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BRIEFING REPORT: SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO

BRIEFING REPORT: SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT President- Ms. Marilyn Setlalentoa 30 May 2007. FOCUS AREAS. INTRODUCTION ACHIEVEMENTS, STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES

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BRIEFING REPORT: SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO

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  1. BRIEFING REPORT: SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS (SACSSP) TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT President- Ms. Marilyn Setlalentoa 30 May 2007

  2. FOCUS AREAS • INTRODUCTION • ACHIEVEMENTS, STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES • RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS • ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK AND CHILD AND YOUTH CARE TRAINING • COUNCIL’S DATABASE- REGISTERED PERSONS • PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS • RESEARCH ON DEMARCATION • REVIEW OF SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS ACT • CONCLUSION

  3. INTRODUCTION • South Africa like many countries in this continent is plagued by many social and economic problems. There is great need for social service professions to deal with these problems. The Council on the other hand, is the statutory body that is responsible for maintaining standards for different social service professions • Minister Trevor Manuel in his budget speech said “human life has equal value” thus emphasising the need for more social workers to provide professional services of high quality and standard. He also recognised social work profession as one of the oldest professions.

  4. INTRODUCTION (Conti….. • The Department of Social Development is at the centre of the mission to reach vulnerable groups, and the need for more social service professionals is also addressed in the budget speech of Minister Skweyiya Council appreciates the opportunity given by Portfolio Committee to – • SHARE THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL AND PROFESSIONAL BOARDS • PROVIDE INFORMATION ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS • SEEK SUPPORT OF PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

  5. ACHIEVEMENTS • Developed and implemented the strategic plan for 2007/08 – 9/10 • Restructuring of the Council to address equity and improve operations to promote efficiency and responsiveness to the sector • Commissioned research on the Demarcation of the fields of services, Professionalisation and Specialisation • Review of the Social Service Professions Act, 110 of 1978, jointly with the Department • Implementation of learnerships pertaining to social auxiliary work and auxiliary child and youth care

  6. ACHIEVEMENTS( Conti… • Implementation of a system for continuing professional development (CPD) is significant to ensure that social service professions remain in line with new developments and deliver quality services. • A policy for the utilisation of ecomeric measuring instruments by social workers and social auxiliary workers have been accepted for piloting • Established two Professional Boards - PBSW and PBCYC • Developed Regulations to register Child and Youth Care workers • Skills development Indaba

  7. STRATEGIC PLAN 2007/08 • In presenting the strategic plan for the 2007/08 financial year, we outline our intention to streamline social service professions, to promote efficiency, prevent duplication and to maximize service delivery in respect of social development; as well as positively contribute to “social interventions of joint efforts among all South Africans to improve social cohesion” as mentioned by President Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address. • SACSSP employees to excel • Client centricity • Foresight and Visionary thinking • Positive attitude/optimism • Trustworthiness • Respect for the individual • Understanding as well as buying into the strategic vision/ mandate of the Council • Serving the interest of social service professionals • Education and training • Ethical conduct and • Professional service STRATEGIC PLAN SACSSP

  8. PROGRAMMES AND PRIORITIES 2007/08 CEO’S/REGISTRARS OFFICE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT • Create awareness amongst the public about the code of conduct expected from social service professionals • Educate communities about their rights and recourse if social service professionals violate these rights • Educate social service stakeholders about ethics and the role Council plays in ensuring adherence to the ethics by social service professionals • Research into trends pertaining to disciplinary hearings • Compile a compendium of previous cases for social work students to use during training • Policy development to govern the relationship between Council and Boards • Processing of Regulations • Professionalizing other occupational groups • Financial sustainability of the Council and the Professional Boards • Expansion of registers of the social service professions

  9. PROGRAMMES AND PRIORITIES 2007/08 (Conti… POLICY AND ADVOCACY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT • Continuing Professional Development(CPD) • Determine more specialised fields in Social Work • Learnership in Social Auxiliary Work (SAW), Child and Youth Care (CYC) etc • Develop minimum standards for the education and training of social auxiliary workers and social workers • Finalise and publish the regulations for registration of child and youth care workers • Compliance with norms and standards for IHL • Enhance image profession • Development of • Communication strategy • Constituency consultation • Management of media

  10. RETENTION AND RECRUITMENT OF SOCIAL WORKERS • This matter is of great concern to Council and it is working closely with the Department on the several programmes, such as: • Conference to launch the unified professional association in September 2007 • Skills development indaba • Setting standards for social auxiliary workers, and facilitating work with the HWSETA for the training of these workers to support social workers in service delivery

  11. ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING Standards Generating Body (SGB) for Social Work • SGB was initiated by the SACSSP during 2000, in line with the requirements of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Act, 1995. The SACSSP played an active role in determining the minimum standards for the education and training of social workers and social auxiliary workers. • During the process of determining new minimum standards, the SACSSP consulted widely and aligned the standards with social needs of the country and benchmarking the minimum standards internationally.

