Social Work Education
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Social reform
Social reform refers to
socio-political activities whose object is to modify or change a
socio-political practice or some aspects of social legislations without
changing the fundamental political structure. Social reform aims essentially at
a change in the basic values and social institution in a community. It requires
pioneers and leaders of public opinion. Its intention is not to provide just a
temporary relief but to trigger lasting changes in the society.
“Social
Reform” A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make
gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental
changes. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements
suck as revolutionary movements. Social
Reform also means that a group of people with a common ideology who try
together to achieve certain general goals. Usually
those goals being -
- Bringing down crime rate.
- Bringing down poverty.
- Increasing employment opportunities.
- Increasing the overall economical and financial standard.
As far as the modern social
work in Bangladesh is concerned, it has developed out of the social reform
movement of the 19th century. An uncompromising struggle to get
equal rights for women, a concerted attempt towards the abolition of the
outmoded and harmful practices such as child marriage, sati, untouchability,
human sacrifice, etc., come under the term “social reform”.
Finally we can say that, Social reform is a movement
that seeks to change the social and political views of marginalized groups. Social reform movements involve the
marginalized group and the activists in an effort to change political policy
while bringing public awareness to the issue through protests, amended
legislature and the media.
Social Work Education
A
humanitarian profession as diverse as the population it serves, social work
today has taken roots globally, as a profession that enables people to deal
with various complex and difficult circumstances. Complexities may stem from
individual, family or structural issues that require a range of professional
social work skills to mitigate circumstances, alleviate distress and enhance
adjustment. Social work is concerned with ensuring the responsiveness and
effectiveness of various social institutions and systems within which
individuals belong and operate. The ultimate goal, then, is to guide in a
better quality of life and promote psychosocial functioning of people and
thereby an improved social order. Social work education is hence the crucible
where one professional repertoire is precast and the professional acquires
knowledge, attitudes and skills so vital for effective and ethical practice.
The
development of social work education is closely linked with the development of
social work profession. Basically, in terms of social work profession and
social work education the world is divided into two parts. The Northern part
which includes USA, UK and other European countries and the Southern part which
comprises Asian, Middle-East Asian, African and other third world nations.
Social work is an international
profession and similarly social work education internationally has always
embraced both academic and practical components. Social work education
comprises of a theoretical component taught in the classroom and field- based
education involving integration of the academic aspect and practice.Being
a global profession, education for social work takes place in most of the
countries in the world. It has an outreach of around 3000 schools of social
work in over 114 countries in the world.
Social
work is a problem solving and helping profession. When clients enter into a
professional relationship with social worker, they are carrying various issues
and problems and are seeking help in resolving these issues. For social workers
to adequately intervene with clients they need to be trained in the many tools
and techniques that are required to best serve clients. Hence, social worker
need to be prepared to deal with a great variety of issues, without social work
education that cannot be possible.
Finally,
social workers need to be educated in some of the emerging theories related to
solving problems and its relation to individuals, groups and community for a
better understanding of how to develop our society.
Problems
of Social Work Education
Social
work education has its journey in Bangladesh during the period of Pakistan
through a short time training course by the help of the UN in1953 and social
work education and training was extended afterwards. College of social welfare
and research was established in 1958 and being included under Dhaka University.
The college started its educations programs in the sessions of 1958-59 with 55
students.
Since social work has historically been
regarded as non-professional in character in Bangladesh, it has experienced
certain limitations. The main limitations currently of note are:
i) The Department of Social Service
(DSS) under the Ministry of Social Welfare recruited social work graduates it’s
for various social welfare programs up to 1973. However, since 1974, the
government of Bangladesh has changed its recruitment policies to make these
fields of services open for master’s degree holders from any discipline;
ii) There is no professional
association/organization such as those developed in other parts of the world.
