SomeDilemmas in the Development of Social Work Education in Hungary Istvan Budai A thesissubmitted in partial fulfilment of the requirementsof BournemouthUniversity for the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy January2004 B ournemouthUniversity This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. Abstract Some dilemmas in the development of social work education in Hungary. The research investigates and presents the development and dilemmas confronting social services, social work education schools, social workers, educators, students and employers in Hungary since the 1980s and, in particular, the impact of educational approaches. The aims are to explore the development of social work education, to contribute to the research of the social work education, to the ongoing professionalisation of the social work, vocation and services. in Hungary and to promote the development of the scientific basis of social work, its services and its education. The purpose of this research is to promote the place and role of the social work education in Hungary and to examine the position of Hungarian social work education in European dimension. The research gives an understanding and interpretation of the dilemmas in the framework of social work education, furthermore an outline of the social-societal context of Hungarian social work education. The researcher investigated this theme as a leader and teacher of social work education in Hungary by literature, references and symptoms of social work and social work education practice. The research attempts to implement a multi-method research combining both qualitative and quantitative approaches at the same time whereby the qualitative elements are more dominant. The methods include critical analysis of the literature, observation, analysis of the education curricula and interview- stages. The research presents a comparative analysis of the content of social work curricula in education in Hungary. The 2 research has a critical analysis of social work education in fieldwork research of a sample of Hungarian social workers, educators, students, employers and practice teachers by unstructured, structured, practitioner and focus-group interviews. The research presents findings and conclusions of the research experiences in the context of the research aims, objectives, assumptions and dilemmas investigated, i.e. the main factors and characteristics of the social work education courses, the main important dilemmas of social work education in Hungary and the causes of the educational dilemmas. The research suggests educational and curriculum development as the framework for resolving these dilemmas. 3 Contents Page Number Chapter I. Aims, critical issues and societal background of the research 1. Introduction 16 2. The general aims of the research 19 3. Objectives of the research 19 4. The main critical issues of the research 20 4.1. Changes - expectations - dilemmas - 20 4.2. Understanding the dilemma-concept in 21 this research 5. Assumptions of the research 26 6. Analysed dilemmas in this research 28 7. Framework related to the social-societal context 32 of Hungarian social work education 7.1. The period before the change of the social 33 system 7.2. Change of the social system and direct effects 36 7.3. New right-wing impacts on Hungarian welfare 37 provision 7.4. Role of the state and social care 39 7.5. Problems in the practice of democracy 42 7.6. The users of social work 44 8. The beginnings and development of social work 47 education in Hungary 8.1. The beginnings of social work education 47 8.2. Main points of the development of social work 48 education 8.3. The development of social work education 51 9. European dimensions 57 9.1. EU expectations for social work education 58 9.2. Facts relevant to social work education 59 9.3. A look at some issues of European social 61 work education 9.4. The influence of social work education in the 66 United Kingdom and Germany 4 Chapter II. The critical concepts of the research 1. Introduction 76 2. Dilemmas of education and/or training, academic 77 and/or professional education 3. Knowledge 82 3.1. Knowledge -a collective term 82 3.2. Knowledge - as an approach to a view of 83 society 3.3. Professional knowledge of social work 86 3.4. Knowledge, skills, values and social work 93 education 3.5. Approaches to understandingthe knowledge 95 of social work in Hungary 4. Curriculum and educational development 101 4.1. Curriculum models and orientations 102 4.2. The Hungarian situation 107 5. Social work and social work education in the 'inter- 109 approach' 5.1. The 'inter-approach' and social work 109 5.2. The 'inter-approach' in