  12. ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING (Conti… • In line with the minimum standards, new qualifications were designed for the education and development of social workers and social auxiliary workers, with reference to the four year professional qualification in social work namely the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and the one year social auxiliary work qualification namely the Further Education and Training Certificate (FET) in Social Auxiliary Work. • The exit level outcomes of both these qualifications were aligned with the developmental approach to social welfare in South Africa.

  13. ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING (Conti… Benchmarking of qualifications with new requirements: • To ensure that all training providers meet the new requirements, the SACSSP undertook site visits to universities with a view not only to assess whether existing learning programmes meet the requirements, but specifically to empower the universities to align existing qualifications with the new requirements. • Self-assessment reports were also required from all the providers, to be submitted to the SACSSP

  14. ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING (Conti… • A 100% participation rate was received from the universities and the implementation of the new programmes was effected from 1 January 2007, with a phasing in approach through all four years of study until 2010, when the first learners will graduate. Social auxiliary work training: • As far as the learning programme of the social auxiliary workers is concerned, the Department of Labour approved the learning programme as a learnership. • The new programme is developed to not only address the developmental approach, but to ensure career pathing since it is an FET Certificate on NQF Level 4, which should provide learners access to further learning in higher education with specific reference to social work. The department has raised concerns about the exit level outcome and this matter is being addressed jointly with the department and HWSETA

  15. ALIGNMENT OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING (Conti… • Since private institutions may form part of the provider sector in this regard, the SACSSP developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA) to ensure that quality education and training is conducted. • Both the BSW and the FET Certificate in Social Auxiliary Work must meet the specific exit level outcomes as formulated by the Standards Generating Body for Social Work. The Professional Board for Social Work, under the auspices of the SACSSP, is currently developing a policy on how providers could be monitored to ensure that the outcomes that are supportive of the developmental approach be met.

  16. ALIGNMENT OF CHILD AND YOUTH CARE TRAINING (Conti…. CHILD AND YOUTH CARE • Similar to the Social Work profession, the SGB for Child and Youth Care formulated the standards for the Further Education and Training Certificate in Child and Youth Care, which is a one year training course and a registered learnership with the Department of Labour. • All learning on this band is now aligned with the specific outcomes of the unit standards as formulated in the qualification.

  17. ALIGNMENT OF CHILD AND YOUTH CARE TRAINING (Conti… • The SGB has also submitted to SAQA their proposed requirements for the Bachelor of Child and Youth Care. Approval of this qualification is awaited from SAQA. • The members of the Professional Board for Child and Youth Care, under the auspices of the SACSSP, participated actively in this process.

  18. DATABASE OF COUNCIL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKERS • It is estimated that there are ±4449 child and youth care workers in the country, of whom most are at an FET level and volunteers. • This occupational class is not yet on the register of Council, as the Regulations to register them is not yet submitted for approval to the Minister of Social Development • Figures of the demographic spread is attached as an annexure to the presentation

  19. DATABASE OF COUNCIL (Conti.. • Figures of the demographic spread is attached as an annexure to the presentation

  20. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS • The process of addressing issues of professional misconduct is clearly articulated in the regulations (as well as the policy guidelines) of the Social Service Professions Act, Act 110 of 1978. • Council has made concerted efforts in promoting professional behaviour on the part of its constituency by:

  21. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS (Conti.. • placing the Code of Ethics on the website, • compiling a booklet on the Code of Conduct for social workers/social auxiliary workers and student social workers • personally presenting workshops to social workers and student social workers nationally, explaining the Code of Ethics • by being readily available telephonically to offer advice to social workers who find themselves in situations of conflict with the ethical demands of the profession

  22. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS (Conti.. The implementation of the regulations for the professional conduct of social service professionals is a challenging undertaking, with the following points for deliberation: • There is an increasing number of complaints being received from the general public who feel cheated out of a professional service by a limited number of social service professionals.

