The Association of Educators in Social Work (hereinafter referred to as the Association) is a civic association whose main goal is to bring together educators to support education in the field of social work. Its members can be both natural and legal persons who are involved in the education of social workers in the territory of the Slovak Republic. These are the core provisions of the Association's statutes, which were submitted to the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic for registration. The preparatory committee at the establishment of the Association consisted of prof. Mrázová, doc. Štefan Strieženec and prof. Schavel. The initiative arose from suggestions by some educators in connection with ensuring common communication among educators in order to create a platform for stronger advocacy by colleagues from other social science disciplines in support of the new academic field and for strengthening it in social practice, so that new professionals can better address current social problems in society. This phase of the Association’s formation, however, is closely linked to the activity of then colleagues at the Department of Adult Education and Social Work of FF PU in Prešov, prof. Tokárová and PhDr. Čechová, who in 1998, after several discussions with colleagues from other higher education institutions, initiated the establishment of the Association as an interest association with registration in the register of interest associations of legal entities at the Regional Office in Prešov.
A leading figure in this period of shaping social work as both practical activity and academic discipline was especially doc. Štefan Strieženec, who at that time published the monographs Dictionary of the Social Worker (1996), Introduction to Social Work (1999), and later at the end of his life in 2005, the monograph Theory and Methodology of Social Work. Štefan Strieženec was the first chairman of the Association as a civic association registered with the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. In addition to his publishing and pedagogical work, he was the initiator of meetings of educators in social work to shape the profile of the study field and its subject composition, as well as to define social work in relation to other social science disciplines. At his suggestion, the Association became a key partner in publishing the professional journal Sociálni práce/Sociálna práca. For social work as a practical activity, as chairman he initiated the establishment of the Chamber of Social Workers, about which we held extensive discussions at Association meetings. Štefan Strieženec died in March 2006 after a long illness.
In autumn 2006, an assembly of Association members was held to activate it and renew its activities. At this meeting, prof. Milan Schavel was elected as chairman of the Association; members of the board, which was legitimately established, were prof. Žilová, prof. Levická, prof. Hudecová, doc. Rusnáková and doc. Matulayová. This period was characterized by efforts to build a membership base, to continue doc. Strieženec’s initiative to establish a chamber of social workers, to organize conferences with the Association’s participation, and to organize student scientific and professional activities with the support of the Association. The chairman and the board were unable to establish contact with the Accreditation Commission in order to offer expert assistance in assessing accreditation dossiers for the study field of social work. Cooperation with MPSVaR SR in this period did not bring significant changes in favour of strengthening the study field and improving the position of social workers in practice, nor in developing further education for social workers.
In September 2009, the members’ assembly, through legitimate elections to AVSP bodies, elected prof. Schavel as chairman, and as members of the AVSP Board: doc. Matulayová, doc. Tomka, doc. Boteka, doc. Juska and PhDr. Brnula, PhD. The supervisory board consisted of: prof. Tokárová, doc. Tvrdoň and prof. Žilová. For executive director, as defined by the AVSP statutes, the board elected doc. Tomka. During the last period, the Association’s activity improved in several areas of its work.
In the area of the membership base, AVSP prepared a complete list of members; the database is conditional on payment of membership fees. At present, the Association records 62 paying individual members and a further 8 legal entities, educational institutions (VŠZaSP sv. Alžbety Bratislava, FZaSP TU Trnava, FSVaZ UKF Nitra, FF PU Prešov, FF UPJŠ Košice, PdF UK Bratislava, PdF UMB Banská Bystrica, PdF KU Ružomberok). On the basis of suggestions from the board and from heads of departments, a fundamental shift occurred in the membership base with the introduction of membership fee payment as one of the basic conditions for membership. In this context, the Board also used the option of electronic voting. So far it has not been possible to activate work on improving the Association’s website.
In the area of improving the subject composition of the study field, the discussions continue, primarily triggered at meetings of department heads and invited Association members together with the board. This process is not yet completed. On the other hand, it was possible to activate individual members and departmental representatives – higher education teachers in the delegation to state final examinations. The Association can also create in the future a platform for discussions and creative teams in the area of individual subjects or modules. These discussions could stimulate changes in the study field profile, improvements in educational content, the writing of textbooks or joint monographs, as well as conferences and solving grant tasks. It is likely that preparation of materials for changing the study field profile will be possible only through the active work of a selected working group, perhaps representatives of individual departments. A good example is the creation of a working group on applied ethics in social work; in this group, active representatives of some universities participate.
