Continuing Professional Development: Standards and Practices in European Associations of Social Work

Abstract

Pursuing professional development through continuing education in social work field, at any stage, is a principle and a practice that must be followed by each social worker that want to be fully equipped to assist, care and protect those in need. Continuing education is considered essential in providing quality social services for vulnerable individuals, families and groups, being one of the reasons why all the associations of social workers, from all over the world, have developed their own standards in this area. This paper wants to be a resource for social workers, by examining the standards and practices of continuing professional development (CPD), implemented by several European professional organizations in the field of social work. The content of nine professional organizations from Finland, Republic of Ireland, England and Romania websites was analysed and several standards on professional development, codes of ethics and codes of practice in the field, issued by those organizations, together with the literature in the field were studied. The findings show that in each country there are institutions that regulate profession of social work and support social workers engaging in continuing professional development, there are specific standards and legislation and own practices that can be followed, but there is a gap between European countries regarding the resources offered to social workers in accessing and recording their CPD activities, the number of credit points offered by regulating bodies and the cooperation between employers and social workers in supporting the latter accessing CPD.

Keywords: Continuing education, continuing professional development (CPD), lifelong learning, social work education

Introduction

Since 2014, social work, was considered to be a “game changer”, “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline” that “engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing” (The IFSW & the IASSW, 2014, 2020). As a practice-based profession, social work is a complex of knowledge and practical skills, recognized by several characteristics, such as “the existence of a well monitored and regulated academic curriculum, valued and rewarded expertise and experience, and well-planned credentialing, including criteria for licensing and for continuing professional development” (Evetts, 2014, as cited in Mueller & King, 2018), which guide and empower social workers in practicing their profession.

After graduation of bachelor's, master's and in many cases doctoral education programs, social workers are subject to permanent supervision and they are expected to express an open attitude and shown interest for continually develop or upgrade their skills, strong self-awareness and interest to develop new knowledge of self, individual or peer reflection on the new information, and the capability to use this professional growth into an effective and efficient social work practice (Mueller & King, 2018), based on professional ethical principles and values (NASW, 2003). In this context, continuing professional development (CPD) is a concept that not only focuses on professional skills, knowledge and capacities, but also it aims at specific results (Taylor & Neimeyer, 2017) like: improved experience and outcomes, visible change and innovation, supported recruitment, motivated staff, a flexible workforce and improved performance (Broughton & Harris, 2019).

The urge of continuing education in social work is highlighted by all professional membership organizations (IASSW, IFSW, NASW etc) worldwide, which demonstrates the great importance of CPD in social work field (Rentea et al., 2021). According to all the relevant documents on continuing education issue, developed by these organizations, it is an obligation for all social workers to stay up to date and share information about their current practice, knowledge and latest research findings in the field, in order to demonstrate a competent social work practice. They are responsible for “regularly planning, prioritising, carrying out, applying and reflecting” (Broughton & Harris, 2019) on continuing professional education and its benefits for themselves, their clients and the whole community.

Social workers are encouraged to develop and maintain the required skills and competencies to perform their job towards the highest professional standards (The IFSW Europe, 2018), while the schools of social work should develop a curriculum that includes knowledge about continuing education, and should put a greater emphasis on developing skills like and (The IASSW & the IFSW, 2020).

The standards advise social workers to raise their level of competency by continuing their professional development and gain new knowledge of current social work practice, as these are not only a requirement for license renewal of social work practitioners in all states, but also a necessity for them in their work with individuals, groups and communities. These is seen like more than professional obligation of remaining up to date with the evidenced-practice methodologies, revised policies and practices, in order to remain a competent social worker (Mueller & King, 2018).