  23. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS (Conti.. • In this regard the Act does not make provision for certain issues in relation to professional conduct • Increased number of social workers practising and remain unregistered. The public, is because of these actions, not protected

  24. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND ETHICS (Conti.. • administering disciplinary tribunals/hearings against defaulters where applicable • Listing and reporting of those found guilty in the Council’s newsletter as well as the Government Gazette as well as the penalty imposed, to serve as a deterrent. • Council is presently working on the regulations and the code of ethics for child and youth care workers/student child and youth care workers, and auxiliary child and youth care workers

  25. Professional conduct cases received and attended to • Professional Conduct Division : Statistics January 2007- May 2007

  26. RESEARCH ON DEMARCATION • One issue that the Council is confronted with is an increase in the number of other occupational groups applying for professional status. • This necessitated research on demarcation of services which is currently underway, and done in partnership with the Department of Social Development. • The rationale for this action is the following:

  27. RESEARCH ON DEMARCATION( Conti…. • Professionalizing the social service occupations, ensuring a high level of professionalism in the social service professions • Categories of professionals targeted in the research: • 15 social workers and social auxiliary workers • 15 community development workers • 15 youth workers • 15 child and youth care workers • 15 social workers- focusing on specialities • 15 probation officers

  28. RESEARCH ON DEMARCATION (Conti…. • The research results on demarcating the fields of service will be incorporated in the new Social Service Professions Act • The 2nd draft research report was debated at the Council and Board meeting on 29 May 2007

  29. REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS ACT, 110 OF 1978 • The said Act was amended from the Social Work Act. It also does not address the current challenges of the social services sector. • The research findings of the Demarcation of fields of services are very critical as they will be filtered into the Act, in that it will address matters such as –

  30. REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS ACT, 110 OF 1978 (Conti.. • The development of specialisations and their registration in the act, with a view to career pathing as mentioned in the Retention and Recruitment Strategy for Social Workers • Determining the roles, responsibilities and scope of practice, of different occupational groups • Developing guidelines for employers of social service professionals for conditions of service

  31. REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONS ACT, 110 OF 1978 (Conti.. • Cheadle Thompson and Haysom Attorneys have been appointed as the legal drafters • The 3rd draft Social Service Professions Bill was debated by the Council and the Boards on 29 May 2007. • National and Provincial meetings are scheduled from 11- 22 June 2007 to ensure stakeholder participation. • It is envisaged that the Bill would be tabled before the Portfolio Committee in July 2007

  32. CHALLENGES • To enhance the image of the social service professions • To encourage continued professional development • To provide guidelines to the various occupational groups in terms of scope of practice, standards for education and training and the code of ethics

  33. CHALLENGES (Conti… • To identify and professionalize where possible various unregulated groups of occupations. • To ensure financial sustainability of all professional boards • To clarify the roles and responsibilities of the Council versus the Professional Boards.

  34. CHALLENGES (Conti… • Number of learners needs to increase due to the provisions of the new Children’s Act and the requirements pertaining to human resources needed. • Additional providers are required specifically for the education and training of social auxiliary workers. • Buy-in by workplaces at both public and NGO level into learnerships

  35. CHALLENGES (Conti… • Training of assessors and moderators is a challenge, since social workers and child and youth care workers must provide the learning. • Due to huge workloads, this is an additional burden on the professions, which result in even a greater demand for human and financial resources. • Universities can only accept a particular number of social work students. • Workplaces for social auxiliary work learners is a problem • New posts need to be developed for social auxiliary workers.

  36. CHALLENGES • The Council noted with concern a decrease in the number of newly qualified social workers and others leaving the country. Some of the reasons expressed are: • Salaries for government are not attractive • NGOs are paying far less than government • Working conditions are not conducive

  37. WAY FORWARD • Registration of child and youth care workers’ • Creating awareness amongst civil society about the code of ethics of social service professionals • Ensure that Social Services Bill is tabled before Parliament during this financial year

  38. CONCLUSION (Conti… • The challenge however is for all social services professions and stakeholders to work together towards ensuring the achievement of ”social cohesion and human solidarity”. • Involving communities in developmental programmes would reduce dependency on the state and would contribute to economic growth because the approach will provide job opportunities. • Social service professionals should be trained in a way that would contribute economic development of our people, hence the critical role Continued Professional Development (CPD) would play.

  39. CONCLUSION (Conti… • As poverty remains still one of the challenges in our country, social security and social welfare services are of paramount importance to improve the social functioning of our people. • Council sincerely appreciates this opportunity to present to the Portfolio Committee some of the achievements and challenges faced by Council.

  40. THANK YOU

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