This includes an accreditation body for social work education – such as the
council on Social Work Education; a professional organization such as the
National Association of Social Workers or a licensing board such as a Board of
Behavioral and Social Science Examiners.
iii) Although some changes and
adjustments in the curriculum have been made, the current curriculum is
still not up to an international standard and not in accordance with the
changing needs of Bangladesh society;
vi) Standard textbooks in mother
language-Bangla and indigenous reading materials are not available in
accordance with the demands and needs of the students. As a consequence,
reading, practicing and teaching of social work is not professionally
recognized. There is no aptitude and attitude tests taken like developed
countries in selecting students for admission in social work disciplines and
courses; and
v) Finally, the financial and other
resources constraints is an important limiting factors in regard to development
of social work education in Bangladesh.
Keeping
in view of above all the realities, social worker have listed out some of the
problems and challenges related to professional social work education in
Bangladesh which need to be addressed collectively for improving the standards,
enhancing the recognition of the profession and developing literature in
consonance with the social context and work force requirements.
Public Recognition of Professional Social Work(er): Lack of public recognition of social work as a profession is
another critical shortcoming that has a lot to do with its future prospects in
Bangladesh.
Low Prevailing Level: The prevailing
level of Bangladeshi social services and welfare services is extremely low and
that most of the voluntary welfare agencies lack the necessary resources to
meet some of the basic human needs of common people.
Lack of Indigenous Materials or Literature: The major
shortcoming of social work education in Bangladesh is its inability to sufficiently
indigenize its knowledge-base. The basic teaching material with respect to interventionist
methods is still primarily American.
Missing of Fundamental Feature: The professionals alone have not yet acquired any dominant place
to shape and formulate social policies or to administer social welfare
organizations.
National Council for Social Work: We need to have national level council to maintain the uniform
standards of education and give accreditation to institutions as well to
practitioners.
Inbreeding in Several Institutions: Inbreeding that is appointing their own students within the
Departments due to political and other pressures.
Meager Salaries to Social Work Teachers: Low salary and job stagnation, high turn-over, easy burnouts are
some of the crucial issues that would be resolved if we are able to bring
standardization in the social work teaching, and practice and at the same time
portray a desirable and advantageous image of social work profession in the
country.
Social Work Educators are not Practitioners: When the educators, practitioners and students are talking about
social work as a profession like medicine, law, and engineering etc. the
professors of medical college or university practice their profession by
visiting wards of hospital along with the medical students, professors of
engineering college involve in practice and professors of law college also
practice their profession and update their knowledge levels, enhance their
competencies to deal with the issues. In social work, the holistic view on
teaching, practice and research is missing very much, majority Social Work
Educators are found to be comfortable in conventional classroom teaching and
rarely found in practice and research domains.
No activity for Continuous Professional Development (CPD): Most of
the education institute not doing anything for the Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) in the form of conducting Workshops, organizing Seminars,
doing research studies, conducting survey, begging field action projects from
funding organizations, taking students for study tours to out of the state.
Non-Professionals: social work
professionals can teach, guide and train the students of social work like
medicine students can only be trained by medical professors, law students only
can be capacitated by the law graduates likewise same will be applicable for
social work profession.
Developing Field (Service) Action Projects: The University Grants Commission (UGC) clearly mentioned in its
major of areas of concern for the development of social work education and
training in Bangladesh that is development of field and field service project
to provide learning opportunity to the students, growth opportunity to the
staff and service opportunity to the people. But the process of developing projects
and executing is missing a lot.
It is significant to note that despite
above mentioned limitations, social work is quite popular among students
because they find more employment not only with government development agencies
e.g. Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Department of Social Service
(DSS), Department of Women Development but also with NGO’s upon completion of
social work degrees.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 in England
The Elizabethan Poor Laws were passed as a response to
the increasing number of poor in Great Britain.
During earlier times the lords were directly responsible for the care of
their tenants. But the feudal system
began to crumble and the tenant farmers lost their land. Having no source of relief, they drifted to
the cities and larger towns. Few of this
population had the skills to earn a living wage, and as their numbers increased,
pauperism became a national problem. The
first attempt to correct this problem was the enactment of voluntary alms to be
collected in each parish. When this
enactment did not alleviate the problems, an act was passed that required
severe punishment for vagabonds and relief for the poor. This act led to an attempt to discriminate
between the criminal population and the poor.
