Key words
Social Assistant in Practice: Theoretical and practical building blocks 2.
Objectives
Social assistants practise their profession in various sectors of society.
Job differentiation is one of the consequences thereof.
To prove how the vocational profile of the social assistant is based, firstly, on core values and general interventions, secondly, how it takes on a specific cachet depending on the sphere of action concerned, this training module is aimed at all job groups and the corresponding core skills of a social assistant in general.
In this module, we also focus, in particular, on the core skills and sphere of action of a HR Worker, a Socio-Cultural Worker and a Social Adviser.
In this course the students also acquire the basic skills such as responsible use of observation and report techniques and ICT skills which are peculiar to the learning environment and profession of a social assistant.
In their vocational profession a social assistant often works in a group ( a team) and with groups (target groups). Therefore the basic knowledge of group dynamics is important.
The purpose of this training module is to shape these objectives by fostering and developing the following core skills from the training profile:
Job-specific core skills:
-1. Social workers’ vision in all they undertake is based on a broad-based insight into societal reality.
Supporting subset skills:
- To base the actions on relevant judgments;
- To be driven by a personal vision in which the emancipation of the client is the prime concerns.
-2. Social workers employ appropriate, definite and judicially reasoned information in the client’s best interest.
Supporting subset skills:
- To be able to select the salient information and to apply it to a specific problem;
- To point clients in the direction of a suitable service provider;
- To have the client’s best interests at heart.
-3. Social workers can systematically shape processes of social and community work (= social practice) in their respective task areas.
Supporting subset skills:
- To speed up, through good communication and a creative flair, the integration and
participation of people from different (ethnic) origins;
- To incite greater enthusiasm among groups and individuals (to become more involved in
the local community, thereby improving their social life);
- To promote actively the internal and external development and public image of an
organization.
- 4. Social workers communicate purposefully in a context of great diversity.
Supporting subset skills:
- Good interpersonal skills with people and groups from different backgrounds;
- To employ informal and formal modes of communication in various contexts;
- To communicate purposefully in informal and formal groups;
- To develop a well-founded outlook on communication in a context of diversity.
General core skills
General job score skills
- 5. The ability to work in a team.
Supporting subset skills:
- To function as a team player within a department;
- To adapt your attitude and to carter role(s) to cater to different settings and types of
social assistance;
- To take initiatives to foster cooperation.
- 6. To be able, solutions-led and on his own, to define and to analyse awkward and complex situations in occupational practice and to develop and to apply sound strategies for problem-solving.
Supporting subset skills:
- To define and to analyze complex problems;
- To develop and to implement strategies for problem-solving.
General (generic) core skills
- 7. The acquisition and assimilation of information.
Supporting subset skills:
- To employ multiple and effective information channels;
- To select information according to its relevance;
- To synthesize and to sort the information to reflect the wording of the question;
- To valorize the information.
- 8. The ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions effectively, both to specialists and to laypersons.
Supporting subset skills:
- To be adept at holding a conversation (formal or informal);
- To develop a purposeful rapport with colleagues, clients and external suppliers/
organizations;
- To address successfully small or large groups;
- To express yourself clearly in writing.
This training module is interrelated, as regards content, with its sister module: ‘Social Assistant: theoretical and practical building blocks 1’.
It goes without saying that the training module incorporates the social sciences frameworks from the other modules (lying on standard educational route 1) in order to contextualize professional competence and, vice versa, in order to clearly communicate theoretical concepts.
Furthermore, this module lays the foundations for modules lying on standard educational routes 2 and 3, especially for modules such as ‘Fields of Social Work’, ‘Work placement 1’, ‘Methodologies in HRM’, ‘Methodologies in Social Counselling’ and ‘Methodologies in Socio-Cultural Work’ (standard educational route 2) and various systematic modules: ‘Work placement 2’ and final year thesis, notably within the specializations: ‘HRM’, ‘Social Counselling’ and ‘Socio-Cultural Work’ (on standard educational route 3).
Topics
The aim of this training module is twofold:
- firstly, to acquire knowledge;
- and, secondly, to acquire the core skills and attitudes necessary for those starting a work placement and supervision 1 (as described in standard educational route 2).
The class group functions as a learning environment resembling authentic professional situations: it’s an experimental area to develop the necessary basic competences.
