Perspective of the preventive educational social work (interdisciplinary approach and innovation) Over the course of our professional practice, but especially from 1992 to the present, we have systematically devoted our scientific, research, and teaching activity at universities in Bratislava, Brno (Czech Republic), Katowice (Poland), and Prešov to the scientific and research treatment of adult education in its interface with social andragogy (i.e., the discipline of social education for adults) and social work.

On the basis of the results of our professional and expert activity in Slovakia and abroad (the Czech Republic, Poland, Finland, Belgium, Portugal), we formulated and presented to the professional community our own scientific position and professional argumentation for an interdisciplinary approach in social work, based on the interconnections between the theory and practice of adult education and social work.

Our professional interest concerns the application of psychological theorems and practical psychological approaches and activities from adult education to educational social work and educational social counseling.

Our innovative contributions to the theory and practical activity of social work and social andragogy were expressed primarily in these monographs: Educational Social Work (2014), Preventive Social Work – An Educational Paradigm in Social Work (2013), Psychology in Adult Education (2004, 2006), Biodromal Psychology for Helping Professions - Social Workers, Social Educators, and Andragogues (2010). However, theory is little valid if it cannot be applied in people’s lives. For this reason we have for many years also been engaged in our own professional practice in counseling and psychotherapy for adults and in activities in continuing education for employees from various occupational fields and backgrounds.

In this sense, our authorial approach largely stems from the experiences we have gained in educational (upbringing and educational), counseling, and psychotherapeutic work with individual persons and groups of adults. The combination of practical educational work with scientific research activity leads us to the conviction that adult education is not only an important theoretical phenomenon, but also an important part of people’s lives.

Adult education has an undeniable and substantial potential to be, in current social conditions, a decisive form of social service. Adult education is an effective way of social help for persons and social groups.

Our conviction and professional stance are supported by our own long-term specialization, reflected in the subject areas we currently address. They include, for example:

  • Adult target groups – clients of educational social help.
  • The concept of Educational Social Work and the concept of Educational Social Counseling.
  • The educational paradigm in social work in the context of lifelong learning and lifelong counseling.
  • Biodromal psychology (i.e., lifelong developmental and developmental psychology) and adult educational psychology in social work.
  • University preparation in the study field of social work for professional activity in preventive educational social work.
  • The application of an interdisciplinary approach in the higher-education professional preparation of social workers.

Perspective of social work – proposals for innovation 1. Author’s proposal: A change in the approach to social clients Applying a biodromal approach to social clients and to social assistance: For this purpose, one can build on known and new knowledge, approaches, and contexts and apply them in educational social counseling activity within the provision of social assistance. This concerns primarily the identification of clients’ social problems with the aim of providing them with help through educational social counseling action. In this context, the following should be taken into account:

  • Biodromal development and growth of adult social clients, in line with their current developmental and growth tasks in life within educational social counseling and psychological counseling.
  • Support for the development of the individual potential of adult social clients through the education and teaching (education) of adults within educational social counseling and further education.
  • Support for the development of psychological adulthood, i.e., the formation of adults’ systemic capacity for living, within educational social counseling and lifelong education.

We assume that, by applying a biodromal approach in the concept of educational social work, we are modestly fulfilling the legacy of the Slovak psychologist and distinguished university pedagogue Jozef Koščo, whose concept of a biodromal counseling approach is pioneering and extends far beyond Slovakia. It is also known among experts in other countries. It surpasses the temporal boundaries of its emergence in the 1970s. Jozef Koščo (1987) at that time developed an interdisciplinary concept of an integrated counseling system in Slovakia, which was applied in counseling practice and worked excellently for many years.

In this connection, we are also inspired by the model of personal responsibility, which is found in humanistic psychology and humanistic social pedagogy, simplified as follows: the client finds the optimal way of living for themselves; the client is the best expert for themselves and the responsible person.

2. Author’s proposal: The application of a motivational process in educational social assistance to clients through educational social counseling as follows: Educational social assistance to a social client ↔ Educational guidance of a social client toward self-help ↔ Development of the individual spiritual, psychological, and social potential of the social client through education and educational social counseling.

This process was formulated in another context also by Štefan Strieženec (1999), one of the founders of modern social work in Slovakia in the 1990s. Our approach is very close to Štefan Strieženec’s expression. We also find very close the view of Helena Radlińska—the founder of social work in Poland (In: Radziewicz-Winnicki, 2008)—that social work is to ensure and organize human energies in order to support people’s life creativity. We also agree with the statement of the German social pedagogue H. Nohla, who regarded the education of a person as help and learning to live, noting that upbringing is essentially helping a person toward self-help. (In: Z. Bakošová, 2005.)

3. Author’s proposal: Specialization of social workers in preventive educational social work The author of this paper proposes specialized professionalization of social workers for their work in preventive educational social work. Professional preparation is based on the delimitation of preventive educational social work (M. Machalová, 2013, 2014):

  • Educational social work is a neologism and a subsystem of the science of social work and a subsystem of social work practice.
  • Educational social work operates through targeted educational and counseling activities within lifelong education programmes, social education, and educational social counseling.
  • The use of educational means is generally a targeted attempt to correct clients’ personal approach to their own life situation, to a social event, to a social problem.
  • The purpose of educational social activities is professional support for people’s learning so that a change is achieved in their way of seeing, evaluating, attitudes toward their personal social situation, and in their actions.
  • The basis for applying educational social work in social practice is the preparation and realization of educational programmes of social assistance, including social service.
  • In educational social work, the social problem of particular people is viewed through an educational, i.e., upbringing and educational, determination of the origin, persistence, and resolution of the social problem.
  • In educational social work, the central focus is on the removal of social disadvantage on the basis of the educational cause of the social problem, and also on the basis of psychological and spiritual causes of social problems among persons, social groups, and social communities.
  • The main means of influence on social clients in educational social work are: upbringing – self-upbringing, education – self-education, learning – learning.
  • Clients of educational social work are not only people in whom a social problem has already occurred, but also people threatened by the emergence of a social problem.