Not only professional standards but also recent studies (Gray, 2020; Hudson et al., 2020; Mueller & King, 2018; Rentea et al., 2021) show that it is almost vital for social workers to continually improve their knowledge and skills and to be lifelong learners, the positive impact (Gray, 2020) being immediately visible in improvement of self-esteem and confidence which, in turn, are the main motivators for accessing new CPD activities (Cabiati, 2017). There are though many challenges faced by social workers in accessing CPD: the pressure of time needed for the accumulation of mandatory credit points for maintaining the registration, the inflexibility of their employers regarding the allocation of time for participation in CPD activities, long distances travels (Rees et al., 2018) till the location of the learning activities, the lack of the necessary funds required to participate to different credited activities offered by professional membership organizations in social work field, personal challenges and, in many cases, inability and discomfort in interacting with information technologies. At the same time, social workers are challenged by the limited time at their workplace for reflection on the new acquired knowledge, the lack of a learning culture in some work settings and lack of social networks with other professionals (Jivanjee et al., 2015), which are frequently mentioned as obstacles to continuing professional development in the workplace.

There are many benefits that CPD have for social workers, and implicitly for employers and for service users: improved skills, knowledge, ways of thinking and working; a positive learning culture; increased satisfaction with services and the feeling of being valued, motivated and confident (Broughton & Harris, 2019). Other research mentioned how lifelong learning may result in improvement of the ability to cope with challenges and self-reported improvements of cognitive performance (Formosa & Hafford-Letchfield, 2016). Continuing education helps social workers to acquire new knowledge, develops and refines their skills, reinforce professional attitudes, and change for better the individual’s lives (NASW, 2003).

Problem Statement

Recent research (Gray, 2020; Hudson et al., 2020) shows that little is known by social workers about the existence, accessibility and relevance of the CPD activities across European associations of social work, even though their learning and educational needs showed a strong motivation to enhance their knowledge and skills in legislative issues and current intervention methods, to improve service delivery and to receive clinical supervision (Rentea et al., 2021).

At the same time, social workers are under a continuing pressure exercised by the expectations of the regulatory bodies to maintain a contemporary approach to their practice in order to meet the specific requirements for membership of the profession (Hudson et al., 2020). Even though in schools, social work students are taught about the importance of reflective practice, the reality once the practitioner is licensed, is that rarely, if ever, this practice is emphasized in ongoing learning in the workplace (Smith & Loya, 2020).

Research Questions

The key question that this study is trying to answer is: “What standards and practices of continuing professional development are provided by the European associations of social work? Which of them could be used by world-wide social workers? What CPD resources are considered best practice models and could be replicated by other professional organizations in the field? Answering to these questions, social workers are challenged to be proactive and take action for their professional growth, using the types and sources of information offered by the regulating institutions in the field from their country or across Europe, or by other organizations (nongovernmental or private enterprises) focused on CPD.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study is to explore some conceptual elements and assumptions underlying continuing professional development in social work field, and, at the same time, to explore and offer to social workers, a perspective on current CPD standards and practices provided by several well-known associations of social work from Europe, as well as on the current requirements for social workers to maintain their registration.

The paper intends to orient social workers towards specific approaches to continuing professional education in the field, to provide them tools and practice models to reengage in CPD and re-think their plans and programs for continuing education; generate questions, answers and discussions about what can be done to address professional development during their careers and what models can be used, at European level, to improve their CPD.

Research Methods

This research aimed at an exploratory qualitative study, based on a review of the recent literature related to the subject of continuing professional development in social work field, as well as on the websites content analysis of nine professional social work organizations from four European countries (Finland, England, Republic of Ireland and Romania), and the content analysis of the social documents developed by those organizations.

The main themes of the websites and social documents content analysis were focused on the legislation and resources provided by the professional organizations to interested social workers, among which: professional standards, codes of ethics, codes of practice, standards for education and training, criteria and standards of proficiency, professional networks, requirements for registration, peer reflection, supervision, guidance on how to record CPD and other support documents, examples of other social workers, blogs, webinars, CPD auditing, national events, conferences, workshops, online and onsite trainings and other resources.

Findings

System for Continuing Professional Development of Social Workers in Europe -some examples

Old and recent literature in the field of CPD in social work (Congress, 2012; Cabiati, 2017; Smith & Loya, 2020; Terziev, 2017) recommend professional organizations to build a constant system for research, identification and monitoring the needs of continuing education of social workers in compliance to the requirements of the labour market and to the social needs of the vulnerable groups they assist and care.