Finally, the Poor Law of 1601 provided a clear definition of the
"poor" and articulated services that they were to receive. This legislation is the foundation for the
current social welfare system existing today in Great Britain.
The
origins of parochial poor relief extend back at least as far as the fifteenth
century. With the decline of the monasteries, and their dissolution in 1536,
together with the breakdown of the medieval social structure, charity for the
poor gradually moved from its traditional voluntary framework to become a
compulsory tax administered at the parish level.
Legislation
prior to this point largely dealt with beggars and vagabonds. In the aftermath
of the Black Death (1348-9) labor was in short supply and wages rose steeply.
To try and keep this in check, several Acts were passed aimed at forcing all
able-bodied men to work and keep wages at their old levels. These measures led
to laborers roaming around the country looking for an area where the wages
were high and where the labor laws not too strictly enforced. Some took to
begging under the pretence of being ill or crippled. In 1349, the Ordinance of Laborers (36
Edw.III c.8) prohibited private individuals from giving relief to able-bodied
beggars.
In
1388, the Statute of
Cambridge (12 Rich.II c.7) introduced regulations restricting the
movements of all laborers and beggars. Each county "Hundred" became
responsible for relieving its own "impotent poor" — those who,
because of age or infirmity, were incapable of work. Servants wishing to move
out of their own Hundred needed a letter of authority from the "good man
of the Hundred" — the local Justice of the Peace — or risked being put in
the stocks. Following this Act, beggars could pretend neither to be laborers
(who needed permission to wander), nor to be invalids (who were also forbidden
to wander). The 1388 Act is often regarded as the first English poor law.
However, lack of enforcement limited its impact and effect.
Further
legislation followed over the next two centuries. In 1494, the Vagabonds and Beggars Act
(11 Henry VII c.2) determined that: "Vagabonds, idle and suspected persons
shall be set in the stocks for three days and three nights and have none other
sustenance but bread and water and then shall be put out of Town. Every beggar
suitable to work shall resort to the Hundred where he last dwelled, is best
known, or was born and there remain upon the pain aforesaid." Worse was to
come — the 1547 Statute of
Legal Settlement (1 Edw. VI. c.3) enacted that a sturdy beggar
could be branded or made a slave for two years (or for life if he absconded).
The Act condemned "...foolish pity and mercy" for vagrants. On a more
positive note, cottages were to be erected for the impotent poor, and they were
to be relieved or cured.
The seeds of the future
direction of the poor laws in a short-lived Act of 1536 which required
Churchwardens in each parish to collect voluntary alms in a 'common box' to
provide handouts for those who could not work. At the same time, the idle and
the able-bodied poor were obliged to perform labor, with punishment for those
who refused. The Act also placed a prohibition on begging and on unofficial
almsgiving. In the following decades, compulsory poor-taxes were established in
London, Cambridge, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, and York.
Here
are some key historical dates in the years prior to the 1601 law followed by
discussion of the law:
|
1552
|
Parish registers of the poor were
introduced so that there was an official record of those who fell into the
category of 'poor'
|
|
1563
|
Justices of the Peace were
authorized and empowered to raise compulsory funds for the relief of the poor
and, for the first time, the poor were put into different categories
|
|
1572
|
the first compulsory local poor
law tax was imposed making the alleviation of poverty a local responsibility
|
|
1576
|
the idea of a deterrent workhouse
was first suggested although nothing was done at this point
|
|
1597
|
Justices of the Peace once more
were authorized and empowered to raise compulsory funds for the relief of the
poor and the post of 'Overseer of the Poor' was created. The position
continued after the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act
|
|
1601
|
the 'Elizabethan Poor Law' was
passed [43 Eliz I Cap. 2], consolidating all the previous legislation into
one massive law and made provision for
|
In 1597, an Act For the Relief of the Poor
(39 Eliz. c.3) required every parish to appoint Overseers of the Poor whose
responsibility it was to find work for the unemployed and to set up
parish-houses for those incapable of supporting themselves.
