapter Five displays the state of disarray in the profession through the analysis of the draft competencies produced so far, where lack of vision and consensus are seen, in the final reckoning, as the stumbling blocks to future clarity of purpose. Of any profession, social welfare work is one of the most difficult to put into competency- based form due to both the nature of the work and the lack of a consensus view of its primary goals and purposes, yet it is essential that this can be achieved given the impactful and intrusive nature of the work, and the push for accountability implicit in the competency movement.
The thesis concludes with a statement of hope that clearer standards for practice can be formulated and that social welfare education and practice can re-configure to contribute relevantly to the current society.

Date of Award	1995
Original language	English
Supervisor	Chris Higgisson (Supervisor) & Barbara CHAMBERS (Supervisor)