It focuses on different course components of this total package, which the student has to master:
1. Occupational practice
The ‘occupational practice’ part consists of several main pillars:
- A theoretical (and practical) presentation of:
- the singularity of the profession;
- the SW profile, a profile of the profession and enhancing its public image;
- an emancipatory vision as a guiding principle;
- the specializations ‘HRM’, ‘Socio-Cultural Work’ and ‘Social Counselling’: history,
definition of the terms, structure, target groups and organizations, methodologies, task
and role of the social worker ...;
- Topic taught via case studies linked to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudinal
aspects of the social assistant.
- Development of a capacity to systematically reflect on your performance and why you chose this profession;
- Practise a few core skills and attitudes (point out mistakes, if any, to the student) necessary for all those starting a work placement and supervision 1 (standard educational route 2).
2. Data acquisition and processing (observation and reporting + ICT)
- Definition of the terms, an introduction to, and learning by practice of, the different basic concepts and perceptual models expedient to different forms of observation in situations that arise in your specialist field;
- Introduction to different reporting formats and discussing the place and significance thereof in social assistance processes;
- Tasks and exercises for teaching the student to observe and report what he sees;
- Exercises to train the student to spot and recognize his observation pattern and its limitations;
- Exercises in written and verbal communication;
- Citing and referencing exercises;
- Apply information technology (IT) in the social assistant’s day-to-day practice (both at the level of the client, and at the level of the organization and extending the network).
3. Group work
- Definition of the terms, theoretical contextualization and information about group dynamics, teamworking, different stages in a teamworking process, kinds of roles, use of weapons, …;
- Exploring and experimenting with (one’s own) power of communication as a powerful tool for working with a group via specific tasks and exercises;
- The capacity to objectively assess the ‘ME’ aspect of teamworking: experience and analysis of how well the student functions in a teamworking process, with the emphasis on ‘ME, as a team member’, instead of ‘ME, the self-centred individual’;
- The students learn, as team players, how to create and maintain a team-spirited working climate;
- They experience, at first hand, an activity that was prepared and taught in a work group setting.
Prerequisites
Entry-level skills
Exit qualifications in secondary education
Final Objectives
Exit-level skills
The core skills from the training profile listed in the ‘objectives’ section are fully underpinned by the following exit-level skills of the training module:
At the level of knowledge and comprehension
The students:
- Cite the singularity of the profession (see under ‘Topics’);
- Can clearly state the self-knowledge, skills and attitude needed in the context of Social Work;
- Correctly define the course components (see under ‘Topics’) of the specializations: ‘HRM’, ‘Social- Cultural Work’ and ‘Social Counselling’
- Know (and recognize) their own nascent views on man and society
- Add a current knowledge of societal reality to the discussion (have an eye for national and international news)
- Analyze communication as a powerful tool for working with a group
- Identify group-dynamic factors and phenomena correctly (see under ‘Topics’)
- Correctly pinpoint the significance of observation and perception, in general, and of the different forms thereof, in particular
- Spot the different factors which could influence the observation
- Correctly distinguish the basic principles of the Harvard method for referencing (citing) sources in the text
At the application level - skills
The students:
- Correctly apply their nascent (professional) communicative and social skills (in preparation of a work placement and supervision 1, as described in standard educational route 2), such as:
excellent powers of observation; empathy; the capacity to objectively assess one’s own functional performance; skills to impart to others and to foster feedback; verbal and non-verbal (body language) communication, written communication, participation and involvement, presenting and speaking to the group, the ability (as objectively as possible) to observe simple and straightforward situations related to the specialist field of the social assistant and to report on them correctly, correct use of the different kinds of reports and their specific field of application, the selection and correct application of relevant information technology (IT), the capacity to reflect on your own functional performance (whether in a team environment or not), experiment with the notion of working with, or within, a group, the ability to mediate and consult with others, aspiring to a high standard of communication, decision-making and evaluation within the group,…
- Employ effective organizational and administrative skills, e.g. making adequate use of information sources, correctly citing information sources according to the agreed referencing system, adept at applying the requisite formatting tools when composing a report, orderly recording and well-structured, straight-to-the-point reports; good use of language and applies the prevailing performance standards correctly, preparing and adhering to a work schedule, the ability to organize an activity, stays within the rules and can state the relationship between said rules and the specified objectives, deals flexibly with unforeseen events, correct use and rational application of information technology (IT),…
- Work in a team: the student’s teamworking skills are honed, among other things, in:
- the collaboration groups, which are part and parcel of this training module: besides the
specificity of the product, the student also gets usefully involved in the process through
correct application of the theoretical frameworks of communication and group dynamics;
- the group tasks which are devised: start-up, phasing of the work, planning and finalizing;
- know, recognize and fine-tune their role within the group;
- can clearly explain the constructive / destructive behaviour of the team members;
- draws attention to the common pitfall of a ‘ME’ mindset in a team environment;
- eager to become a good team player, to take co-responsibility and to help build a
constructive, team-spirited working climate;
- keeps appointments, honours agreements, observes working arrangements and heeds
rules.
