The beginning of contemporary social work in Slovakia
An insight into the recent history of the scientific field of social work in Slovakia
Social work as a scientific field entered the phase of its modern establishment in Slovakia after 1989. That is, during the period of important societal and social changes that significantly affected the daily life of the inhabitants of Slovakia.
Social work in Slovakia as a system of knowledge and application of specific forms and methods (methods, approaches and measures) developed continuously even before. However, political and social changes led to a new trend in the development of social work in Slovakia.
Social work has reached a new stage of its intensive development. She strengthened her position in the system of social sciences. It was fully developed as a scientific field and also as a new field of study at universities. The intensive and diverse activities of the experts caused a wide expansion of social work, which could build on the previously developed and functioning social system and practical social work in the Slovak Republic.
Social work is a separate field of knowledge and practical activity and is of utmost importance in every society. The expression of social solidarity is directly proportional to the ethical and moral maturity of society.
Social work is such a field of theoretical activity, application procedures, concrete measures and activities, which includes the knowledge of several sciences. This gives it the stamp of interdisciplinary science and multidisciplinary practical activity. Social work as a system is characterized by interdisciplinary intersections of knowledge, methods of investigation and practical activity of social work. It creates intersections primarily with social sciences and activities, with psychological and medical sciences and activities. The intersections of science and practice are evident both at the level of theory, as well as at the level of research methods and at the level of practical social work.
The content of social work as a system of knowledge and practical activities in a certain country and society depends in its beginnings of establishment on who is the initiator and founder of social work in a given time and social space, on the basis of which social work was defined and became independent, how a given society understands, applies and develops the potential of social work as a science and practical activity.
Experts from various scientific and professional fields took a significant part in the creation and creation of modern social work in Slovakia in the 1990s. I was lucky enough to be personally involved in activities that in those days were related to the establishment of social work in Slovakia. The initiative and the first efforts must be attributed to experts from the fields of sociology, psychology, social andragogy, social pedagogy and experts from the health department and the department of work, social affairs and family.
According to our knowledge, the initiators of the development of the theory and application of social work in Slovakia in its beginnings since 1990 were, according to our knowledge, primarily scientific, research, pedagogical and professional workers of university workplaces. These workers simultaneously, without determining priority, created the theory and the social work field of study almost at the same time. At the same time, they also defined the areas of practical social work activity and the professional profile of social workers in Slovakia. University workplaces participated in the development of social work, which we will list without the right to evaluate their importance or their contribution to the development of social work. I have no intention of ranking them in order of importance. From our point of view and our own experience from those times, each workplace brought something important and unique to the portfolio of social work. In essence, all of them together constituted social work as a university study field and a field of social practice in Slovakia.
The author of the post is aware that, in addition to the workplaces listed below, other relevant workplaces in Slovakia also participated in the development of social work. However, in this paper we do not aim to "map" their scope, nor do we have ambitions to cover the plethora of workplaces and approaches. We are concerned with a basic orientation in what was happening at the time, so we provide information from our own memory.
Selected workplaces of the creation of the higher education field Social work in the Slovak Republic
The Faculty of Education of the Comenius University in Bratislava opened in 1991, as the first in Slovakia, university studies in the field of Social Work at the Department of Social Work. The staff of this faculty under the leadership of interdisciplinary erudite prof. Ján Gabura and during the work of the outstanding social affairs expert doc. Štefana Strieženac (at that time the author of one of the first social work textbooks), together with the erudite team of the department's staff, participated in the development of mainly the counseling and psychological paradigm in social work. They published many books and collections in the field of social work and regularly organized conferences focusing on social work.
Faculty of Arts of the University of Pavel Jozef Šafárik in Prešov - since 1990, this faculty, under the leadership of the irreplaceable prof. Anna Tokárová, mainly elaborated the sociological, educational and educational paradigm of social work with adults. The main contribution of prof. Tokárová and based on her tireless expert activity for state decision-making spheres, thanks to her personal commitment, the first international conferences of experts focused on the theory, application and practice of social work were organized at this faculty. Thanks to the professor, the first university textbook on social work in Slovakia was published, which today forms the basis of the knowledge of students in the field of social work and is mostly compulsory reading for them. The textbook was published in several editions.
