Recently in Taipei, a one-year-old child allegedly died from abuse under the care of an in-home childcare provider. To prevent such things from happening again, the Ministry of Health and Welfare proposed increasing home visitations by social workers. However, this would not solve the problem.
Social workers staged a rally in front of the ministry and demanded that the proposal be revoked. A constant labor shortage, that social workers are often overworked and low pay are the issues that need to be addressed.
Newly graduated social workers are quite enthusiastic about, and committed to, their jobs. Their passion and dedication are palpable during job interviews.
However, once they start working, they realize that it is difficult to apply what they have learned in schools to actual situations. The fundamental reason is that in Taiwan, departments of social work focus more on theory than practice, and most faculty members do not have practical experience.
As a result, their classes are seriously detached from reality. Even though these departments arrange internship programs, students might still struggle to handle actual situations when they start working.
Some say that after graduation, students can learn from experience in their workplace and eventually obtain the practical knowledge needed for reality.
The problem is that these students face a work environment full of risks as soon as they become social workers.
They also have to work long hours every day.
It is a highly stressful job and social workers are under pressure most of the time, so a high turnover rate is inevitable.
More often than not, before young social workers have accumulated enough experience, they lose their passion while thinking about quitting their jobs.
Departments of social work should focus more on practical training. More classes that help students apply theory to reality should be offered and those with practical knowledge should be hired. Teaching materials should also be revised if necessary.
The point is to highlight the practical aspect of social work.
In class, case studies and tasks from real-life situations should be discussed. This way, young social workers could be more prepared and better trained before they embark on their careers. The gap between theory and practice must be avoided.
Yeh Yu-cheng is a secretary at the Pingtung Public Health Bureau.
Translated by Emma Liu
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