The Study on the Impact of Social Welfare Practicum on Career Choice
With decreased job opportunities for college (and/or university) graduates due to the worst economic crisis in recent years, there have showed the phenomenon of so called 'job searc...
The Study on the Impact of Social Welfare Practicum on Career Choice
With decreased job opportunities for college (and/or university) graduates due to the worst economic crisis in recent years, there have showed the phenomenon of so called 'job searching reckless of wage levels and career plans,' resulting in many graduates' application for positions of social workers and/or counselors with lower wage levels. They select the department of social welfare thinking that even if they have not an aptitude for the area, things just would go well over time once they are started. College students selecting the department of social welfare lay their purpose on first being employed as soon as possible and second acquiring professional skills. College students with the first purpose sometimes change their major after finishing the first semester in the first academic year or give up their study. They leave in order to search another path after just wasting time in thinking of their real aptitude.
Practical training in actual working sites is a requisite subject for college students and the first step toward becoming a social worker for them. They can graduate after complete practical training courses and where and how they participate in the training have an important role in career selection. Practical training provides an opportunity to form one's own values, and improve and display specialty, and is even more important in terms of processes through which one can grow as a social worker.
Practical training in actual working sites is a process through which one apply knowledge, theories, and values acquired from the university to the actual sites, and provide a chance to determine whether one has an aptitude for the work and select the right career direction. When students majoring in social welfare try to identify career directions clearly, determining their specialty among many areas of such as children, the elderly, the disabled, and health care through subjects they learned and practical training they participated in, will help them in choosing career directions.
This study lays its purpose on examining whether practical training in actual working sites would help college (and/or university) students to become professional social workers as a gateway to society and finding out the effects of practical training on career selection. And also the purpose is laid on providing basic material possibly helping college students who will engage in practical training in the department of social welfare.
First, the hypothesis that of factors of the social welfare department, satisfaction with regular lessons has a positive effect on career selection was rejected. That is, it was reveled that of factors of the social welfare department, satisfaction with regular lessons does not affect career selection.
Second, the hypothesis that of factors of the social welfare department, the desire of facilities and/or institutes to have connections with the department has a positive effect on career selection was rejected. That is, it was reveled that the degrees to which facilities and/or institutes desire to have connections with the social welfare department have no effect on career selection among the students.
Third, the hypothesis that of factors of practical training, satisfaction with practical training has a positive effect on career selection was adopted. That is, in practical training in social work one can lay equal emphasis on theory and practice, and skills acquired even only practical training in social work can be applied to actual working sites of social welfare, and also during the training students can make decisions by themselves, resulting in such that everything related to career selection do not become vague and unclear, so the students can select one special area among various areas of social welfare. Fourth, the hypothesis that of factors of practical training, displaying ones abilities during the training has a positive effect on career selection was adopted. That is, the students can display their own abilities and skills during the training sufficiently, have opportunities to acquire the value of social welfare, faith, and a sense of ethical duty, and are able to make decisions by themselves during the training, faithfully engaging in training schedules and tasks, resulting in such that everything related to career selection do not become vague and unclear, so the students can select one special area among various areas of social welfare.
In addition, if the department of social welfare introduces curricula in the department to high school students who have interest in it, and make regular visits to social welfare facilities and institutions in order to create opportunities to cooperate, students who enter the department can become easy to adapt to the department and have opportunities to make right career selection without much trouble.
In practical training also, there were more female students rather than male ones, and the training was provided in social welfare centers and facilities related to the elderly. In fact, social welfare centers and facilities require more male workers, Of course, there are lots of matters that female workers must take care of, while because social work also require physical strength, men's help is needed. In order for men to have interest in social work, wage levels should be increased to maintain standard of living.