160 likes | 367 Views
Quality of the social work training in the Bologna process. Realization of TEMPUS ‘Modernizing social work education and training’. Judging the Quality of social work education: Challenges and Opportunities. Quality of Social Work Education Janet Walker.
E N D
Quality of the social work training in the Bologna process. Realization of TEMPUS ‘Modernizing social work education and training’. Judging the Quality of social work education: Challenges and Opportunities.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Social work is seen in one form or another as having a role to play in advanced market societies. • “Social work is very much in demand, enjoys a boom, represents a growth industry even in countries that ideologically would rather do without it.” (Lorenz, 2005: 97).
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Social work is value-based profession which “…grew out of humanitarian and democratic ideals, and its values are based on respect for the equality, worth and dignity of all people” • Further it is seen as addressing the barriers, inequalities and injustices that exist in society, with its mission to enable all people to develop their full potential, enrich their lives and prevent dysfunction (www.ifsw.org).
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Directly influenced by the political, policy and social agendas at international, national and community levels. • United Kingdom 13 million people live in poverty (2008/2009). 5.8m (44% of the total) are in 'deep poverty’ (Parekh et al, 2010). • The system of social welfare and care in Russia is poorly funded and difficult in terms of complexity and in relation to the chronic and long standing social issues. • For example, provision for disabled children and those with learning disabilities in Russia is thought by many experts to be 50-60 years behind that of the West (Amos, 2010).
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • ‘Professional education may well be the cornerstone of a profession’ (Healey, 2008: 137). • Education for social work therefore has a significant contribution to make in developing professional practitioners to respond to these growing and complex agendas.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker Bologna and its Implications. • Bologna process seeks to ensure comparable, compatible and coherent systems of higher education in Europe (www.ehea.info). • Adopted by Russia in 2003. • EU TEMPUS funded Project ‘Modernising Russian social work education and learning’ - as a contribution. • Whilst progress has been made in Russia in relation to Bologna, there is still much work to undertake, especially in relation to quality assurance (Luchinskaya and Ovchynnikova, 2011).
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker Quality Assurance and Higher Education • “Higher Education should be a transformative process that supports the development of graduates who can make a meaningful contribution to wider society, local communities and to the economy” (Gibbs, 2010:2) • Quality assurance refers to a range of review procedures designed to safeguard academic standards and promote learning opportunities for students of acceptable quality.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Quality Assurance standards are seen as means ‘to encourage the development of higher education institutions which foster vibrant intellectual and educational achievements’ (ENQA. 2009:14). • This is underpinned by “providers of higher education (who) have the primary responsibility for the quality of their provision and its assurance” (ENQA. 2009:14). • Processes need to reflect: national cultural and academic practices; promote diversity; innovation and working together (within institutions and between institutions, both nationally and internationally); and need to signify a shared quality ‘journey’ across disciples, across institution and within national spaces.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker Theories and Principles • Judging quality in Higher Education could be judged on three dimensions: • Quality as ‘value for money’ – this broadly refers to producing more graduates for less money; • Quality as fit for purpose – do the teaching programmes produce the results wanted in terms of student learning? • Quality as transformation: Quality teaching transforms students’ perceptions of their world, and the way they go about applying their knowledge to real world problems; it also transforms teachers’ conceptions of their role as teacher, and the culture of the institution itself (Harvey, 2004).
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Emphasis is on student experience with a clear focus on the ‘teaching’ role within it. • The core aspects of the student learning experience are: • the curriculum – its structure, aims, intended learning outcomes and types of assessment. This moves teaching as transmitting knowledge, to teaching as facilitating learning (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). The focus is on developing with the student the explicit skills, attitudes and abilities as well as knowledge (Harvey and Green, 1993; Harvey and Knight, 1996). • the promotion and support of effective learning which includes types of teaching and learning; provision of student support services, library and IT facilities; measures to involve students in monitoring and enhancing educational provision; and relevant training and development activities for staff and students.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker To introduce an effective institutional policy for the quality of teaching involves harnessing synergy between: • Factors external to institutions, at the national and international levels (for the Bologna process in Europe), which may foster a general climate conducive to the recognition of teaching quality as a priority. • Internal institutional factors: ‘whole institution’ approach and commitment to quality.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Teaching matters in Higher Education. • In a knowledge-driven global economy the imperative for countries to raise higher-level employment skills allows awareness of quality teaching to emerge and expand within educational institutions. • High quality social work education has a critical role to play in this process.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker References • Amos, H. (16.03.2010) ‘International Social Work Day: the changing face of Russia's orphanages.’ Available from: www.communitycare.co.uk • Biggs, J.B. (1996b). ‘Assessing learning quality: Reconciling institutional, staff, and educational demands’, Assessment and Evaluation in HigherEducation, 21, 3-15. • Biggs, J.B. (1999). Teaching for quality learning at university. Buckingham: Open University Press. • Chickering, A.W and Gamson, Z.F.. (1987a) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. Racine, Wi: The Johnson foundation inc. • European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) (2009) (3rd ed.) Standards and Guidelines for Quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area. http://www.enqa.eu/pubs.lasso. • Gibbs, G. (2010) Dimension of Quality. York: Higher Education Academy. • Harvey, L. and Green, D. (1993) Defining quality. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. 18 (1), 9-34.
Quality of Social Work EducationJanet Walker • Harvey, L. and Knight, P. (1996) Transforming Higher Education. Buckingham: Open University Press and Society for Research into Higher Education. • Harvey, L. (2005), ‘A history and critique of quality evaluation in the UK’. Quality Assurance in Education, 13(4). • Luchinskaya, D. and Ovchynnikova, O. (2011) The Bologna Process Policy Implementation in Russia and Ukraine: similarities and differences, European Educational Research Journal, 10(1), 21-33. • Lorenz, W (2005) Social work and a new social order – challenging neoliberalism’s erosion of social solidarity’. Social Work and Society, 3(1). • Nasr, A., Gillett, M. and Booth, E. (1996) lecturers’ teaching qualifications and their teaching performance. Research and Development in Higher Education. 18, pp576–581. • Parekh, A. MacInnes T, Kenway, P. (2010) Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. • Prosser, M. and Trigwell, K. (1998). Teaching for learning in higher education. Buckingham: Open University Press. • Rush, D and Hart, M. (2007) Strategies for generating ‘transformative quality’ at sub-institutional level. York: Higher Education Academy.