Transcript 'Social work qualifications and regulation in the European Economic Area' [ppt, 878 KB]

Social Work Qualifications and
Regulation in European Economic
Area (EEA)
Dr Shereen Hussein
Senior Research Fellow
Social Care Workforce Research Unit
King’s College London
[email protected]
Presentation prepared for the IFSW
Rational for the research
• Commissioned by the General Social Care Council
(GSCC) and Skills for Care and Development
(SfC&D)
• Increasing mobility of social work (SW)
professionals across Europe and Beyond.
• Demand for a transparent and fair approach to
facilitate SW mobility within the European
Economic Area (EEA)
• Diversity of SW qualification and regulation
processes across Europe
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Research aims
• Provide up-to-date and standardised
information on the status of social work
profession and its regulation in the EEA.
• To assist the GSCC, and subsequently HPC, and
other European regulatory bodies in decisionmaking process.
• Facilitate SW mobility across Europe.
• Identify areas of commonality and diversity in
SW training and regulation across Europe
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Research methods
• Took place from December 2010 to June 2011
• Examined non-UK qualified SW professionals
statistics
• Reviewed the literature
• Collected primary data from 24 European
countries through an online survey and electronic
communications
• Documentary data analysis of communications
and documents held by the GSCC
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Social Work professional activities in
the EEA
• Variability of activities
– Most countries identifying ‘Assessing individuals,
families, cares risks needs’ as one of the main SW
activities
– Least number of countries identifying ‘statutory
responsibility of individuals they are working with’
or ‘advocacy’ as main core SW activities
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Social work regulatory and
professional bodies in EEA countries
• Among the 22 countries completing the survey,
12 (54.5%) indicated that social work is
considered to be a regulated profession according
to Article 3.1(a) of the Directive.
• Out of the 10 countries indicating that the
profession is not regulated,
– half (5) indicated that SW education and training are
regulated and geared towards the profession.
• The majority of countries (n=13) have recognised
(usually national) social work professional bodies.
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Social work education and
qualifications
• Majority of qualifications are geared toward
social work, however, definitions of social
work are very variable.
• Great variability of practice placement
lengths, timing and supervision.
• Inconsistencies in monitoring and assessing
fitness to practise.
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Internal Market Information
• The survey collected
information on whether
each country intends to use
the Internal Marketing
Information (IMI), and the
European Certificate of
Current Professional Status.
• Out of the 22 countries
responding to the survey, 12
indicated their intention to
use IMI, 4 indicated that
they do not intend to use it
and 6 did not provide
information
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Country by country details
• The report includes
details of SW activities,
qualifications and
regulation for 24 EEA
countries:
• http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ss
pp/departments/sshm/
scwru/pubs/2011/huss
ein2011eea.pdf
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Conclusion
• The research has produced very valuable information
on the social work profession, education and training,
and regulation in a considerable number of European
countries.
• The overall analysis indicates the variation of social
work activities and regulatory systems across Europe.
• Of particular interest is the fact that taking statutory
responsibility for individuals, whether children, families
or older people, was not regarded to be part of social
workers duties and activities in a considerable number
of European countries.
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Points for further discussions
• Interpretation difficulties and different layers of
regulation, definitions, terminologies and the
potential for lost meaning in translated texts
• Opportunities through the EC Internal Market
Information System (IMI) for mutual exchange on
qualifications and regulatory fitness to practise
issues.
• Extent and integration of practice learning,
assessed alongside course curriculum or
thereafter for the award of the qualification.
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Special thanks to
• Catherine Holland, Social Care Innovation Hub:
[email protected]
• Cathrine Clarke, Policy and Research Adviser, General
Social Care Council: [email protected]
• Further information, please contact:
• Dr Shereen Hussein, Senior Research Fellow, King’s
College London: [email protected]
• (44) 207 8481669
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