In 1601, the 43rd year of the
reign of Elizabeth I, saw the passing of An
Acte for the Reliefe of the Poore (43 Eliz. I c.2) which,
although it was essentially a refinement of the 1597 Act, is often cited as
marking the foundation of the Old Poor Laws.
Although
it was in many respects a consolidation and reiteration of earlier legislation,
the 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor has come to be regarded as a
milestone in British social legislation.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Interesting Facts and Information about Elizabethan
England and The Poor Law, the Acts of Acts of 1552, 1563, 1572, 1576 and 1597 related to provision for
the poor on a parish basis whilst the 1601 Poor Law created a National system
to provide for the poor.
Under
the 1601 Act, each parish was obliged to relieve the aged and the helpless, to
bring up unprotected children in habits of industry, and to provide work for
those capable of it but who were lacking their usual trade.
The main objectives of the 1601
Act were: - The establishment of the parish as the administrative unit responsible for poor relief, with churchwardens or parish overseers collecting poor-rates and allocating relief.
- The provision of materials such as flax, hemp and wool to provide work for the able-bodied poor. Any able-bodied pauper who refused to work was liable to be placed in a 'House of Correction' or prison.
- The relief of the 'impotent' poor — the old, the blind, the lame, and so on. This could include the provision of 'houses of dwelling' — almshouses or poorhouses rather than workhouses. The Act also made the relief and maintenance of such persons, the legal responsibility of their parents, grandparents, or children, if such relatives were themselves able to provide such support.
- The setting to work and apprenticeship of children
Collection of the poor rates
was done by the parish overseers who were unpaid and elected annually by the
parish vestry. This was never a popular job and even missing one of their
regular monthly meetings could result in an overseer receiving a hefty one
pound fine. The poor-rates were dispensed to the needy of the parish as
'out-relief', usually in the form of bread, clothing, fuel, the payment of
rent, or money.
%%%%%%%%%%
Interesting Facts and Information about Elizabethan England
and The Poor Law, the Acts of Acts of 1552, 1563, 1572, 1576 and 1597 related to provision for
the poor on a parish basis whilst the 1601 Poor Law created a National system
to provide for the poor.
Main points of the 1601 Act
- The impotent poor (people who can't work) were to be cared for in almshouse or a poorhouse. The law offered relief to people who were unable to work: mainly those who were "lame, impotent, old, and blind".
- The able-bodied poor were to be set to work in a House of Industry. Materials were to be provided for the poor to be set to work.
- The idle poor and vagrants were to be sent to a House of Correction or even prison.
- Pauper children would become apprentices.
The
Poor Law Act 1601 formalized earlier practices making provision for a National
system to be paid for by levying property taxes. The 1601 Poor Law act made
provision to:
- To levy a compulsory poor rate on every parish
- To provide working materials
- Provide work or apprenticeships for children who were orphaned or whose parents were unable to support them
- Offer relief to the 'Deserving Poor'
- Collect a poor relief rate from property owners
- Parents and children were responsible for each other, so poor elderly parents were expected to live with their children
By this act,
two or more "substantial householders" were to be yearly nominated by
the justices of the peace to serve as overseers of the poor in each
parish. The overseers were to raise
"weekly or otherwise, by taxation of every inhabitant, such competent sums
of money as they shall think fit,"
a) For setting to work the children
of all such whose parents shall not be
thought able to keep and maintain them;
b) For
setting to work all such persons, married and unmarried, having no means
to maintain them, and who use no ordinary and daily trade of life to get their
living by;
c) For
providing a convenient stock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other ware
and stuff, to set the poor on work;
d) For the necessary
relief of the lame, old, impotent, blind, and such other among them being poor
and not able to work. Children whose
parents cannot
maintain them are to be apprenticed till the age of four-and-twenty years in
the case of boys and twenty-one years or the time of marriage in the case of
girls. The overseers may, with the leave
of the Lord of the Manor, erect houses for the impotent poor on any waste or
common.
