Analyze the importance of social workers

Introduction: Social work is a highly paid and popular profession abroad, but social work has just started in my country, and the social work systems in Hong Kong and Guangzhou are relatively mature. In fact, our country is in great need of professional social work talents now. National leaders have increased their emphasis on social work.

Internationally, talents who specialize in social work are usually called social workers, or social workers for short. At present, a generally accepted view is that social workers are called "social engineers" and are located in the buffer zone between the government, society and individuals. They play the role of "lubricant" and have positive significance for social stability. For many people, although the concept of social work is still somewhat unfamiliar, it cannot be covered by the green hills, and it will flow to the east after all. Now, this new profession, shrouded in mystery and tenderness, is ready to come to light.

Constructing a harmonious socialist society is inseparable from the strong support of "social work talents". In mainland my country, social work, a profession that has never been well-known to people, has been rapidly heating up since 2012. “High-profile appearance” is the most appropriate way to describe the current social workers’ outbursts.

The "Decision" of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee clearly stated that it is necessary to build a large team of social work talents in China. For the first time, "social work talents" were written into central documents and elevated to the level of national strategy. This is the first time in the history of our country. When the country builds a team at the institutional level, social work is no longer a vague and unfamiliar profession mixed in communities and welfare institutions. It begins to stand up in people's vision. It heralds the arrival of the spring of social work and the beginning of a new era of social work. , also indicates that the social work profession will enter a new period of vigorous development. It is certain that "social work" is a key word of the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. This is a great encouragement to social workers across the country and a great boost to the development of the social work profession.

On November 24, 2012, another good news came from Shenzhen: the construction of social work talent team has entered the civil affairs work task for the first time, and it has been listed as the three civil affairs work teams together with the civil affairs cadre and staff team and the social volunteer team. . The Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, my country's civil affairs system will strive to train more than 100,000 social work talents, and set up social jobs and staff in all civil affairs service agencies, public welfare social groups and private social service agencies. Corresponding social work professionals. At the end of 2012, China’s first school of social work was established at the China Youth University of Political Science.

The social work profession is facing important development opportunities. From training, certification, and employment placement, the state has institutionally provided a green channel for this "unpopular" profession to be presented to people. What is more important is the birth of this profession, because it will inject professional and fresh blood into public welfare undertakings, and it will also create surging power for its own development. This can be proved by several social worker job fairs held in Shanghai in 2012. At the job fair, a large number of applicants flocked to the job fair, which was more popular than expected. The total number of applicants more than doubled compared to the first batch in 2011. At the same time, the academic level of people applying for social work positions is also higher than before. University undergraduates and even top students who have returned from studying in the United Kingdom, Australia and other places have also joined the ranks of applicants. No wonder some experts say, “The spring of social work is here.”

The development of social workers in our country begins with professional education. In 1988, Peking University established the first social work major after the reform and opening up, and began the process of rebuilding social work professional education. By the end of 2012, nearly 200 colleges and universities across the country had established social work majors, forming three levels of education: junior college, undergraduate, and postgraduate. At the same time, some provinces and cities such as Shanghai, Chongqing, and Jiangsu have successively established self-study examination systems for social work majors. The vigorous development of social work professional education has laid a solid talent foundation for the construction of the professional level evaluation system of "social work talents" and the development of the social work profession.

In 2000, inspired by the development of social workers in Hong Kong, the Ministry of Civil Affairs began to propose opinions to the Ministry of Personnel on the establishment of a professional qualification system for social workers, and in early 2003, it issued the "On "Notice on Strengthening the Construction of Social Work Team" actively advocates provinces and cities with conditions to boldly carry out pilot projects for the construction of a professional system for social work. In 2003, Shanghai took the lead in establishing a professional qualification system for social workers. In the same year, Jiangsu Province established a social worker level examination system, and Zhejiang Province established a social work and management position qualification certificate examination system. Cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Fujian, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Ningbo have also conducted exploration and pilot projects in the construction of social work professional systems. Although the national unified social work professional assessment has not yet been officially implemented, it is gratifying that it has already started.

On May 16, 2004, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security issued the "National Professional Qualification Standards for Social Workers", which stipulates the work requirements, theoretical knowledge and skill operations of the social work profession from the perspective of work standards. Social work has been officially recognized as a new profession in our country. However, its focus is on establishing a vocational skills qualification system, and its status is set slightly lower in the occupational appraisal, ranking together with technicians. In the West and Hong Kong and Taiwan, social workers are professional and technical personnel. In view of this, on July 20, 2012, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued the "Interim Regulations on the Professional Level Evaluation of Social Workers" and the "Implementation Measures for the Professional Level Examination of Assistant Social Workers and Social Workers", including social workers for the first time. The scope of professional technology. On December 13, 2012, the National Expert Committee for the Professional Level Evaluation of Social Workers was established in Shenzhen, which means that my country’s social workers’ professional level evaluation has since had an authoritative guidance organization, marking another step forward in the construction of my country’s social workers’ professional level evaluation system. One step forward.

At the same time, the issue of the future of social work talents is also a key consideration for the country. The national civil affairs department will take the lead in setting up social worker positions in the fields of social welfare, social assistance, community construction, disability rehabilitation, public welfare non-governmental organizations, and family life services, absorb social work talents through multiple channels, and improve the level of professional social services in the field of civil affairs work. . Beijing announced that during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, social workers such as neighborhood committee directors, village committee directors, community service personnel, and funeral workers will be graded into junior, middle, and senior professional titles, and corresponding benefits will be considered. The "Interim Provisions on the Professional Qualifications of Social Workers in Guangzhou" recently issued by Guangzhou points out that social workers can obtain professional qualifications through recognition, examination and review. Even Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreigners living in Guangzhou can also apply for the social work profession. qualifications.