social work education 115 6. Approaches to the curriculum and educational 120 development and to solving dilemmas 6.1. The reflective and system approach in 120 educational development 6.2. The possibilities of developing the 'inter- 123 approach' in social work education 7. Summary 127 Chapter III. Research methods 1. Introduction 131 2. Selection of research methods 138 2.1. Critical analysis of the literature 138 2.2. Observations 139 2.3. The analysis of documents 141 2.4. Interviews 143 2.5. Triangulation 148 5 3. The sampling strategy 153 3.1. Interviewees in the unstructured interviews 157 3.2. Interviewees in the structured interviews 159 3.3. Interviewees in the practitioner interviews 162 3.4. Interviewees in the focus groups 164 4. The research instruments 167 5. The process of data collection 169 6. The research and the role of reflexivity 172 6.1. Background 172 6.2. The role of researcher 175 6.3. The role of other participants in the research 177 7. Ethical considerations 179 8. Issues of data analysis 181 9. Methodological results, findings, dilemmas and 186 problems Chapter IV. Comparative analysis of the content of social work documents in education 1. Introduction 197 2. Social work education in the context of the regulatory 198 documents 3. Overview of some descriptive and comparative data 201 of social work education curricula 4. Educational philosophies in the currricula 203 4.1. Attitude to social work and social services 205 4.2. The relationship with the participants of 207 education 4.3. The relationship with the closer-wider social 208 environment 5. Aims and objectives in the curricula 209 6. Principles of delivery of education 214 7. Plans for development 21.7 8. The inner structure of curricula 219 6 9. Studies 221 9.1. Structuring curricula by disciplines 222 9.2. Proportion of uni-disciplinaryand inter- 226 disciplinary studies 9.3. Contents of social work studies 228 9.4. Inter-disciplinary studies 229 9.5. The inner contents of inter-disciplinarystudies 231 10. Summary 244 10.1. About curricula 245 '10.2. About the assumptions of the research 246 10.3. About the dilemmas examined by the 247 research 10.4. About mediated knowledge in social work 248 education Chapter V. Description of fieldwork research- Critical analysis of social work education by interview-stages 1. Introduction 249 2. The unstructured interviews 254 2.1. Experiences of curricula and educational 254 development since the beginningof social work education 2.2. The last change of the curricula 258 2.3. Plans for development of curricula and 265 education 3. The structured interviews 270 3.1. About social work education in general 270 3.2. About social work educational developmentin 282 our own school 3.3. About the development of education in our 283 for own school - the possibilities solving dilemmas 4. Practitioner interviews with key managementand 285 members of social services staff 4.1. About social work education in general, 285 connection between education and services 4.2. About the development of social work 292 7 education 5. Focus group interviews 295 5.1. The impact and requirements regarding the 295 connection between social services and education 5.2. Communicated social work knowledge in 303 social work education 5.3. About the development of social work 308 education - the possibilities for solving dilemmas 6. Summary 313 6.1. Unstructured interviews 313 6.2. Structured interviews 316 6.3. Practitioner interviews 321 6.4. Focus-groups 323 Chapter VI. Findings, conclusions, implications 1. Introduction 330 2. Reflections concerning the general research aims 330 3. The main experiences of social work education 331 development in Hungary 4. Main important dilemmas of social work education 339 5. The causesof developmentdilemmas 343 6. The research experiences in the context of the 345 dilemmas investigated 6.1. The first dilemma 346 6.2. The second dilemma 347 6.3. The third dilemma 349 7. Educational and curriculum development as the 351 framework for resolving the dilemmas 8. Summary 357 8 Appendices Appendix 1. Guideline for the document analysis 362 Appendix 2. Guideline (schedule) for the 364 unstructured interviews Appendix 3. Guideline (schedule) for the structured 366 interviews Appendix 4. Guideline (schedule) for the practitioner 370 interviews Appendix 5. Guideline (schedule) for the focus group 374 interviews Appendix 6. Studies from related disciplines 376 Appendix 7. An analysis of social work education in 380 our own school Appendix 8. Details from the focus group interview 386 transcript Glossary 393 References 394 Bibliography 426 9 List of tables and illustrations Tables /1. Conceptualmap of