Finland

The Finnish system of social work provides several standards that encourage social workers, employed in private or public institutions or working as independent professionals, to maintain and enhance their professional skills and to participate in necessary continuing professional education: the and the. In order for this goal to be achieved, these standards invite employers (TALENTIA, 2019) to encourage, facilitate and create opportunities and conditions for social workers to participate in continuing professional education and improve their work, in accordance with the level of their basic education and with the complexity and content of the tasks performed by them in the workplace. It is recommended directly to employers to foster an organizational culture focused on continuing learning, where social workers should be supported and subject to supervision, in order to carry out, in a truly competent way, learning activities that benefit them and their practice. The cooperation between employers and employees is stated in the (TALENTIA, 2019), which contains provisions on the obligation to prepare a personnel training plan for both private and public sector employees: municipalities, enterprises and government agencies and institutions.

England

The need for cooperation between employers and employees in the area of continuing education is met at the), which expects employers to ensure the right opportunities that social workers need for their continuing learning and development and to allocate to them adequate resources to do so. Social workers must respect the principle of taking responsibility for their own practice and continuing professional development in the field (BASW, 2018). They should develop and maintain their professional attitudes, knowledge and skills, in order to provide quality social services to their clients, and they need to find out more about relevant field research or learning from their colleagues, other professionals and service users.

In this respect, there is a wide range of CPD practices and a variety of opportunities that BASW provides to social workers to help them meet their learning needs and develop their career: professional development and professional capabilities framework; practice educator professional standards; webinars, training courses and online events; let’s talk social work podcast; quality assurance in practice learning and more, according to the organisation website. A variety of documents stating the capabilities that social workers should demonstrate in relationship with different vulnerable groups (elderly, autistic, disabilities etc), are provided. For developing these capabilities through CPD, BASW supports social workers through guidance and resources for meeting the requirements of the regulatory frameworks in the UK, face to face or online learning opportunities and training modules, with different topics related to leadership and management in social work, research, policy, service development and improvement, tools for developing knowledge and skills to educate others, direct social work practice, to name just a few.

The organization that regulates social work profession - – made known to public two reference documents in terms of CPD, for English social workers:

  • Professional standards for social workers (Social Work England, 2019), which highlight what a social worker in England must know and be able to do after completing their social work education program, and
  • Guidance on the professional standards for social workers (Social Work England, 2020), which provide detailed explanation of the professional standards in order to support social workers to have a clear understanding of their meaning, and a more efficient and easy use in their practice.

The requirements and areas social workers should consider in order for them to maintain their registration, could be named: to use supervision and, including from clients; to critically on their own practice, learning activities and evidences; to identify their learning needs and permanently renew their professional practice; to record the impact of the scientific research and theories on the decision making in professional practice and on professional evaluations; to develop knowledge on the social problems; to discuss, reflect on and share best practice in the workplace; to identify the impact CPD has on the quality of their practice; to record the learning and reflection in accordance with the guidance on continuing professional development.

The organization puts great emphasis on two main requirements for social workers: to provide evidences to demonstrate that CPD has been completed, by registering them on the website of the association in order to be evaluated, and to use and on one’s own practice. Supervision supports and guides social workers to on their practice, by exploring the decision-making process or ethical dilemmas and cultural issues they encountered at their workplace or connected with the field interventions. The need for supervision is much more intense than the interest for occupational stress or burn-out syndrome, being needed to understand one own skills, strengths and weaknesses and to comment on the different methods and techniques used in practice (Terziev et al., 2017). Other research in the field noted supervision, direct work with clients, and personal therapy as more important than CPD courses or reading books or journals (Taylor & Neimeyer, 2017). Reflection is seen like a review of a practice, of a professional experience to guide future practice, while critical reflection encourages the social worker to “examine their approach, judgements, decisions and interventions, as well as the steps taken to provide objective support, free from the social worker’s own values, views and beliefs” (Social Work England, 2020). Other resources for social workers are CPD blogs (reflection on supervision, feedback and more), real examples of CPD recorded in 2020 and accepted during review, answers to FAQ about CPD, and (a condition for registration for the following year).