Social workers have a history of hundreds of years in developed Western countries. The proportion of professional social workers in the total population in the United States is 2‰, Japan is 5‰, and Canada is 2.2‰. Only registered social workers in Hong Kong Those accounted for 1.7‰ of the total population. According to the standards of developed countries and regions, our country needs at least 2 million professional social workers, which means 2 million jobs. At present, our country has more than 22 million urban subsistence allowance recipients, more than 65 million rural absolute poor and low-income people, more than 82 million disabled people, more than 4.6 million key priority care recipients, 573,000 orphans, 143 million elderly people, and people affected by disasters all year round. More than 1 billion. However, as of the end of 2011, there were only 453,000 people actually engaged in social work in my country's civil affairs system. In terms of workload alone, on average one staff member has to provide services to 1,000 key civil affairs subjects. Compared with countries and regions where social work is relatively mature, there is a large gap. From this perspective, there is a huge gap in social work talents, and the social work profession has great potential.

According to the new national standards, social work positions will be divided into four categories: First, the main business of various public service and social management departments at all levels, such as civil affairs departments, workers, youth and women’s organizations, etc. Departments must equip social work professionals and improve the setting of social work positions; secondly, public welfare service institutions, such as various social welfare service agencies, social assistance agencies, special care and resettlement agencies and other institutions that provide social services must set up a large number of social work positions ; The third is that the community, including the two levels of streets and neighborhood committees, should combine the characteristics of the community and set up a large number of social work positions and use social workers in social work institutions, such as community service centers and social work stations; the fourth is a large number of privately run public welfare and charitable services Social groups and private social service institutions, such as elderly care institutions, disabled assistance institutions, youth service institutions, etc., must be equipped with necessary full-time social workers to provide professional services. It can be seen from this that the main employment fields of social workers are: schools, enterprises, medical social work institutions, elderly welfare institutions, correctional institutions, community departments, social security departments, youth work agencies, marriage counseling agencies, family social work agencies, residential communities wait.

Abroad, social workers are at the middle-class income level. In Hong Kong, my country, the salary of social work graduates is generally about 20% higher than that of graduates of other majors. Generally, the monthly salary of junior social workers is 12,000 to 18,000 Hong Kong dollars, and the annual salary of senior social workers can reach more than 400,000 Hong Kong dollars. Social work is a brand new profession in our country. What standard should its salary be? Are there any related professions that we can refer to? Is the current income level of social workers proportional to the professional labor they pay? Wait, the country is currently strengthening research on these issues. Research, and it is expected that relevant policies and measures will be introduced soon to provide professional social workers with a place to play. Shanghai recently stated that it will soon issue the "Shanghai Implementation Measures for Promoting Social Work in the Community", which will clearly stipulate the salary and positions that social workers deserve. The monthly income of mature "first-level social workers" is expected to exceed 10,000 yuan.

Just like other new things, the social work profession, as an innovation, is an irreversible necessity and trend in the development of the times. Because of this, it is inevitably restricted by factors of one kind or another. The lack of standardized job settings, scientific professional standards, effective incentive mechanisms and good social recognition are common reasons for the slow development of the social work profession in my country.

For a long time, social workers have been in the "unpopular" state. Most people even misunderstand social work as simple "neighborhood committee work" and "something the elderly do." The overall professionalism of the social work profession Not high yet. The vast majority of social workers currently employed have not received professional training, and the small number of social workers who have graduated from college courses have unsatisfactory practical abilities. Although some social work talents have been trained or introduced, the existing practitioners generally have low academic qualifications and levels, and most of them have not received systematic professional education in social work. Their work methods and methods are relatively backward, and it is difficult to provide personalized, diversified, and systematic services. Services, lacking industry self-discipline and evaluation, are unable to effectively respond to and solve new and complex social problems. For example, Pudong District in Shanghai was a pilot area for judicial social workers in 2012, but most of its social workers were transferred from the judicial system or recruited from society, and the proportion of those with real social professional backgrounds was less than 1.

The social work profession also faces a series of institutional obstacles. For example, there is a significant difference between the status and salary of social workers as professional and technical talents. Professional qualification certification has not played an effective role in improving "talent value". Professional qualification certificates are not linked to professional titles and do not match job configurations. There is a lack of uniformity in talent recruitment. Standards and service values ??have been underestimated for a long time. The system for the government to purchase social work services has not been established. The reform of the employment system of administrative and public institutions is relatively lagging behind. Various social organizations are not developed enough. Financial investment at all levels is insufficient, etc. These factors have led to the loss of a large number of social work talents and have seriously affected the vigorous development of the social work profession. It is reported that less than 10 students majoring in social work at Peking University are engaged in cutting-edge social work after graduation. The ratio of China Youth Institute of Political Science is still a little higher. Many social work graduates take postgraduate entrance examinations, go abroad, or move to other industries, with the attrition rate not less than 40%. The number of applicants for the Shanghai Social Work Professional Qualification Examination in 2012 decreased by nearly 40% compared with 2011.

Among them, Fudan University, which has a relatively large concentration of “social work talents”, graduated 22 college students in 2012, but only 2 were actually engaged in the social work industry and 3 were engaged in related industries. Today, when social work has just started, more and more "social work talents" are "looking forward to" policymakers to introduce clearer and more powerful policies.

It takes time for a new profession to be taken seriously, and our observations still need time. In actual operations, some places have made active explorations: for example, Dongshan Liwan and other places in Guangzhou have accepted the ideas of social work professionals and launched "home care" services, and Panyu Liwan and other places have tried to set up anti-drug social workers. Hopefully, a single spark can start a prairie fire. This is not only a blessing for social work talents, but also a necessity to push social work forward, which will ultimately help coordinate the economy and society and build a harmonious society.