In this period, cooperation on a joint project was not achieved; activities in this area are conditioned by calls such as ESF or other organizations, and the fact remains that a non-profit organization cannot, as an applicant entity, apply for projects within APVV or Vega. The processing, coordination, and implementation of a project are also significantly complicated by exceptional workload. In the Czech Republic, AVSP had the advantage of support from MŠ ČR. In our case, such support is not currently available; individual negotiations absolutely ruled out any support for a non-profit organization in support of its activities or in implementing a project in the area of education and improving education in the field. The initiative was not realized also in talks with research authorities in Slovakia. In addition, university teachers, research task executors, or project implementers have been discouraged by the complete professional incompetence of representatives of individual science and research commissions regarding the field of social work (Vega, KEGA, APVV). Despite communication and proposals to these commissions, no change has so far occurred in their composition or in the acceptance of a representative of our study field into these bodies.
AVSP initiated, on the twentieth anniversary of the existence of the independent study field of social work, the organization of a conference titled “Challenges and Trends in Education in Social Work.” The conference was held in Prešov with the help and support of the Department of Social Work and the Institute of Didactics at FF PU in Prešov. Doc. Matulayová arranged for active presentations by members of the International Association of Educators in Social Work. The conference was successful in its content, participation, and in the prompts it formulated for the next period in the field of education in social work.
Since 2004, AVSP has ensured distribution, recordkeeping, and the full administrative agenda within the presentation of the journal SP/SP in Slovakia. Despite many efforts, it has not been possible to increase the interest of our educators in publishing activities, nor to increase the number of subscribers in Slovakia. In 2010, with the Association of Educators in Social Work of the Czech Republic, we signed an agreement on mutual cooperation in publishing the journal and became co-publishers. The journal’s editorial office and editorial board are making extraordinary efforts to place the journal among impact-indexed professional journals. Increasing journal subscriptions and popularizing it are in the hands of educators at the individual universities; the Association cannot do more than this in terms of mass promotion. In this period, membership in the International Association of Educators in Social Work was also initiated, and while communication continues, membership has not yet been confirmed; however, the initiative of membership at the level of individual higher education institutions and even individual educators was nevertheless activated (membership of VŠZaSP sv. Alžbety and individual educator membership). We believe that it will be necessary (especially in connection with preparation of the new study field profile) to communicate more with educators in selected countries and perhaps their national associations. So far, several joint meetings between the Czech and Slovak associations have taken place.
An important step was the Association’s activities in the sense of joint communication between university representatives and the board regarding several current issues, such as changes in the study field profile, procedures in accreditations, exchange of experience in education, and initiatives related to establishing a Chamber of Social Workers. These meetings created an excellent framework for subsequent communication with MPSVR SR, especially in the area of preparation of the law on the profession of the social worker (working title). Three working meetings were held, and in the Government of the Slovak Republic’s programmatic statement was incorporated the formulation “Create conditions for ensuring the professionalization of social work,” which represents the legitimate process of preparing legislation that would protect the integrity of the profession and create the basis for establishing a Chamber of Social Workers and further education for professionals in social work. This process is not yet completed; submission of the proposed law to the National Council of the Slovak Republic is expected in autumn 2013.
Association activities are always conditioned by the membership base and, of course, the board. During this period, significantly greater activity was characteristic mainly in the area of shaping the membership base (the number of members increased by almost 40 new members), a conference was held at the turning point of the twentieth year of the independent existence of the study field of social work, and a platform for cooperation and mutual communication between universities, educators in social work, and their representatives was created. In the early stages is the process of drafting the law, which can significantly help bring positive changes in the education of social workers, in their continuing education, in confirming the professional identity of social workers, and, not least, in improving the performance of individual practical activities of professionals in social practice.
The Association’s contribution in the next period can be deepened especially because of activating the members of the Association; mutual cooperation between schools can bring a final effect beneficial to the quality of social worker education. During this time, new governing bodies of the association will be created; I firmly believe this will serve the development of social work both as a science and as a practical activity in its applied practice.