The CPD requirements for the 2021-2022 registration year were established after consulting with the sector, and consists in minimum 2 pieces of CPD, from which one piece of CPD isFrom the organization’s point of view, peer reflection means discussing the content of one’s CPD activity with a peer (registered social worker), social worker’s line manager/supervisor or another professional who has knowledge of social worker’s practice. Activities like reflective team meetings, supervision with the managers or informal conversations with colleagues are considered peer reflection activities, during which social workers are advised to analyse their own practice and be honest about any challenges they have faced, focusing on what they have learnt from their CPD and what is the positive impact the CPD activity had on their role, their activities or people they work with, in order to improve their work.

A very useful tool for social workers in England, for deepening their degree learning, developing their skills and strengthening their professional confidence, is The Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) (Skills for Care, n.d.). This is an employment-based programme, during 12-month, aiming at supporting newly qualified social workers, within two years of qualification in their workplace, while they are continually assessed against the continuing professional education standards. The employers are responsible for the management of their ASYE programmes, including for receiving government funding if the programmes meet the necessary requirements. The advantage for both social workers is that they remain in the profession and continue developing their careers while trying to achieve high standards of practice in their work with people that need care and support (children, young, adults, elderly). During the ASYE programme, newly qualified social workers benefit of regular supervision and time for critical reflection (weekly, fortnightly or monthly), protected development time (half day per week), professional development opportunities based on their needs and reduced workload allocation. They must report the evidences of the undertaken activities, focusing on the assessment and quality assurance of their work.

The Republic of Ireland

The Irish registered social workers must “uphold and advance the values and knowledge of the profession” and must act to “prevent the unauthorised and unqualified practice of social work” (IASW, 2009). To meet these requirements, they are supported, represented and guided in accessing their CPD through a variety of resources, among which: a professional community of social workers, professional supervision, free or reduced cost at continuing education events or conferences, exclusive access to different job opportunities, participation in special interest groups and committees, free subscription to ‘The Irish Social Worker’ journal” (IASW, 2020). The principle that one hour of learning is equal to one CPD credit must be considered, and a minimum of 10 CPD credits in each year are for learning activities related to, which was listed by CORU (the Ireland’s multi-profession health regulator) as one of the several learning activities through which the registered social worker can maintain his registration.

In order to benefit from suitable supervision from a qualified social worker, an online Directory was created, with specialised social workers, members of IASW, that meet all the requirements and standards (IASW, 2020) for a quality private supervision in social work. The specific requirements for social work CPD were set and published in a code of professional conduct and ethics (CORU, 2019b), according to which the process of continuing professional development is based on 4 steps or principles that each registered social worker must respect:

  • self-directed review (of the knowledge, skills, performance and professional qualities),
  • plan (identifying learning needs, the expected outcomes and the needed learning activities),
  • implement (the previously planned learning activities),
  • evaluate and reflect (on the impact of the learning on the provision of quality services).

Social workers are supported for better understand and use the professional standards through other two main documents, developed after consulting the stakeholders: one that provides directions on the required behaviours, named CPD Guidance Document (CORU, 2019a), and other that offers tools that can help to build and demonstrate those behaviours in order to meet the CPD requirements, named CPD Support Document (CORU, 2019c). It is expected that social workers could demonstrate achieving a minimum of 30 CPD credits in every 12-month period. The CPD activity must be recorded on the online account of the registered social workers, as well as the evaluation and reflection of the learning achieved, the learning needs and the necessary learning activities for meeting them for the next 12-month period. These recordings are continuously audited, aiming to ensure that they have a system and process in place to maintain their knowledge, skills and performance at high standards in the field.

System for continuing professional development in social work in Romania

In Romania, continuing professional development and “permanent improvement of professional knowledge and skills and their application in practice” (Law no. 466/2004 on the Statute of the social worker, art. 4 and art. 25, par.1) are mandatory for a social worker registered to the National College of Social Workers, the regulator for social work profession. Social workers must constantly improve their professional knowledge and consistently try to raise the quality standards of their profession. They are recommended to actively participate in various activities like conferences, studies, research, teaching, consulting, community outreach and professional organization, to streamline their professional activity (NCSWR, 2008, art. 15 – c). Moreover, they are called to take responsibility for their continuous professional training, by getting involved in exchange of experience or good professional practices and staying up to date with the relevant knowledge in the field and with national and European regulations (NCSWR, 2019).

