Тема 2. Social Work in Russia

The dialectics of social development in Russia brought to life a new profession. It is called upon to give professional social assistance to people, to humanize social and cultural environment. The profession of "Social Worker" was introduced in 1991. Training specialists for social service has become today one of the priorities of professional education in Russia.

Now in Russia, we also need different specializations of social workers: animator of cultural, recreational, artistic creative activity; valeologist; animators of sports and health activities; culturologist and so on. However, when the new profession is only in the making, we need "by the piece" rather than mass or serial training of social work professionals. The democratization of education on the whole, and of social workers' training in particular, requires freedom, flexibility and openness. It also requires diversity both contents and methodology of training specialists. One more demand for social workers is to be professionally competent. Professionalism means knowledge, humanity and capacity for efficient work.

In Russia the specific feature of the creation of the profession was the domineering role of pedagogues and social pedagogy in the practice of social work. Now the division of all social service activities into socio-pedagogical and social work seems outdated and not legitimate. In the Russian professional model of "social work" emphasis was put on the creation of a unique, integrated representative of the profession - social pedagogue.

We have all the reasons to maintain, that a phenomenon of "a family social pedagogue" is our domestic acquisition. It doesn't have analogous to any other phenomenon in the world practice of social work.

The want for a family social pedagogue is based on the concept of personality interaction with family and society, where the first priority is given to the family. Thus it introduces new approach to structural mechanism of service network.

The institute of social pedagogues is a mediator in the system of interaction of a personality, a family and society. It influences on the formation of educational, humanistic, morally and physically healthy relations in a socium, in a family, family-neighborhood environment, between children and adults. The family social pedagogue's clients are a family and its residential immediate environment. He doesn't wait till a client asks for his help. A social pedagogue in a delicate ethical manner seeks for contacts with a family and a personality. He studies psychological and age peculiarities, people's abilities, examines their microsocium, their interests, friends, living conditions and moral atmosphere. He also reveals positive and negative influences, psychological, medical, legal and ecological problems. Then social workers, specializing in certain profiles, address these problems. There is an organic interconnection between them and a social pedagogue who is working in a residential socium.

In accordance with his professional mission, a social pedagogue concentrates his efforts on revealing and eliminating the causes of negative phenomena and not on the struggle against their consequences. Thus he provides a family and a personality with timely intervention against any kind of degeneracy- moral, physical, psychological, social and so on.

Exercises

1. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

Development; to humanize; environment; animator; struggle against consequences; timely intervention; degeneracy; revealing and eliminating the causes of negative phenomena; interconnection; to reveal positive and negative influences; to study psychological and age peculiarities; to examine microsocium; living conditions; valeologist; culturologist; humanity; capacity for efficient work; social pedagogue; social pedagogy; to put an emphasis on smth.; integrated; we have all the reasons to maintain; delicate ethical manner; on the whole; family-neighborhood environment; residential immediate environment; mediator; structural mechanism of service network; concept of personality interaction; domestic acquisition; formation of educational, humanistic, morally and physically healthy relations in a socium; recreational; flexibility; "by the piece"; to provide with smth.; in particular; outdated; want.

2. Translate the following words and word combinations from Russian into English.

Аниматор; среда; быть учрежденным; художественный; отклонение; борьба со следствиями; своевременная профилактика; выявление и устранение причин негатив­ных явлений; взаимосвязь; правовые проблемы; творческий; валеолог; культуролог; гибкость; требование; способность к квалифицированной работе; гуманность; "поштучно"; деятельность; социальный педагог; социальная педагогика; делать ударе­ние (акцент) на чём-л.; уникальный; выявлять позитивные и негативные влияния; усло­вия жизни; этически допустимая форма (манера); вникать в микросоциум; ближайшее окружение по месту жительства; изучать психологические и возрастные особенности; семейно-соседское окружение; есть все основания утверждать; представитель; оте­чественное приобретение; посредник; формирование воспитывающих, гуманистичес­ких, нравственно и физически здоровых отношений в социуме; механизм построения социальных служб; концепция взаимодействия личности; в соответствии с; требовать; разнообразие; быть призванным; смягчать.

Additional text.

Please, read the text, translate, ask all sorts of questions and render it.

Social pedagogues and social workers work together, delivering different kinds of aid to their clients, performing their own specific functions. Social pedagogue's and social worker's employment depends on their profiles and specialization.

It can be dwelling houses or specialized institutions (residential social assistance, rehabilitation center, foster care system, medico-psychological consultation, employment stock-exchange and others), schools, pre-school institutions and clinics, enterprises, creative and non-profit organizations.

The subject of care is family. The contact of a social pedagogue and a social worker with a family is established on the basis of the knowledge of the specific features of this particular family (and not a family in general), of the knowledge of the pattern of communication in this domain of human living.

Social work methods are based on intervention in the process of various kinds of social work assistance. That's why professional standards and requirements of a social pedagogue and a social worker are based on the Code of Ethics of a social pedagogue and a social worker.

A specific character of ethical standards of a social pedagogue's and social worker's activities, a delicate nature of this profession promote the earliest possible selection of future specialists and attach great importance to the pre-professional stage of their training which foremost can be realized in actual involvement of children and youth in social work activity. These young social pedagogues and social workers live under the laws of social creative activity and initiative and take care of those who are in need of it.

Social pedagogues and social workers create a dynamic mechanism of social protection and support, which is true to life, and help public and non-profit structures reach every family, every human being who is considered to be the highest value of the renewed society.