7.3 Information Technology of Welfare Services Education Programme

COMMUNITY WORK AS A FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION

Community work forms the basis for the studies of information technology of welfare services education programme. The work is founded on sociopedagogical framework and it focuses on the needs and living environments of people of different ages. The emphasis is on preventive social work and early intervention.

Community work concentrates on affecting the well-being of individuals in their everyday life and on their living environment, in co-operation with the inhabitants and clients. In community work efforts are especially aimed at supporting the individual’s existing potential or at helping him/her find new potential in life, at supporting the clients’ and/or inhabitants’ own motivation to improve his/her living conditions and aims as well as activities based on their mutual interests.

Working methods include work within neighbourhood and families, network and activity based methods (e.g. music, physical exercise and adventure). Special emphasis is on utilising information and communication technology in efforts to achieve good life and well-being for individuals of all age groups.

There is a growing need for the expertise of social field workers to recognise and develop social dimensions of living environment. This requires co-operation with architects and other experts of technical field.

Information technology of welfare services programme offers professional qualifications for those working with clients and individuals, in neighbourhood and community. Future employers include mainly organisations, associations, the private and public sectors as well as organisers of regional plans and various projects.

THE COMPREHENSIVE PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES OF SOCIOPEDAGOGICAL WORK IN THE DEGREE PROGRAMME OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF WELFARE SERVICES

Education in social welfare work is aimed at establishing a wide range of professional competencies. The worker’s efforts are directed at promotion of good life quality in changing and multicultural communities. The worker stresses the importance of community work and improves milieu democracy, supports local cultural features by encouraging citizens to participate in the planning and developing of their own living environment and thereby preventing social problems. Community work is based on workers’ competence in organisation and co-operation work together with various instances offering services. The worker must also analyse and consider his/her client’s life conditions and problems systematically, as a part of problems related to the neighbourhood and community. Community work requires extensive and all-round understanding of regional problems and the processes regulating life in these communities. It is of importance for the citizens’ activities to employ community work models that meet the citizens’ own needs and strengthen their independent control of life. Family work, network, community education and regional work are examples of such work models. A wide-ranging array of professional aptitudes consists of competencies in the following areas.

Understanding Social Phenomena and Social Problems

Community work with social pedagogical approach entails skills in identification, estimating and understanding different kinds of societal phenomena and the nature of them as well as the needs and problems of an individual. The social pedagogy entails appropriate theoretical knowledge of social risks and problems. It is also essential to identify and understand those restrictions and opportunities, which different kinds of communities offer to people. The worker examines and influences behaviours which might underlie, maintain and defuse social problems.

Communication and Interaction Skills, Information and Communication Technology

Communication skills are central to social welfare work. The worker is proficient in communication in various social settings. The worker is able to meet and work with people of different age groups and cultures. As well, the worker demonstrates skills in groupwork and in co-operative efforts, which are essential in networking and in multidisciplinary work. He or she has information technological skills, specially needed when trying to influence social problems and develop new approaches. This entails understanding the political processes and the ability to make politics. In community work the workers must have the competence to support learning processes, to encourage people to and to be interested in their own welfare of their own communities. It is furthermore important, that the worker is able to plan and organise community work. The worker takes an active role in the communicative process and is aware of his/her role and professional competency as well as of the demands of the given situation.

Using Expressive Methods

It is essential in sociopedagogical community work, that apart from professional discussions the worker is able to use also other methods. These methods are for example physical activities, music, adventure pedagogy, drama, theatre, literature and pictorial art.

Using Activities of Daily Living as a Working Tool

Using activities of daily living is one of the working tools in sociopedagogial work in building and maintaining a relationship with a client. He/she can also inform the client of the social services and social security system.

Professional Ethics

Support for the community entails identification of and debate concerning the moral principles and values upon which community life can be built. In the worker-client relationship ethical integrity is manifested in the worker´s ability to determine and understand ethical dilemmas brought forth in the work situation, to priorize ethical values above others, and to act accordingly.

Innovative Approaches

The continually changing work environment demands an ability to employ and develop ones´s work and reach for new ideas. Professional competencies include skills in problem solving as well as in other innovative methods.

THE KNOWLEDGE BASE OF THE SOCIAL WELFARE STUDIES CURRICULUM - THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE LEARNING PROCESS

Knowledge and practice are basic concepts in our society, but are often viewed in
opposition to one another. Theoretical knowledge is often understood in static terms
and is felt to be far removed from reality. A newer vision of professionalism entails
an active, dynamic employment of knowledge. This approach emphasises the
changing nature of knowledge and of the importance of practice, as well as the
role of the student in generating knowledge.

A dynamic understanding of knowledge in social welfare education is manifested in professional practice which adapts itself to changing societal needs and development. The role of education is to maintain a position at the forefront of these changes with a view to developing and disseminating approaches relevant to the changing needs of society. The objectives of this education is to provide the student with the tools needed for ongoing professional development. Workers who have integrated the dynamic knowledge approach into their professional perspective employ this approach in their work and in influencing the work culture with a view to facilitating multidisciplinary co-operation and personal professional development.

Education in social welfare can play an important role in facilitating change. Adapting to changing circumstances is not in fact the only choice for the professional, albeit that the worker will encounter barriers in the form of Taylorist-Fordist concepts of work and the limitations of work cultures. In client work, the dynamic approach to knowledge is realised in involving the client in the process of gathering knowledge pertinent to the helping process, and also in regarding the client him/herself as a resource rather than as the focus of a problem.

Social welfare education is based on the belief in the individual's potential for development and on an understanding of the person as an active being. One acquires skills in reflection and understanding through experience, and can then strive to achieve equality with others while accepting differences and individuality.

The humanistic approach, along with a dynamic understanding of knowledge as well as learning through experience means that he learner is not a passive receptor of information, but rather actively builds his/her ideas through experienced events and perceived phenomena. The building blocks of the learning process consist of personal life experiences as well as of a knowledge resource base accumulated and shaped along the way. As part of the learning process the experiential knowledge attained by the student is brought forward for reflection and consideration, to act as a base upon which new ideas can be deliberated to further develop knowledge and understanding. This process enables the establishment of new perspectives and new ways of decision-making. These new directions are then tested out in the practice arena. The practice experience in turn offers an opportunity to scrutinise new ideas and methods and to progress to yet further objectives through this process. The ongoing process of learning necessitates a willingness to reflect upon and understand personal experience as well as to apply acquired knowledge to practice.

Dialogue with fellow students affects the opportunity to become familiar with other points of view as well as to enrich oneself. Alternative points of view are brought forward and debated, further enhancing the learning process. Problem-solving in group settings affords the opportunity to acquire new knowledge, which would be difficult to achieve through a solitary process.

The learning is a cyclical process of knowledge building, which occurs through the process of communication with others and which is ultimately activated by the learner him/herself. The task of the instructor is to create an environment conducive to and supportive of this process. In addition, it is crucial that the instructor understand the learning and problem-solving strategies employed by the student in exploration and acquisition of new knowledge. The central aim of instruction is to assist in the development of the student's personal thinking processes and in the skills required in the search for new knowledge. It is also essential to encourage the development of the student's ability to reflect upon his/her learning and to support the student's efforts in self-direction and in co-operation with others.