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Social Work
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Summary of the Profile
General Description:
Objective(s) of a study programme:
The Master in Social Work aims to train highly qualified social workers with the knowledge, skills, and methods needed to effectively apply social work interventions that are based on social justice and human rights for peoples‘ empowerment, structural changes, social inclusion, and social cohesion. Students choose between two specializations.
Learning outcomes:
Graduates of the program will be able:
1. To systemize conceptual approaches about the changes and perspectives of social work theories by paying specific attention to the critical and social constructionism paradigms that substantiate the application of innovative social work practice, methods, and interventions in professional contexts.
2. To design and perform the human rights-based research of social work practice and its contexts by applying quantitative and qualitative research methodologies with the aim to bring up to date the social work practice in micro, mezzo, and macro levels for the promotion of human rights and social justice in line with the human rights standards.
3. To justify the purposefulness and effectiveness of social work intervention by developing ethically-based and enabling empowering social worker’s and user’s interactions by use of specialized methods of work with individuals, families, and/or groups in unpredictable complex situations.
4. To initiate the creation and development of projects for social services, programs, and/or organizations by integrating the enabling innovative principles and methods of the management of organizations and interdisciplinary collaboration, by engaging local, national, and international financial, human and structural resources as well.
5. To substantiate the application of the human rights standards in social work and the importance of social work values for the development of innovations of empowering social service.
6. To comprehend the results of the analysis of the links between policies, resources, and social structures, and to develop the recommendations for the improvement of social policy, the development of the social service system, and sustainable social development to achieve sustainable and positive change.
7. To reasonably communicate professional information through cooperating with social work professionals, service users, and representatives of other professions and fields, and ethical and responsible ways to present relevant social and professional issues.
8. To critically assess one’s and others' continuing professional learning and the use of innovative social work professional knowledge along with the application of practical and research methods, the reflection on professional and learning experience, and its effects on social wellbeing.
Activities of teaching and learning:
The study methods used in lectures, seminars, and practicums include individual and group projects, problem-solving, case studies, critical analysis of scientific literature, analysis of research, analysis of documents, analysis of video, thematic debates, discussions, collaborative small-group activities, critical reflection, inquiry-based learning, and elements of action research, among others. Time is allocated for student consultations to clarify issues individually or in groups and for advice on the completion of independent assignments. Interactive lectures, seminars, teamwork, practical assignments, and individual and group work encourage students to learn actively, relate their new knowledge to practice, and test it in practice. The learning process emphasizes the growth of the student's experience.
Methods of assessment of learning
achievements:
The University shall apply the accumulative system for the assessment of learning achievements. Students' study achievements shall be assessed in midterms, for intermediate work and examination or defence of students’ self-study work (project). The final mark shall integrate the intermediate work assessment and examination marks. The examination mark shall make 30-60% of the final mark. The proportions of separate components of intermediate work assessment and their weight in the final mark shall constitute 15-35% of the final mark. The weight of the separate components in the final grade is determined and announced by the lecturer during the first lectures of the course.
Framework:
Study subjects (modules), practical
training:
The study programme consists of 120 credits: compulsory subjects in the field of social work studies (84 credits) and elective subjects in social work and other fields of study (36 credits). The study subjects are divided into several blocks:
- Knowledge and its application comprises the following study subjects: Social Work Theoretical Models; Social Work Paradigms; Social Criticism; Intercultural and International Communication; Ethnicity, migration and politics of identity; Contemporary International Crises; Sociology of Civil Society; Equity and inclusion in social work: intersectional approach.
-Research skills comprise the following study subjects: Social Work Research 1; Social Work Research 2; Social Work Master Final Thesis.
- Special abilities comprise the following study subjects: Social Constructionism Perspective in Social Work Practice; Trauma-informed social work practice; Family counselling in the context of changing society; Systemic family counselling in social work practice 1; Systemic family counselling in social work practice 2; Social inclusion in an ageing society; Social work interventions in mental health; Group Therapy in Social Work; Community Practice and Social Development in Social Work; Management of Social Programmes and Projects; Human Rights Perspectives in Social Work; Global Social Work: Reflective Practice for Justice and Peace.
- Social abilities comprise the following study subjects: Critical reflection in social work; Human Resource Management in Social Work Organizations; Life long learning in social work.
- Personal abilities comprise the following study subjects: Reflection and self-reflection: an experiential learning approach; Theory and Practice of Social Work Supervision.
Specialization 'Transformative Social Work'
Elective courses:
Systemic family counselling in social work practice 1; Social Constructionism Perspective in Social Work Practice; Systemic family counselling in social work practice 2; Reflection and self-reflection: an experiential learning approach; Life long learning in social work; Social work interventions in mental health; Theory and Practice of Social Work Supervision; Social Criticism; Management of Social Programmes and Projects.
Specialization 'Social Work in the Context of Global Crises'
Elective courses:
Intercultural and International Communication; Ethnicity, migration and politics of identity; Contemporary International Crises; Sociology of Civil Society; Equity and inclusion in social work: intersectional approach; Family counselling in the context of changing society; Social inclusion in an ageing society; Critical reflection in social work; Human Resource Management in Social Work Organizations.
Distinctive features of a study
programme:
VMU MA Social Work: a study program where theory and practice, critical thinking and human rights, research and supervision, societal transformation, and empowerment of a person and family meet. Students can choose one of two specializations: 'Transformative Social Work' with a national focus and provided in Lithuanian, and 'Social Work in the Context of Global Crises' with an international focus and provided in English.
Access to professional activity or further study:
Access to professional activity:
Social work offers a wide range of career opportunities in many walks of life and careers. Social workers provide social work services in the fields of social services, education, health, corrections and justice system, and armed forces, working in non-governmental, private, public, and governmental settings, including but not limited to national and global social work contexts. Graduates of the Master of Social Work program organize and manage social work activities, carry out social work research, implement prevention programs, administer, develop, and implement national and international projects and programs, initiate new social services, participate in social workers’ training and qualification programs, and plan, implement, and evaluate intervention processes all through the work with the individual, the family, the group, and the community.
Social workers work in many areas of development of society, including but not limited to child protection and welfare, gender equality, aging populations, international migration, global crises (i.e. armed conflict and climate change), the empowerment and social inclusion of people with disabilities and other groups at risk. Professional domains covered by social work practice include psychosocial counseling, work with families and groups, community organization, preventive work, policy analysis and policy building, advocacy. Graduates of the specialization "Social Work in the Context of Global Crises" will be ready to join social work professional community at the international level, while graduates of the specialization "Transformative Social Work" will be prepared to join social work professional community at the national and international level.
Access to further study:
Graduates of the master’s degree in social work can pursue doctoral studies in doctoral programs in social work, sociology, education, and other social science doctoral programs in Lithuanian universities and internationally.
