Quomodo cantibimus canticuum Domine in terra aliena
BREATHERS
STREETS
SEANPARC
HUSBANDING
Introduction to Social Work
Instructor: Joseph Patrick Ferry, MA.
josephpferry@netscape.net
Syllabus
Course Description:
This course will be an introduction to the field of social work. We will examine the history of this effort, the social conditions which brought social work , social welfare and social services into existence.We will study as well as practice the skills necessary to generalist social work practice. We will study those theories that support the activities of a social worker and that are considered best practices.
We will examine the various practices of social workers - casework, family and group work, advocacy, public and social welfare administration, and community development.
Class will study the organizations and institutions in society that employ social workers in their primary or adjunctive functions.
Course Objectives
Student will acquire an understanding of social work and how such work is situated in modern society.The student will develop an understanding of the skills and competencies necessary to the performance of generalist social work.
Students will practice active listening, interviewing skills, assessments, recording practice, advocacy techniques, community organizing, public and social policy reform.
Student will study and develop an understanding of the body of ethical practices and values fundamental to professional social work.
Each student will perform a social work project, with peer and teacher review.
Calendar
- Unit 1 Introductions. History and development of social work Chapter 1
- Unit 2 Types of social work practice. Core knowledge and skill sets needed
- Unit 3 Social Work Values - ethical, unethical practice; self-determination, agentive responsibility, personal/professional boundaries, confidentiality, institutional conflict. Chapter 2
- Unit 4 Assessing, evaluating, diagnosing Chapter 3
- Unit 5 Interviewing, techniques, situational control, communicating, presentation of self, goals, power and fairness. Chapter 4
- Unit 6 Contracts, Plans, Action responsibilities - aiding vs. enabling. The questions of dependence. Use of time. Motivation and empty agreement, Chapter 5 and 6
- Unit 7 Evaluating. Chapter 11 The client or the goal? Authority in social work, for social work. Empowering, impoverishing, employing. The fields of work for an agent of change - public, philanthropic, health and welfare, justice, private practices, political work, industrial practice.Chapters 8, 9, 10
- Unit 8 Cross- cultural, cross-class practice. Ethnocentricities and Cultural Relativism. Language and custom difference in practice, value difference among races, classes, faiths and professions. Chapter 12
Required Texts:
The Practice of Social Work, 6th Ed, Charles H. Zastrow, Brooks/Cole Pub 1998,ISBN 0-534-35657-5
Other necessary readings will be distributed in class or be available
in library.
Ancillary Readings
These readings will guide you towards a deeper understanding of material presented in class and introduced in the text. Many represent the influences that have shaped my own sense of the matters of this course.They are not required for class or to establish an introduction to the field of social work.On Man in the Universe, Aristotle, Black Inc., Roslyn, NY 1943. Book I, “The origin of human associations”, pg. 247-270
The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (pg. 49-68, Book 1, Penguin Classics, 1968). Early enlightenment description of the nature of society and sovereign. Society is individuals freely contracting. “Man was born free, and is everywhere in chains.” Rousseau wonders why.
Society in America, Harriet Martineau. Woman from Great Britain visited America and wrote book of manners and morals of the social experiment that early U.S. was seen to be. Broached many of the questions that continue to exercise the interests of modern social thinkers.
Stigma, Erving Goffman, University of Penn Press. He subtitles this 'notes on spoiled personalities'. A profound essay on thec connections between social power and personal identity and status.
A Centennial Reader, Jane Addams, Macmillan Co., NY 1960, Charity/Justice. early modern forms of secular philanthropic work. Jane Addams is regarded by many as the founder of the profession of social work as practiced in U. S.
The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1959. pg. 3-23. The point of social studies, its possibilities for freedom.
The Structure of Power in American Society, C. Wright Mills, (ex Henslin Reader, Pg. 453-466 )
Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered, E.F. Schumacher, Harper and Row, NY 1973. Criticism of social management, recipe book for activists in a totalizing social world.
Gender at the Crossroads of Knowledge, ed. Michaela diLeonardo, Univ of Cal Press, Berkeley, 1991. pgs 175 -203, Between Speech and Silence, Susan Gal. Bringing social knowledge of and about women up from silence.
The Other America, Michael Harrington, Macmillan, NY 1962. Presentation of impoverishment as an element of affluent society. This book spurred the ‘War on Poverty’ of federal government in 1960’s.
The Careless Society, Community and its Counterfeits, John McKnight, Harper, NY 1995. Social analysis and critique of developing service economy. Author examines some of the paralyzing side effects of professional replacement of communal competencies ( offering comfort and solace as opposed to funding grief counseling)
Family Therapy Techniques, Salvador Minuchin and H.C. Fishman, 1981, Harvard U Press, Cambridge. Systems theory approach to intimate associations that hurt.
On Death and Dying, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, 1969, Macmillan
Student requirements
- 1. Readings
- 2. Social work project
`The worker will, during weeks 4,5, 6 and 7, work on their project. Progress notes will be kept ( handwritten or typed in a binder), notes on background reading and study will be kept in same binder and identified separately, consultations with peers, colleagues, instructor will be kept as notes, separately identified in same binder.
A final oral presentation will be made to class, including conduct, method, outcome of the project, and also a critical evaluation of the project. Binder, including project description, assessment, plan, progress notes, reflections, consult notes, outcome and critique will be submitted on final day of class to instructor.
- 3. Class participation --having done readings, all students will need to be present and participate actively in class discussions.
- 4. Take tests and a final exam: blue book essays.
Grading basis
Class preparation, attendance and participation 10%
Research Projects 30%
Mid exams 30%
Final exam 30%
Optional book report 10%
Evaluations
Evaluations of tests and papers will be based on evidence of your effort, signs of comprehension, and your performance:• Evidence of effort - indication of acquaintance with ideas of authors, writers and thinkers who have considered society's ccondition and practiced social work.
• Acquisition of mastery - signs that you are comprehending the notions, theories, perspectives, limitations of the thinkers that you are exploring.
• Performance - your ability to collect, organize and communicate the matter of the course.
Presence and Participation at all classes, turn in assignments,
- expect a C
Workmanlike completion of all exams, demonstrate acquaintance with
readings, reports, do assignments in scholarly fashion, plus above - expect
a B
Outstanding comprehension of ideas presented in course and competencies
practiced in class, excellent exams, excellent research project, plus the
above, -expect an A.
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