Choosing social work as a career requires a deep desire to serve
mankind. This noble idea of service originated in nineteenth century England,
where enlightened individuals like Octavia Hall, Elizabeth Fry, and Florence
Nightingale left their comfortable homes to work with the poverty-stricken,
sick, and large population of London. They believed that their efforts could
greatly improve the lives of these poor people. These early social workers were
neither trained nor paid.
Today, although the desire to serve must still be paramount, the requirements
for social work are very different. All paid forms of social work in the Far
East, America, and Europe demand some kind of training, and the social worker
today is a highly skilled individual. Firstly, a diploma in the social sciences
or a university degree in sociology or another allied subject is required. Both
the diploma and the degree include studies of economics, philosophy, and
psychology, all of which are subjects dealing with people and society. After
completing this two or three year course, a further year's practical training is
required. The prospective social worker will have to spend a year in a hospital
or an office, during which time, he or she will receive little or no pay. The
social worker has to master the routine of the office during this practical
training. Often, a social worker has a shorthand/typing or clerical
qualification as well, since this is relevant to his or her work.
The social worker will also be required to listen to and observe interviews; to
learn to elicit the right information and to present it in a logical and
acceptable form. Visiting is an important part of the practical training, for
the whole of a social worker's life is spent dealing with and handling people.
Such visits are highly trained and skilled procedures. It is not a question of
dropping in for tea. The people to be visited are often hostile, sometimes
illiterate, and usually inarticulate. To deal with them, to guide and sometimes
to lead from wrong paths to right ones is not easy, and the social worker must
be highly trained in the art of dealing with people before he or she can
accomplish anything. At the end of this practical year, there is a written
examination which is geared to the practical side of social work rather than to
the theoretical.
Legal procedure and the law are important in all social work, and therefore, a
study of the relevant law is required. After passing this final practical test,
then the social worker is fully trained and qualified.
Both in Europe and the Far East, the Social Services are undertaken by a
government department. In England, most Social Services are under the Home
Office or the Ministry of Health. In Singapore, the Department of Social Welfare
takes charge of them. This department is primarily responsible for administering
the Public Assistance scheme. It is also responsible for the T.B. Treatment
allowance scheme. In addition, it provides children's centers, homes for
children and young people, homes for the elderly, and similar services. It is
responsible for the supervision and aftercare of adult offenders and juvenile
delinquents, the protection and care of children and girls, the prevention of
drug trafficking, housing, and emergency relief for victims of flood, fire, and
other similar services.
The opportunities for a social worker are many and varied, but in whatever
branch he or she chooses, they will always be working with people--with the
sick, the old, the child, the delinquent, or the unhappy, and with all of them,
the social worker must show patience, understanding, love, and a desire to help.
Social workers are not well paid, but their reward comes from knowing that they
have helped people to find the right road through life and to live a more
contented and balanced life. |