Reflections of Social Workers on the Adoption of the Act on Social Work and the Establishment of a Professional Chamber

• specialized professional activities

– these are de facto more narrowly focused "specializations"; they are exercised by social workers who have the necessary knowledge and skills acquired by completing an accredited specialization educational programme.- supplementary professional activities – these are diverse professional activities that do not belong primarily or exclusively to the field of social work but belong to the field of the exercise of other professions. According to the act, in the field of social affairs and family they may be exercised also by a psychologist, a special pedagogue, a therapeutic pedagogue, a social pedagogue, or another person who meets the qualification prerequisites, including the completion of an accredited educational programme. The act states that the system of specialized professional activities of social work will be established by the Government of the SR by regulation. According to current practice, it is assumed that the specialized fields may include, for example, specialized social counselling, the social and legal protection of children, social guardianship, social assessment activity, perhaps social therapy (or sociotherapy), and the like. The supplementary professional activities may include, for example, supervision, mediation, and the like. The supplementary professional activities are a practical example of the multidisciplinary approach of social work, which at the same time respects the boundaries of the sectors. The Social Worker and the Assistant in Social Work For the understanding of the identity of the social worker, it is important to determine on the basis of which criteria it is possible to identify and define the social worker. In the period before the adoption of the Act on Social Work these were above all:

• the qualification criterion (minimum education) – this is necessary for ensuring professional competence. It is a key criterion, without which at present no definition of social workers can do;
• the criterion of the necessity of the exercise of practice – with regard to it, it is possible to distinguish graduates of social work who do not exercise this profession from social workers active in practice;- other criteria necessary for the exercise of the work of a social worker – e.g. from the ethical-legal field (legal capacity, integrity), health capacity, minimum age, and the like.

With regard to the qualification prerequisites for the exercise of social work, in Slovakia, for a long time – unlike in other countries (e.g. Germany or the Czech Republic) – the study of social work in the system of higher vocational education was pushed into the background. With the adoption of the Act on Social Work, from 1 January 2015 it holds that social work, as a professional activity, may be exercised by:

• an assistant in social work

– the qualification prerequisite is the acquisition of a first-degree university education in the study programme of social work. By this, other study programmes are definitively excluded, including the study programme of social services and counselling. In Slovakia this is a new term, which brings a fundamental distinction between graduates of bachelor's and master's study of social work, also with regard to the possibilities of their employment. Assistants may exercise professional work in facilities of the social and legal protection of children and social guardianship, in facilities of social services, and be professional instructors of social rehabilitation;- a social worker – the qualification prerequisite is an acquired second-degree university education in the study programme of social work. In addition to the same employment as assistants in social work, social workers may moreover be coordinators and managers of social practice, heads of entities in which social work is exercised or of entities within the founding competence of towns and municipalities, higher territorial units, as well as of entities of a private-legal character. A complete novelty in the conditions of the Slovak Republic is that social work may be exercised not only in an employment relationship or a similar work relationship, but also as independent practice. It is important that the independent activity in the exercise of the profession of social worker was excluded from trade activities and the Trade Licensing Act does not apply to it. It is subject to the legal rules for the liberal professions. The condition of independent practice is the fulfilment of the qualification prerequisite of a master's education in the field of social work and the acquisition of a permit from the chamber. The applicant