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Social work in Sweden

Social work in Sweden. EUSW Listening conference in Göteborg 2007-04-26 Staffan Höjer. What is social work in Sweden - practice. 30.000 practitioners, 95 percent within municipalities,less than 1,5 percent in full time, private practice.

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Social work in Sweden

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  1. Social work in Sweden EUSW Listening conference in Göteborg 2007-04-26 Staffan Höjer

  2. What is social work in Sweden - practice • 30.000 practitioners, 95 percent within municipalities,less than 1,5 percent in full time, private practice. • A very heterogenic activity.Child welfare, social care, drug and alcohol treatment, social assistance, and much more - often individual or family oriented. • Most social workers are affiliated with a social work union, Ethical guidelines. • An authorization system (however only 13 percent)

  3. What is social work in Sweden - education • BSW education at 12 universities • MSW since 1980s, however not so many practitioners have one, 7 percent • Social work is a university subject, several theory attempts • Integration with Social Care - a joint exam.

  4. What is social work in Sweden - research • Early country in Europe with research education in Social work • 1980-2006 204 Doctoral dissertations in Social work, also growth in senior research • A research community, more professors, a reputational control system, • Four scientific journals in social work • Pluralism when it comes to research areas, theories and research methods

  5. Social work a success story? • Practice is getting larger. More and more work areas. More social workers are being educated • Education is very popular. It take high grades to enter the social work education. • Research was rated high recently, even compared to sociology and economics

  6. However - a long way to go for research? Full professors, PhD’s per year and doctoral students per 1000 professional practitioners in social work, medicine, education and psychology in Sweden 1999. Med. Psych.Educ. SW ______________________________________ • Professors 17.8 6.2 0.2 0.4 • PhD’s/year 19.6 5.6 0.3 0.4 • PhD students 126.9 52.4 4.1 5.3

  7. Social work education is always questioned • Many claim the BSW is too short and try to cover too much - the generalist / specialist dilemma • Social work students know too little about …. everything • Less than 10 percent of social workers have a masters in social work

  8. Social work practice - • The position of service users is weak (according to critical cases/scandals) • EBP is questioned - for many reasons • Not prepared to deal with: elderly population, ethnic diversity issues,psychiatry diagnoses etc. • Privatisation - both a threat and a possibility

  9. Future challenges • Learn more from Europe! • Bologna-declaration, change in education system - perhaps more with masters degree • Discuss and listen more to the situation for service users • Need a certification system in order to demand expertise and responsibility from social workers

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