Abstract
Competencies should not be considered as list of technical tasks that social workers do. When considering competencies, we should go beyond technical approach that threatens to deprofessionalise social work. It is difficult to deconstruct competencies because they should be considered as a holistic quality that incorporates knowledge, skills and values. Competencies are both a product and process where these qualities are in mutual interdependence. For this reason, third major area of professional competencies is leadership and competencies relevant for professional socialisation. Therefore, the first part of the chapter focuses on defining leadership in social work and provides an overview of the literature on leadership skills and traits, leadership models, education for leadership in social work, and the potential influence leaders have on the work collective and its members as individuals. In the second section, we will highlight Miller’s model of professional socialisation (J Hum Behav Soc Environ 20(7):924–938, 2010), and special attention will be given to the professional identity and perception of the profession as well as drawing on examples from situations in Croatia where we undergo professional development.
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Notes
- 1.
In Croatia, after earning a degree in social work, persons are obliged to do a traineeship after which they are required to pass the professional exam before the relevant Ministry. Only after passing the professional exam may the person gain membership in the Chamber of Social Workers (the professional organisation assigned the task of licencing social workers).
- 2.
In Croatia, the social work profession over the last 2 years has been marked by three large tragedies: the murder of a female social worker and male lawyer at the Đakovo Social Welfare Centre by a welfare user; a case on the island of Pag when a father threw three of his children from the balcony of the house (family receiving treatment from social welfare) and the case from Pula when a mother killed her 3-year-old child (family receiving treatment from social welfare).
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Podobnik, M., Ilijaš, A. (2022). Leadership and Professional Socialisation. In: Opačić, A. (eds) Social Work in the Frame of a Professional Competencies Approach. European Social Work Education and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13528-6_5
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