Social Work profession has been
regarded as an "organizational profession"
which means that a social worker usually practices
in the context of a specific institution, such as
welfare agency, school, hospital, correction agency,
and the etc. Since social work is a deeply contextual
activity that varies enormously across practice
context, understanding the institutional context
of social work practice becomes very crucial to
this profession in order to fulfill her commitment
to their clientele. Given the charity welfare origin
of modern social work since late 19th century, practice
wisdom no doubt has contributed to the knowledge
development of social work. However, through the
years social work has also borrowed knowledge from
various fields, such as psychology, sociology, political
science, economics, law, public administration,
and the etc., while responding to the clientele's
needs under different circumstances. And it is not
unusual for a practitioner to feel distant to any
theory, especially after he/she accumulates field
experiences gradually. Social work theories could
be very often mistaken as guidelines for an "ideal"
practice which will not exist in the real life.
And the gulf between practice and theory in social
work has long been recognized. Are there any social
work textbooks which resolve the conflict and present
social work theories as guidelines to practice?
The course instructor finds Karen Healy's "Social
Work Theories in Context" (2005) complementing
with Malcolm Payne's "Modern Social Work Theory"
(3rd Edition, 2005) will serve the purpose. The
former outlines the key ideas underpinning the contemporary
organizations of, and approaches to, social work
practice. Holding a postmodern approach, it uses
discourse analysis to review three sets of theories:
the Dominant one (biomedicine, economics and law),
the Service one (psychology and sociology), and
Alternative service one (consumer rights movements,
and religion and spirituality). The latter, first
published in 1991 and the second time revised most
recently, presents a range of social work theories
that reflect social work practice from an international
perspective. The theory review chapters follow a
set of structure easy for the readers to follow,
briefly outlined below: What this chapter is about,
Main points, Practice issues and concepts, Wider
theoretical perspectives, Connections, The politics
of the theory, Major statements, Example texts,
Critical practice focuses, and Commentary. A textbook
written in Chinese has also been recommended for
students with difficulties in English reading, since
it takes many references form the 2nd edition of
Payne's book. However, special attention will be
addressed to the reading materials in the above
mentioned books in English.
This course intends to equip the students with the
understanding of the theory construction, the philosophical,
moral and ethical premises inherent in different
theories. The most important among other things
for the students is to understand the context in
which how a theory (discourse) has been conducted,
therefore, it will become possible for them to analyze
the local emerging social work approaches in contemporary
Taiwan, if there is any. After taking this course,
the students are expected to learn to critically
analyze constructs, concepts, and guiding principles
for practice theories, as well as to evaluate the
professional utility of different theories, and
hopefully to join the creation of future local social
work theories. However, by choosing a specific theory
of his/her interest to work on the potential thesis
topic as the final assignment will ensure the student
a solid theoretic base for future thesis research.
Schedule and Content:
9/20 Preview of Teaching Plan
9/27 The Context and Construction of Social Work
Theory
Payne Chap. 1 & 2, Healy Chap. 1, and 宋(Song's)
Chap. 1
10/4 Issues in SW Practice Theory
Payne Chap. 3, Healy Chap. 5 and 宋(Song's) Chap.
2
10/11 Psychodynamic Perspectives
Payne Chap. 4, Healy Chap. 2, and 宋(Song's) Chap.
3
10/18 Crisis Intervention and Task-centered Models
Payne Chap. 5, Healy Chap. 6, and 宋(Song's) Chap.
6 & 7
10/25 Cognitive-behavioral Theories
Payne Chap. 6 and 宋(Song's) Chap. 4
Social Psychology and Social Construction
Payne Chap. 8, Healy Chap. 3, and宋(Song's) Chap.
5
11/1 Systems and Ecological Perspectives
Payne Chap. 7, Healy Chap. 7, and 宋(Song's) Chap.
8 & 9
11/8 Humanism, Existentialism and Spirituality
Payne Chap. 9 and Healy Chap. 4
11/15 Holiday (NTU holiday)
11/22 Social and Community Development
Payne Chap. 10, Healy Chap. 8, and 宋(Song's) Chap.
10
(Mid-term Exam Due)
11/29 From Radical to Critical Perspectives
Payne Chap. 11, Healy Chap. 9, and宋(Song's) Chap.
11
12/6 Feminist Perspectives, Anti-discrimination,
Cultural and Ethnic Sensitivity
Payne Chap. 12, Chap. 13, and 宋 Chap. 12
12/13 Empowerment and Advocacy
Payne Chap. 14, Healy Chap. 10, and宋 Chap. 13
12/20 Creating Frameworks for Practice
Healy Chap. 11 and宋 Chap. 14, Chap. 15.
12/27 & 1/3 Final Paper Presentation
1/9 Final Paper Due
Evaluation Criteria:
In addition to the text books, some other books
on specific theories have also been reserved in
the underground Reference Room of Main Library
under LW-4, and relative materials will be handed
out as the class proceeds. The students are expected
to review all assigned readings before the class
in order to participate in the class discussion.
And the students will take turn to collect questions
by each Monday afternoon form their fellow students
and then work as discussion leaders in the class.
Class attendance, one take-home exam and a final
paper on a specific theory will be the basic requirement
for taking this course. At the end of the semester,
two sessions of class hours will be reserved for
the students to present their final paper, also
an opportunity to get feedback from both the instructor
and their peers to better their final assignments
before turning in the written ones.
Mid-term Exam: 40%, Class Participation: 20%,
and Final Paper: 40%
Text Book:
Healy, Karen (2005) Social Work Theories in Context,
Palgrave Macmillan
Payne, Malcolm (2005) Modern Social Work Theories
(3rd ed.), Palgrave Macmillan
宋麗玉等著 2002 社會工作理論 台北：洪葉
(Song, Li-Yu, et al., 2002 "Social Work Theory"
Taipei: Hong-Yeh)