Criticism
/Limitations of the Poor Law of 1601
Criticism of the Poor Law grew in the
early nineteenth century after the Napoleonic Wars with France, especially
among political economists. David
Ricardo supported the abolition of the Poor Law in his book 'Principles of
Political Economy and Taxation' published in 1817. Any tax raised to pay for
welfare such as poor rates reduced the money available to pay wages. He also
argued that it rewarded laziness, discouraged people from saving for old age or
illness, and encouraged irresponsibly large families. There
are some limitations describe below-
Implementation
and variation
There
was much variation in the application of the law and there was a tendency for
the destitute to migrate towards the more generous parishes, usually situated
in the towns. There was wide variation in the amount of poor relief given out.
As the parish was the administrative unit of the system there was great
diversity in the system. Since there were no administrative standards, parishes
were able to interpret the law as they wished. Some cities, such as Bristol,
Exeter and Liverpool were able to obtain by-laws which established their
control onto several of the urban parishes within their jurisdiction. Bristol
gained a private Act of Parliament in 1696 which allowed the city to create a
'manufactory' so that the profits from the paupers' work could be used for
maintenance of the poor relief system.
Outdoor
relief
Outdoor
relief continued to be the most popular form of relief for the able-bodied poor
even though the law described that "the poor should be set to work".
In 1795 the Speenhamland system was introduced as a system of outdoor relief.
Again, there was variation within the system with some parishes subsidising
with food and others with money. Some parishes were more generous than others
so there was no uniformity to the system. The Speenhamland system was popular
in the south of England. Elsewhere the Roundsman and Labour rate were used. The
system was designed for a preindustrial society, industrialization, a mobile
population, a series of bad harvests during the 1790s and the Napoleonic Wars
tested the old poor law to the breaking point.
Settlement
The
1601 Act states that each individual parish was responsible for its 'own' poor.
Arguments over which parish was responsible for a pauper's poor relief and
concerns over migration to more generous parishes led to the passing of the
Settlement Act 1662 which allowed relief only to established residents of a
parish – mainly through birth, marriage and apprenticeship. A pauper applicant
had to prove a 'settlement’. If unable to, they were removed to the next parish
that was nearest to the place of their birth, or where they might prove some
connection. Some paupers were moved hundreds of miles. Although each parish
that they passed through was not responsible for them, they were supposed to
supply food and drink and shelter for at least one night.
Individual
parishes were keen to keep costs of poor relief as low as possible and there
are examples of paupers in some cases being shunted back and forth between
parishes. The Settlement Laws allowed strangers to a parish to be removed after
40 days if they were not working, but the cost of removing such people meant
that they were often left until they tried to claim poor relief. In 1697 Settlement
Laws were tightened when people could be barred from entering a parish unless
they produced a Settlement certificate.
Effect
on the labor market
The
Act was criticized in later years for its distortion of the labor market,
through the power given to parishes to let them remove 'undeserving' poor.
Another criticism of the Act was that it applied to rated land not personal or
movable wealth, therefore benefiting commercial and business interests.
Cost
The
building of different types of workhouses was expensive. The Workhouse Act of
1772 allowed parishes to combine and apply for a workhouse test, where
conditions were made worse than those outside.
The
Act stated that workhouses, poorhouses and houses of correction should be built
for the different types of pauper. However, it was not cost effective to build
these different types of buildings. For this reason parishes such as Bristol
combined these institutions so that the profits paupers made were plunged back
into the maintenance of the system.
Reliance
on the parish
The system's
reliance on the parish can be seen as both a strength and a weakness. It could
be argued it made the system more humane and sensitive, but a local crisis such
as a poor harvest could be a great burden on the local poor rate.
Chadwick therefore criticized the
Old Poor Law because its decentralized administration meant significant
variation in the treatment of paupers. Chadwick held that the able-bodied poor
should be put to work in workhouses which met the condition of less
eligibility: they could not claim outdoor relief as they did under the existing
Poor Law. Conditions had to be worse than those for the poorest laborer
outside the workhouse, so that people would not want to claim relief. This
would decrease the poor rate, allow wages to rise to their true levels, and
promote honest toil.
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