4. Author’s proposal: Specialized preparation for preventive educational social work University study programme For the purpose of preparing specialized social workers, the author prepared in 2011–2013 the concept of the university study programme Preventive Social Work. The concept was transformed into an accreditation dossier. The study programme Preventive Social Work was approved by the Accreditation Commission of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Sports of the Slovak Republic, and the first year of study was opened in the 2014/2015 academic year at the Department of Christian Anthropology and Social Work of the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Prešov in Prešov. The guarantor of the study programme is the author of this article. In June 2017, the first bachelor graduates of the Preventive Social Work programme completed their studies.

In the concept of preventive educational social work, we state our conviction that: Poverty of spirit in people gives rise to material and social poverty, and therefore social work must demonstrate its legitimacy precisely by translating its usefulness into support for social self-help of people. With this aim, their psychological and social maturity and responsibility for life should be elevated.

Social work should not be primarily a remediation of social problems and social pathology but should be a genuine developmental social programme to support the cultivation of people’s individual spiritual, psychological, and social potential. Social work should become an effective support for the psychological and social adaptation of people in the environment of their lives.

The profiling of preventive educational social work and its implementation in social-work practice concerns societal agreement in the field of providing social assistance and full acceptance of this type of social service. The same applies to support for the development of the environment created by professional experts of preventive educational social work and educational social counseling service.

This involves the acceptance of these new phenomena in the professional field and in social-work practice:

  • Educational social assistance.
  • Educational social workers.
  • Educational social environment.
  • Educational social clients.
  • Educational social prevention: primary - educational socialization prevention, secondary - educational resocialization prevention, tertiary - educational rehabilitation prevention.

From the point of view of the cognitive and methodological base, preventive educational social-work theory draws on knowledge from several disciplines in their interdisciplinary interconnection, above all educational, psychological, and social sciences. This can strengthen effectiveness (a synergistic effect) in the creation and preparation and implementation of programmes for preventive educational social-work activities.

Educational social work - realization in practice

From the perspective of clients of educational social work, we consider this type of social work as a system of educational instruments of social assistance and as a type of educational social service. Educational social work is carried out in conditions of overlapping influences of the social environment and the educational environment of social clients. Its scope is delimited mainly by the area of social policy, including social work policy and the policy of adult education, but also by other policies that are grounded in the relevant laws: Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services Act No. 453/2003 Coll. on the State Administration Bodies in the field of Social Affairs, Family, and Employment Services Act No. 5/2004 Coll. on employment services Act No. 213 Coll. on non-profit organizations providing generally beneficial services Act No. 305/2005 Coll. on the sociological protection of children and social guardianship Act No. 457/2005 Coll. on the execution of sentences of deprivation of liberty Act No. 550/2003 Coll. on probationary and mediation officers Act No. 420/2004 Coll. on mediation Act No. 386/1997 Coll. on continuing education Act No. 568/2009 Coll. on lifelong learning Act No. 131 Coll. on Universities Act No. 219/2014 on social work and on the conditions for the performance of certain professional activities in social affairs and family.

Conclusion

Providing preventive educational social assistance, guiding social clients toward self-help and toward development of their own individual potential means:

  • Accept adult education as a significant type of social service and a means of social help.
  • Activate social clients and lead them toward initiative in achieving changes in their life conditions and personal change even in a socially burdensome life situation.
  • Motivate social clients to strengthen personal and social competencies and abilities even in conditions and situations of social adversity.
  • Systematically and consistently lead social clients to personal responsibility for their own lives and to the ability to anticipate and handle social situations and problems.

Author: Prof. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc. References

BAKOŠOVÁ, Zlatica. 2005: Social pedagogy as a form of life support. Bratislava: FFUK 2005. 251 pages. ISBN 978-80-969944-0-3. KOŠČO, Jozef et al. 1987: Counseling Psychology. Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo, 1987. 446 pages. MACHALOVÁ, Mária. 2004, 2006. Psychology in Adult Education. 1st ed. Bratislava: Rádio Print, 2004. 224 s. ISBN 880-969339-6-5; 2nd ed. Bratislava: Gerlach Print, 2006. 224 s. ISBN 80-89142-07-9. MACHALOVÁ, Mária. 2013. Preventive Social Work – The Educational Paradigm in Social Work. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita, 2013. 272 s. ISBN 978-80-555-0932-7. MACHALOVÁ, Mária. 2014. Educational Social Work. Prešov: Prešovská univerzita, 2014. 326 s. ISBN 978-80-555-1118-4. MACHALOVÁ, Mária. 2010. Biodromal Psychology for Helping Professions (social educators, andragogues, and social workers). Brno: Institut mezioborových štúdií, 2010. 222 s. ISBN 978-80-87182 -10-9. RADZIEWICZ-WINNICKI, Andrzej. 2008. Social Pedagogy and Socialization. Facing the Realities of Everyday Life. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Akademickie i Profesjonalne. 644 s. ISBN 978-83-60501-48-1. STRIEŽENEC, Štefan. 1999. Introduction to Social Work. Trnava: AD. 215 s. ISBN 80-967589-6-9.