The education of social workers in Slovakia has seen significant growth in the recent period. This situation was caused by the significant absence of experts who were supposed to participate in solving new social problems after 1989 due to social, political and economic changes. At the same time, these changes created the need for new legislative standards in the field of social security, the implementation of which required well-founded, professionally educated social workers.

Education in social work

From the beginning, the interest in studying in the field of social work exceeded the capacity of the schools, the number of students at universities and colleges is high, and their motivation for studying is different. The fact resulting from the adoption of Act no. 312/2001 Coll. on the civil service, according to which, in the performance of their professional activities, the employee of the state administration had to fulfill at least the condition of having completed the first degree of university studies. In this case, it was mainly employees of district offices, and later of labor, social affairs and family offices, with the condition of starting to study in accordance with the above-mentioned law by the end of 2005. Interest in starting to study social work was also expressed by other target groups, such as employees of the police force, criminal justice, customs offices, social insurance company, self-government of cities and municipalities, as well as entrepreneurs, bank officials, employees of private companies, especially in the area of ​​personnel matters, etc. Educational institutions in Slovakia also began to respond to this extraordinary interest with their offers through an accredited educational study program, which they offer not only at their tribal universities and colleges, but also in smaller cities. Over the last period, the number of students and graduates in the field of social work has increased significantly.

For the completeness of the statements, we will also provide some specific data from the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic as of 31/10/2006, according to which a total of 12,933 students studied social work in the academic year 2006/2007, of which 2,244 were full-time students and 10,689 part-time students. Since 1997, 8,411 graduates have completed university studies in the field of social work, with 1,974 students in the internal form and 6,447 students in the external form. Universities therefore create a huge potential of professionally qualified social workers who are prepared for their profession in a unified way - i.e. universally, the very profile of graduates of individual universities is approximately the same (cf. SCHAVEL, M., DÁVIDEKOVÁ, M. Education in social work in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic - comparison of study content. Social work/Social work vol. IV. no. 1/2005).

We would like to remind you that the profiles of the graduates and the summary of professional competences were mainly formulated by the working group under the leadership of prof. Tomeš and members of the working group, which was made up of representatives of individual educational entities under the guarantee of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic and the Association of Educators in Social Work in the years 1996-2000). Despite the fact that there are some efforts to innovate study programs in the field of social work, we can state that these only have the character of modifying the study program through optional subjects, or the creation and introduction of study programs with a so-called focus, e.g. for social work in the state administration, public administration or consultancy, while these study programs do not profile the graduate for greater expertise in the performance of their activities, moreover, they may limit him in his work application when specifying the focus in the certificate of completed education. On the other hand, there is the fact that new phenomena and specifics in the job positions of social workers call for the need for their constant professional improvement. One of the important possibilities is the creation of a system of lifelong education of social workers.

Lifelong learning

The need for further education as part of lifelong education is also pointed out by graduates of the field of study, who in practice often encounter problems especially in the field of counseling when working with clients, a lack of managerial skills in the field of managing social entities or specific orientation in specific problems, such as the fields of social services, social protection, social work with specific target groups, specifically in the field of social work with drug addicts and other socio-pathological phenomena. the unemployed, families with economic problems, the severely disabled, the elderly, the chronically ill and dying, asylum seekers, other marginalized groups, etc.

Graduates of studies in the field of social work also point out the need to supervise their work. Surveys have shown that up to 90% of social workers are interested in supervising their work. The use of supervision in the practice of a social worker is considered by many experts to be a form of increasing professional competence and at the same time a form of further education. At the same time, supervisory training can represent another area of ​​education for professionally educated and motivated social work graduates.

The question of lifelong learning is relevant also because of the documents adopted within the European Union states and therefore also Slovakia. The Ministry of Education is preparing a law on lifelong education, which should respond to new trends and documents in the field of lifelong education and thus replace the currently valid Act no. 386/1997 Coll. about further education. In 2004, our government adopted SR Government Resolution No. 157 of 25.2.2004 also the concept of lifelong education in the Slovak Republic and in 2007 the proposal of the strategy of lifelong education and lifelong counseling with the aim of completing the system of lifelong education and lifelong counseling.