must at the same time exercise social work in practice for at least three years and also meet special prerequisites, specifically to be of integrity, to have full legal capacity, and to have supervision ensured. The Chamber of Social Workers and Assistants in Social Work of Slovakia With regard to the real deficit of a professional organization of social workers in Slovakia, representatives of the schools of social work, institutionally covered in the Association of Educators in Social Work in Slovakia, and employees of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the SR responded with a proposal to establish a chamber by a formal route. This aim was fulfilled precisely by the new Act on Social Work, by which "a chamber as a professional organization associating social workers and assistants in social work" is established. Members of the chamber may be natural persons professionally competent for the exercise of social work; they must really exercise social work and formally apply for membership. Excluded from membership are thus graduates of the field of social work who do not exercise social work in practice, as well as current social workers who do not meet the qualification prerequisites. If they were experts, for example from the field of education, these may, under certain procedural conditions, be guest or honorary members of the chamber, but without the right to vote. They may be members of one of the bodies of the chamber, its professional council, which has competences especially in the field of professional ethics, education, and its evaluation. The establishment of the chamber belongs, on the one hand, to the most important benefits of the new act, but at the same time it also raises some questions. Why are those social workers who so far did not meet the conditions of education in the field of social work excluded from its regular activity, if their importance for practice is assumed, only because they do not meet the currently set qualification prerequisites? Will the chamber not thereby lose significant experts from the field of research and education, since they cannot be members of the chamber? What impact will the concept of voluntary, non-compulsory membership in the chamber have on the wider professional community? Will there not be a fragmentation into members and non-members? These questions arise from the fact that the act anticipates the establishment of the chamber without previous experience with such a body within the sector of labour, social affairs and family. The answers will be brought by the chamber's own activity; on the other hand, it is necessary to pose such questions so that the chamber assists the professionalization of social work in Slovakia in the highest-quality manner possible. In connection with the membership of the chamber and its real functioning, we were interested in how social workers react to the establishment of the chamber and to membership in the chamber. We therefore decided to carry out research that would answer for us some questions regarding the importance of the chamber for social practice, for the exercise of independent practice, the strengthening of the status of the social worker in society, as well as the improvement of the conditions for the exercise of the activities of social work. Reflections of the Respondents on the Adoption of the Act on Social Work and the Establishment of the Chamber The task of the goals thus set out was also to obtain a comprehensive and complex view of the respondents on the new legal regulation of social work and its application in practice. We also assumed the identification of some shortcomings, threats, or unfulfilled expectations, which could serve as a basis for future amendments of the act on social practice. The basic set was the research sample, which was formed by 483 respondents – members of the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work. The research set was formed altogether by 224 respondents (46.3%), that is, those who were willing to fill in the electronically processed questionnaire. The selection was limited by the exercise of the activities of social work and by membership in the Slovak Chamber of Social Workers in the sense of the Act on Social Work. Chart 1 Respondents by gender In our research we also observed some differences in the opinions of the respondents according to gender, which we also statistically evaluated. We ascertained, for example, differences in the interest in membership in the chamber conditioned by the practice of the respondents, differences in the expectation of the resolution of the social status of social workers, and in the interest in the exercise of independent practice. The formulations of our assumptions were as follows:

• Between men and women, graduates of the study programme of social work with more than 10 years of practice, there exists a statistically significant difference in the interest in membership in the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work.
• There will exist a significant difference between the genders in the expectation of the resolution of the social status of social workers on the part of the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work.
• There will exist a difference between the genders in the question of the exercise of independent practice of social workers, as the Act on Social Work enables it.

For the calculation of the probability of agreement we used the Microsoft Office programme, by means of which we calculated the measured values by statistical functions. We used the following formula for the calculation of the Chi-square, which expresses the sum of the differences between the observed values denoted as O and the expected values denoted as E, which are subsequently divided by the expected frequency E. In the calculation of the chi-square we used a frequency table for the test of the null statistical hypothesis, according to which the frequencies in the individual categories equal the expected frequencies. In the calculation we denote the value as p – we chose a significance level of 5%, which equals 0.05. In the case that the p-value is lower than the significance level, the hypothesis is rejected. In the case that the p-value is higher than the significance level, we do not reject the hypotheses. Such a result means that the difference between the ascertained and the expected frequencies may be a consequence of chance and thus we may consider it statistically insignificant. (Kalina et al., 2010) On the basis of our probability calculation, we came to the conclusion that men, graduates of the study programme of social work with more than 10 years of practice, showed a more pronounced interest in becoming members of the Slovak Chamber of Social Workers and Assistants in Social Work than women graduates of the study programme of social work. (chi-square 0.832196, p=0.732696816). It is also possible to state that there exist statistically significant differences, which point to the fact that men, unlike women, are of the opinion that the adoption of the Act on Social Work strengthened the status of the social worker in society. (chi-square 1.362863, p=0.524863225) In connection with the interest in the exercise of independent practice, our assumption was not confirmed; there do not exist statistically significant differences that would point to differences in the perception of exercising independent practice according to gender; they point to the fact that women social workers have a greater interest in the exercise of independent practice than men. (chi-square 2.83254, p=0.034411386) Within our findings, we take the liberty of pointing to some results, which point to the opinions of the respondents in connection with the establishment of the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work. In chart 2 we present the results, which unambiguously confirm the importance of the establishment of such a professional organization. Chart 2 The need for the establishment of a professional organization An interesting finding is that the expectation of social workers regarding the strengthening of the status of social workers has so far not been sufficiently fulfilled. This may be connected with the fact that the chamber has not sufficiently reflected the expectations in connection with a more pronounced political reach, especially in connection with the resolution of salary conditions and the improvement of the standing of social workers in society, also compared to other helping professions. We present the results of this finding in chart 3. Chart 3 Improvements of the status of the social worker in society These findings are also connected with the following chart No. 4, which speak of the fact that social workers (male/female) do not, with the adoption of the act, perceive a more pronounced social appreciation within the exercise of their activity (media, political decisions, improvement of salary conditions). They do not have the feeling that the social standing has improved with the adoption of the act and the establishment of the chamber. Chart 4 Social appreciation of social workers The exercise of the activities of social work is carried out also within other sectors, and therefore social workers consider it important to resolve their standing also within the regulation of their work positions, the content of the activities, and salary conditions, especially e.g. in the sector of healthcare, justice, education, and the sector of the interior. The percentage expressions point to this fact significantly; we present the results in the following chart. Chart 5 Regulation of the exercise of the activities of social work in other sectors Similarly, the respondents point to the importance of further education through the completion of specialization education, which would, on the one hand, strengthen their professional competences, and on the other hand could lead to the improvement of salary conditions. Although specialization education is defined in the act, by regulation of the Government of the SR so far (since the adoption of the Act on Social Work) only two specializations have been adopted, namely for the exercise of social guardianship and for the exercise of assessment activity. The results of these findings surprised us and point to a high degree of motivation to increase the quality of their work and the need to specialize in the exercise of specific activities. Chart 6 the need for specialization education for the exercise of certain professional activities A new and very significant element in the act is the possibility for a social worker to exercise independent practice. This is independence in the exercise of social work without the necessity of an employment relationship. The exercise of independent practice is not bound to a trade licence; it is a liberal profession. The respondents of our research are undecided in the perception of this possibility, to which the answers in the sense of "I cannot judge" and "rather no" and "no" also point, which together constitute among women almost 62% and among men altogether 61%. Chart 7 Interest in the exercise of independent practice At present, the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work has issued only two permits since 2015. The mentioned lack of interest is probably connected also with a lack of information, probably also with the need for security and anchoring in a regular employment relationship. The reason is probably also the workload of social workers within their profession, and on the other hand also, in connection with the Act on State Service, the limited possibility for social workers in a state-employment relationship to exercise independent practice. Conclusion The adoption of the Act on Social Work is a significant milestone for social workers and assistants in social work. It is important that, according to the said act, social work may be exercised only by a graduate with a university education in the field of social work. An important part of the very process of professionalization was the establishment of the chamber of social workers. The establishment of the chamber, also according to the answers of the respondents of our research, was an important step, but on the other hand, according to the statements, the chamber has so far not been fulfilling the expectations regarding the strengthening of the status of social workers, and some assumptions are not fulfilled. This is, for example, the regulation of the standing of social workers within other sectors, or the possibilities of participating in specialization education. We were surprised by the relatively low level of interest in the exercise of independent practice; in the statistical verification, no significant differences according to gender were ascertained. On the other hand, the greatest interest in membership in the chamber of social workers was shown by men with more than 10 years of practice in the social field, and similarly men are of the opinion that the adoption of the act strengthened the status of the social worker to a greater extent than women. It remains a fact that not all members of the chamber of social workers and assistants in social work participated in the research. It is possible that the very short duration of the chamber and its activity, which is taking shape, also had an influence on the results of our research. Similar research has so far not been carried out in Slovakia; it would be interesting to continue in the investigation of the identity, the status standing, and the interest in the further education of social workers through specialization study. Author: Prof. PaedDr. Milan Schavel, PhD. Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety, n. o. v Bratislave, SR List of Used Literature KALINA, M. – BACIGÁL, T. – SCHIESSLOVÁ, A. 2010. Základy pravdepodobnosti a matematickej štatistiky. Bratislava: Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave, 2010. 215 s. ISBN 978-80-227-3273-4. SCHAVEL, M. Súčasné paradoxy vo vysokoškolskej príprave a praktickom uplatnení sociálnych pracovníkov. 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