At the level of integration
The students:
- Show a committed attitude: show an attitude of commitment made concrete in the following aspects: regular attendance and punctuality, motivation, social attitude, eagerness for learning, taking initiatives and responsibility, developing perseverance and venturing an opinion;
- Show a critical attitude: this is a position made concrete in the following aspects: a balanced view, a view on one’s own frame of reference, a view on one’s own capabilities and limitations and those of others too (peer tutoring), putting oneself, the course materials and the context of social and community work into question;
- Show a respectful attitude: this is an attitude made concrete in the following aspects: correctness in agreements, being present, openness, sincerity, equality, empathy, discretion and a non-judging attitude.
Materials used
::Click here for additional information::
Syllabus (available from the courseware department);
Additional texts (available in the classroom or accessible via Dokeos);
Topical subject-matter.
Study costs
The estimated cost price is ca. € 30:
- 20€ for the syllabus;
- 10€ or photocopies, the booklet.
Maybe: extra costs for exploration of the specialist field, travelling expenses incurred in execution of certain tasks or assignments.
Study guidance
During the lessons, frequent attention is paid to feedback, corrections (pointing out mistakes,...), regarding assignments, exercises, conversations, ... and also with regard to the course materials;
Coaching is given during assignments in sub-groups;
The mentoring system is available - by appointment only – for questions about theoretical and practical aspects of observing and reporting;
Remediation and/or differentiation is possible on application-type tasks in the field of information technology (IT);
Contact details can be obtained from the training staff members involved in that module.
Teaching Methods
The introduction to, and the assimilation of, the course content is supported and stimulated
by:
At the level of knowledge and comprehension
Lectures;
Demonstration;
Learning group;
Supervised self-instruction.
At the application level – skills
Tutorials;
Assignment-based work.
At the application level and level of integration
Lectures ( with an opportunity for dialogue);
Demonstration;
Tutorials;
Problem-oriented methods of working.
Assessment
Presence in the lessons is obliged for the assessment in this training module.
The overall evaluation of the student’s performance on the course is done in close consultation with all the staff members involved in that training module for that student.
In that regard, the continuous assessment, the product evaluation and a written examination occur simultaneously.
Continuous assessment (40% of the marks) depending on their knowledge, attitude and skills. A prerequisite for the process evaluation, is that all course components of this training module are attended by the student. The (growing) process of the students and their active participation during classes are key considerations here.
Regarding the process evaluation an active participation in ALL components of the course is obliged.
Product evaluation (40% of the marks).
The students make several different products:
- a practice work book (with, among other things, student experiential reports, observation
reports, in-course reflection reports,…)
- a folder on topical issues;
- an out-of-school assignment;
- application-type tasks;
- written exercises;
- presentation of a group activity;
- MS PowerPoint presentation;
- self-appraisal and self-analysis;
- an integration assignment in which the student’s knowledge, among other things, is tested;
- an oral test on the student’s observation and reporting skills.
Regarding the product evaluation, the products of ALL components of the course content count towards the final mark.
A written examination (20% of the marks) is scheduled in the exam period at the semester in which you took this course.
The examination is on any part of the entire course content.
Resits
Regarding the product evaluation part, provision is made, in the resits, for an analogous assignment (40% of the marks).
Provision is made for an analogous written examination (20%) – with possible verbal explanation.
The marks gained in the continuous assessment part (40% of the marks) during the first examination period are carried over.
Lecturer(s)
Lecturers
Nicole Vanhoucke (nicole.vanhoucke@hogent.be)
And other staff members involved in this training module.
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