There are several credited activities on social work field that social workers can perform to access CPD (NCSWR, 2013), among which the following: continuing vocational trainings, training courses and postgraduate courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, symposiums or professional public debates. Other credited activities of CPD are: participation as members of the boards of directors, committees of relevant professional bodies, territorial branches of the NCSWR, boards of social services of non-governmental organizations and agencies, outside the workplace; lecturers in a training program (seminars, conferences, courses); professional practice coordination for at least five students yearly; supervision or professional guidance of up to two social workers, at the workplace; publication of a scientific and professional paper (book), recognized nationally or internationally, or obtaining the title of PhD in a branch of social sciences; publication of articles in publications on social work; publishing articles on social work books / treaties; subscription to specialized magazines, including electronic magazines; participation in CPD activities organized by local branches of NCSWR, experience exchange sessions or self-development activities, development of social services. Members of the NCSWR are required to achieve at least 10 CPD credits for each year of practice in the profession, irrespective of the level of professional competence (beginner, practitioner, specialist and main social worker).

In addition to the National College of Social Workers, other professional membership organization in Romania supports social workers to continue their professional development in the field, by providing to them CPD trainings, professional supervision, the opportunity to participate with personal research to the yearly national conference, projects and webinars (organized by the - CFCECAS), revised (proposed by ASproAS, 2019) or information about the skills package that make up the social worker’s profile (The Association of Social Workers from Romania – AsproAS, n.d.).

Conclusions

There are numerous standards and practices of continuing professional development for social workers across Europe, aiming at the same goals: to ensure that the next generation of social workers have access to quality learning opportunities, based on the social work knowledge resulting from experience, practice and research (IASSW & IFSW, 2020). All these standards recommend social workers to maintain and develop their professional skills and to critically reflect on their professional practice.

Both professional membership organization for social workers and the organizational bodies that regulate social worker profession, from all over Europe, have Codes of ethics and Codes of practices for their members, which provide not only the principles upon which their social work practice should be based, but also standards for practice only, which recommend to its members to take responsibility for improving and maintaining their skills and be accountable for their practice.

The findings highlight the gap between the membership organizations for social workers of different countries in terms of how employers are involved in the process of helping social workers continuing their professional education, the resources provided to social workers in accessing and recording their CPD activities and the number of annual credit points offered by regulators. All the above analysed organizations have some levels of continuing professional development requirements and the number of continuing education credits range from 10 in Romania to 30 in the Republic of Ireland and England. CPD could be earned in various ways, from individual study with only a little or no interaction in the learning process, to conferences and workshops with face-to-face group participation (Smith & Loya, 2020).

These involve some changes at the level of regulators, by improving the collaboration with academia, the public sector and civil society to improve the resources and ways in which social workers access and register CPDs in their country. In the same time, more empirical studies of social worker’s view must be conducted on the subject. The ability to attract funds could be an excellent motivator for providing free CPD activities, especially for social workers from disadvantages rural areas, or working at microlevel with individuals and families from vulnerable groups. Supportive workplaces, reduced workloads, the ensuring a significant study time, strong mentors and strong line manager support, use of distance learning and new technologies, appropriate resources and support to avoid the lack of motivation or quitting their jobs, are pre-requisites for effective continuing professional development (Rees et al., 2018).

Continuing professional development (CPD) has a significant professional value for social workers considering that engaging in lifelong learning allows them to improve and enhance their practice in the field and ensure the delivery of safe and effective services for the benefit of people in need of social care. Continuing education helps social worker prevent the risk of losing one’s ethical and professional integrity or ending up in an insensitive, mechanized round of routines or even pure cynicism.

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Radut Seliste, D. (2023). Continuing Professional Development: Standards and Practices in European Associations of Social Work. In E. Soare, & C. Langa (Eds.), Education Facing Contemporary World Issues - EDU WORLD 2022, vol 5. European Proceedings of Educational Sciences (pp. 1023-1034). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.23045.103