Social work is a form of employment that sets itself the goal of promoting either people or social groups who need to overcome various difficulties. Workers in this field provide their "clients" with all kinds of support, protection, and also help them in life correction and rehabilitation.
Instruction manual
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In the modern world, social work is not only a form of employment, but also a social phenomenon, scientific knowledge, a real profession, and even academic discipline, which is studied in pedagogical universities. The International Federation of Social Workers, which was organized in Copenhagen on June 27, 2001, and which clearly defined this type of employment, also functions.
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In Russia, the specialty of a social worker is still relatively young and has been familiar to the country's population only since the 90s. But world experience in this area is richer, since it is through social work that states are able to effectively solve important problems of increasing social tension, the consequences of disasters, blocking risky situations, and also when implementing very complex state decisions. In the USA and EU countries, social work is funded by the state and takes place within the framework of the social policy of a truly social state. Moreover, Germany and France were the first to develop this experience.
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Over the past two decades, work on teaching social work of truly high-quality and knowledgeable specialists has been actively conducted on the territory of Russia. Moreover, the general "array" of participants in this type of employment is divided into two categories - a group of managers who analyze, plan and monitor ongoing work, as well as the social workers themselves, whose knowledge and skills are used in the education system, healthcare, and also in the armed forces of the Russian Federation. The last group cooperates and helps the following sections of the population - large families, disabled people, elderly people who need psycho-emotional assistance and professional counseling.
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Currently, this specialty is taught in 200 Russian universities, while in 1991 their total number did not exceed 20. The Russian State Social University and the educational-methodical association created on its basis, or UMO for short, coordinate this area of study. Now this specialty is completed only by specialists, but in the near future, in connection with the Bologna process, training of bachelors and masters in this professional field will take place on the basis of universities. As expected, this change will be able to put social work on a fundamentally new stage of development and will be able to increase the level of professionalism of its employees.