The importance of lifelong learning is particularly emphasized by documents adopted in the European Union bodies, such as: Memorandum on lifelong learning, which was adopted in Brussels in 2000 and is the basic material for the development of lifelong learning in the European area, emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning for the development of the countries of the European Union. Community program of the European Union – Lifelong education program in which the Slovak Republic joined on January 1, 2007 (possibility of using the Grundtvig program, which addresses the needs of adult education in increasing their knowledge and skills, and the Jean Monnet program supporting institutions and activities in the field of European integration in higher education). Interested experts are of the opinion that the lifelong learning program is one of the most effective tools of cooperation in the European context.

Tendencies in the field of supporting comprehensive education are also formulated by the Lisbon Strategy, within which the main goals are considered to be the improvement of the quality of human potential through education with the intention of ensuring a connection with the field of employment and social cohesion.

The Bologna process is also important for the field of lifelong learning, in which a communiqué was adopted at a meeting of participants in 2001 in Prague, in which support for lifelong learning activities resonated significantly. By comparing some systems of lifelong education in the field of social work in other countries, we found that, for example, the continuing education system is well developed in Hungary, where a law on the further education of social workers is even adopted, unlike in other countries, such as The Federal Republic of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and at the same time our republic, where the entire area of ​​further education is built on the spontaneous activities of educational institutions or civic associations, which support (often unsystematically) the improvement of some activities in the form of short-term educational programs. A well-developed system called extension studies after completing a master's degree in the field of social work are underway in the United States of America.

Perspectives in further education of social workers

It is a favorable time for the creation of a comprehensive system of further education of social workers in Slovakia. At many open events, representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family also declare the need for further education. As we have already mentioned, even social workers themselves feel the need for education. Some legislative prerequisites for the implementation of further education have already been adopted, unfortunately they are almost never fulfilled. It is e.g. Act No. 312/2001 Coll. on civil service, Act no. 552/2003 Coll. on the performance of works in the public interest, Act no. 311/2001 Coll. - the Labor Code, but also Act No. 305/2005 Coll. on socio-legal protection and social guardianship, or initiative proposals in the process of preparing the law on social services. Creating further education of social workers in specialized forms through accredited educational activities (the approval body is the Accreditation Commission of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic for further education), the content of individual educational activities must be created by experts from practice and experienced educators. Further education must provide its graduates with the opportunity to improve their professional competences and create a better opportunity to apply on the labor market.

The second important target group for the field of further education in social work should be graduates of I. or II. degree in related fields of study who perform social work but are not graduates of this field of study. They are mainly special and therapeutic pedagogues in social service facilities, who have many years of experience from working in these types of entities. Further education of social workers should create a wide space for those interested in state administration, local government and subjects of non-governmental organizations whose activities are oriented towards work in the social field.

Part of the system solution for the further education of social workers must also be the creation of prerequisites for the financial evaluation of those who are engaged in long-term and purposeful education. Incentives for these incentives can be found in remuneration, e.g. doctors or, more recently, teachers. The management of the University of Health and Social Work of St. Alžbety in Bratislava to the initiative step to establish the Institute of further education of social workers within its organizational structure. This important step creates a prerequisite for the creation of conditions for the establishment of a comprehensive system of further education of social workers in the intentions of the above-mentioned ideas. Currently, the Institute implements several accredited educational programs and thus contributes to improving the professional competence of social workers.

It is natural that the creation and implementation of a further education system requires the participation of several interested experts - representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, the academic community and experienced practitioners. Initiative of the University of Health and Social Work St. Alžbety in Bratislava can play a key role in this process.

Author: prof. PaedDr. Milan Schavel, PhD.

The lecture was given at the scientific conference Social services in the region. Proceedings of the scientific conference, which took place on November 18, 2010 in Skalica and was published in the proceedings of this conference: MÁTEL, Andrej – KOVAĽOVÁ, Mária – ŠTEPANOVSKÁ, Martina (eds.) Published by the University of Health and Social Work St. Alžbety in Bratislava, ISBN 978-80-970567-0-4, EAN 9788097056704