Doreen Elliott

An Evaluation of Teaching Direct Practice Courses in a Distance Education Program for Rural Settings

This study presents the results of an evaluation of a graduate-level direct practice course taught through a distance education program that utilized face-to-face satellite television instruction. The study also compared the learning process and delivery system of a distance education direct practice course with that of an on-campus direct practice course. The evaluation indicates positive findings for the distance learners in terms of grade outcomes, interaction with instructor, classmates and perceptions of the instructor. The evaluation also indicated some barriers in the learning environment and access to support services. Recommendations are made for improving the barriers for social work practice courses taught by distance learning methods.

Social work and social development: towards an integrative model for social work practice

The early origins of the profession of social work in the Charity Organization Society (COS) and the Settlement Movement symbolizes a present-day ideological dichotomy in the values and goals of the profession. Casework with its origins in the COS has today become therapy and case management. The Settlement Movement inspired the community organization approach and reflected to a certain extent a social reform agenda. This dichotomy is expressed variously as the distinction between microand macro-practice; or the differing approaches of social action and therapy; and sometimes it is expressed as the medical or curative model in contrast to prevention and empowerment. In whatever way these distinctions are conceptualized, the fact remains that they have become separate and often conflicting approaches to the profession. Social work has a diffuse professional identity, due in no small measure to its inability to reconcile these different elements theoretically. Specht (1990) warns that social work has been taken over by psychotherapy and argues that social work should aim to create healthy people through healthy communities. Wakefield (1988a, 1988b) argues that social work has failed to express clearly its ’organizing value’ and proposes a model with distributive justice as an organizing value. Reeser and Leighninger (1990) and Saleeby (1990) express similar concerns about the loss of social justice goals in social work. Meyer (1990) argues that we must repair ’our fractured profession’ and regain the tradition of social reform. Leonard’s (1975) early warning that social work theory

Social Groupwork in Doctoral Programs: Implications for Social Work Practice and Education

Abstract This study reports the findings of a survey undertaken to investigate the position of social groupwork in doctoral programs in North America. Low availability of social groupwork courses and low enrollment in them, as well as low priority status ascribed to social groupwork, was evident in the majority of the responding programs. Possible reasons for this situation examined in this paper include the focus on the individual premise. It is suggested that the implications for the future of social groupwork are serious, since doctoral programs are where the teachers, researchers, and the knowledge builders of the future are prepared. To conceptualize groupwork within an integrated framework, a seven level continuum of social groupwork education is outlined. Use of such a continuum would ensure the adequate preparation of social work practitioners, researchers and educators and might assist in a transition to structural/social models of practice.

Substitute Family Care for Children in Britain

The Children Act of 1989 is said to be the most comprehensive child welfare act ever enacted in Britain. In this article I examine the historical, organizational, theoretical, and politicoeconomic factors that provide the context for the new act. Using fostering and adoption as illustrative examples, I indicate current trends by recent statistics and research studies. It is argued that the Children Act is reactive legislation and has failed to grasp the opportunity to address crucial structural issues relating to societal changes and economic needs.