Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on New Trends in Social Sciences
Year: 2023
DOI:
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The Problems of Social Work Education in Türkiye and Proposed Solutions
Güle İşler, Meliha Funda Afyonoğlu
ABSTRACT:
This study is derived from a master’s thesis entitled as “The Problems of Social Work Education from the Perspective of Social Work Subjects and Suggestions for Solutions” which was submitted to Selçuk University in 2023. The main aim of the study is to investigate the problems of social work education and proposed solutions from the perspective of social work subjects including social work academics, students, and social workers. In this context, in-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview form with a total of 24 participants (8 social workers, 8 social work students and 8 social work academics) employing snowball technique. Data were analyzed by using MAXQDA 20, and two main themes namely “problems of social work education” and “proposed solutions” were discovered. In relation to problems, it was found that the physical facilities and the academic resources in social work education were insufficient, and the quotas of social work departments were high. Furthermore, the limited number of social work academicians, academics who do not have any social work degree, distance education along with higher quotas cause problems regarding to the quality of social work education and employment problems. For these problems, the participants mainly suggested that decreasing the quotas in social work education and increasing the employment opportunities of social workers. In addition, it has come to the fore that the profession should be promoted, and solidarity should be sought to solve the problems experienced in social work education. Other suggestions of the participants are to provide supervision support to students, to employ academics who improve themselves in the field and to close distance education.
keywords: social work education, social work employment, distance education, formal education, Türkiye