The Faculty of Philosophy of the Comenius University in Bratislava - since 1990, the staff of the Department of Andragogy of this faculty took the initiative in the establishment and development of social work in Slovakia through the study specialization social andragogy. The outstanding scientist and teacher prof. Ján Perhács, in cooperation with interdisciplinary prof. Mária Machalová and PhDr. Lea Šírová-Szabová.
The staff of the department developed an andragogic, that is, an educational paradigm in social work within the study specialization social andragogy. Scientific research activities of the department's staff were aimed at socially disadvantaged and marginalized social groups of adults and seniors. From 2000 to 2002, the staff of the department intensively participated in an international project within the European Commission's Socrates program. It was the first educational project in Slovakia that was supported by the European Commission. It was addressed under the title "Getting target groups of adult education". The project was implemented by the staff of the Department of Andragogy at FFUK under the guidance of prof. M. Machalová (the author of this article), in cooperation with partner workplaces in Finland, Belgium, and Portugal. The results of the project were evaluated highly positively by the Commissioner for Education and the EU Commission. As part of the project, international seminars and conferences were held and several publications were published in English and in the respective national languages, which were used by workplaces and the professional public in Slovakia, Belgium, Finland and Portugal.
Participation of the author of the paper in the establishment of social work in Slovakia Specialization in social andragogy
At this point, we would like to inform you about our participation in the establishment, co-guaranteeing and development of a scientific research and educational base, a new scientific focus and study specialization social andragogy, at the Department of Andragogy of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Comenius University in Bratislava.
The main author of the concept of social andragogy was prof. Ján Perhács. The co-founder of social andragogy was prof. Mária Machalová (the author of this paper) and the successful continuation of the started work in the field of social andragogy is PhDr. Lea Šírová-Szabová, who is the author of the first and so far unique publication in Slovakia called Social Andragogika.
At the Department of Andragogy, FFUK in Bratislava, within the study specialization Social Andragogy, students - future experts in work activities in the social field of practice - have been professionalized and are still being professionalized today. In the beginnings of social andragogy, professional training was carried out through university education of the first (B.Sc.), second (Mgr.) and third (PhD.) levels of full-time higher education at the Department of Andragogy FFUK in Bratislava. However, by studying as part of further education, even practitioners who already worked in the social field, but did not have the necessary qualifications, had the opportunity to become professional. These experts were trained for specialized institutions of social work that were being established in Slovakia at that time, they were: employment offices, social service facilities, organizations providing social assistance. The experts were trained to provide social assistance and social services in accordance with the law, i.e. to perform social primary, secondary and tertiary prevention through: social counseling, social and legal protection, social services, employment services.
Curriculum of higher education in social work
On the basis of our professional focus, we participated in the preparation of the curriculum of higher education in social work during the mentioned period of shaping the identity of social work in Slovakia. The experts responsible for the final wording of the curriculum were prominent university teachers and researchers prof. Anna Tokárová and prof. Peter Ondrejkovič and for the decision-making sphere for the field of social work practice prof. Milan Schavel. The aforementioned curriculum currently forms the general basis of the study plan and the content of study programs in the higher education field of social work in Slovakia. The creation of a unified general curriculum of higher education in social work was initiated by a group of experts led by doc. Štefana Strieženac, prof. Anna Tokárová, prof. Milan Schavel during the workshop of a narrow group of experts. The seminar was held in 2000 under the title Multidisciplinary approach in social work, in the village of Malá Lučivná, under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic.
Establishment of the Association of Educators in Social Work in the Slovak Republic
We cannot forget the fact that in 1997 a professional initiative was created under the leadership of prof. Anna Tokárová to prepare the establishment of the Association of educators in social work in the Slovak Republic. The Association was founded at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov in Prešov. We were one of the founding members of this Association. The main authority of this initiative was prof. Anna Tokárová.
The first university social work textbook in Slovakia
Education of experts in the field of social work and building the professional status of students in the field of social work could not be done without professional literature from this field of science, research and practical activity.
The creativity of the prominent personality of social work in Slovakia, prof. Anna Tokárová knew no obstacles. Enthusiasm and high involvement in education and training of students in the field of social work, led by prof. Anna Tokárová to address a wider team of authors, mostly university teachers, who contributed their professional text to an extensive national university textbook entitled Social work. Chapters from the history, theory and methodology of social work. We are glad to have been part of the collective of authors of this important publication. The first edition of the textbook was published in 2002, and due to great demand, seven editions have been published so far.
Author: Prof. PhDr. Mária Machalová, CSc