Social Work in the Frame of a Professional Competencies Approach

This book serves as an introductory reader for understanding a professional competencies framework through a new approach. It not only discusses what professional competencies are and why they are significant, but it also shows how to develop a professional competencies approach, measure and research competencies, and learn how to use them to empower professional identity and career development. There has been growing interest to define the social work profession within a professional competencies framework. Professional competencies are considered in their complexity as a triangle of knowledge, skills and values. They are not solely a tool for education and practice, but they are also important for professional socialization and identity in social work. A professional competencies approach has been used to define standards and expectations for social workers-practitioners; it is an evaluation tool for formal education and lifelong learning programs, provides guidance for field practice and placements for social work students, and could be a frame for distinguishing levels of professional expertise. The volume provides an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of a professional competencies approach in social work with 10 chapters organized in four sections:

• Part I: Understanding a Professional Competencies Approach, including Criticisms of the Competency-Based Education Approach
• Part II: Major Areas of Professional Competencies, including Leadership and Professional Socialisation
• Part III: Measuring Professional Competencies and Education Outcomes, including How to Conceptualise, Operationalise and Measure Professional Competencies in Social Work
• Part IV: Professional Competencies and Professional Development, including A Model of Holistic Competence in Social Work and the unique Professional Capabilities Framework Social Work in the Frame of aProfessional Competencies Approach is essential reading for social work instructors, academics and national professional associations interested in developing or reviewing their professional competencies framework. It is an invaluable resource for experts in statutory bodies that set up a legislative framework of social work practice or work in the accreditation of social work education programs. The book is useful for social work students interested in understanding the theoretical background of social work, as well as for field practitioners who wish to use professional competencies for their self-reflection, self-evaluation and professional identity.

Auteur

Ana Opacic, PhD, is an associate professor at the Social Work Study Center, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb in Croatia. She was a project leader on a collaborative research project Social Work in Social Welfare Centers in the Republic of Croatiä in which the aim was to develop, measure and validate a national framework of professional competencies. She has more than 10 years of experience in teaching theory of social work at the baccalaureate, master's and postgraduate doctorate levels. She is one of the authors of the university textbook Theory of Social Work and author of many articles about social work in domestic and international peer-reviewed journals.

Ana Opacic is very active in professional associations, namely Croatian Chamber of Social Workers and Croatian Association of Social Workers. She is engaged in statutory bodies dealing with professional standards and competencies in social work.