Headlines/January 26, 1998

Concentrated program allowed social workers

to earn degree in 10 months

Twenty experienced social workers from the Fraser Valley now
have a Bachelor of Social Work degree thanks to an intensive
10-month program offered by UCFVand sponsored by the
Ministry for Children and Families,

The program was designed to address one of the
recommendations of the Gove Inquiry into Child Protection,
which recommended that frontline social workers have —
bachelor’s degrees in social work. The Ministry collaborated
with the Ministry of Education, Skills and Training and with five
post-secondary institutions across the province in developing a
concentrated program. All of the Concentrated BSW program
participants had degrees or some form of post-secondary
education, but they did not have a social work degree.

The students took the equivalent of third and fourth year of a |

social work degree in 10 months. They were allowed to receive
credit for the third-year practicum component through prior
learning assessment since they already had extensive experience,
and some students were able to successfully challenge other
courses .

Participants say that despite the heavy courseload, they were
glad to have a chance to step back from the frontline for a while
and immerse themselves in the latest social work theory.

“It was an incredibly valuable experience,” says Nancy.
Hamilton of Mission, who has worked as a social worker for
more than 25 years. “It was great to receive updated information,
to step back and look at things in a different way. The
opportunity to share the learning with this particular group, both
the other students and the teachers, was very enriching.”

“The program offered me an opportunity to explore a lot of
areas of social work I’d never thought about before, and to
examine my past practices,” comments Stuart Pledge of Delta.
“It was hard — I hadn’t written an essay in 15 years, and had a
lot of self-doubt going into the program, but the people at UCFV
were really helpful in easing our transition back to school.”

“What really stood out for me was that we were ina group
with others from the Ministry,” notes Lynne Findlay of
Coquitlam. “Being with colleagues who could relate to my
situation and having time to sit back and reflect on things that
we haven’t had time to think about for many years was terrific.

Within two weeks, we were a very closely bonded group that
respected everyone’s opinions.”

Findlay also welcomed the chance to look at issues from a
“big picture” perspective. “I was able to look at the field of
social work in a systemic way, from various perspectives such as
political, feminist, and First Nations viewpoints.”

Georgina Marshall, UCFV’s Social Services/Social Work
program head, says the experience was valuable for instructors,
too.

“These people came to the program with a wealth of
knowledge and we all leamed from one another,” she says. “It
was particularly warming to work with 20 students who were
also our peers in many ways. As we started to get to know them,
I felt very good as a social work practitioner knowing that these
people were out in the field. They obviously all care very much |
and are there for their clients.”

Marshall noted that the class of 20 Concentrated BSW
students was different from a typical class in several ways. Their
average age was late 30s, they all had five to 25 years of
experience, and there was an equal number of men and women.
BSW students are generally younger, and women outnumber
men.he students are hoping to bring a lot of what they learned
back into the field with them

“I’m a different person for sure, because of this experience,
and I will try to be a different social worker,” says Findlay.

“T’ll definitely be trying to stick to our group’s mantra, which is
‘I need time to reflect!”

“I tried to gear my assignments to my work so that I could
enhance my knowledge in special areas that I can apply to my
job,” notes Hamilton.

“I hope to be able to do things better and differently, and to
continue to learn, and seek out new knowledge,” says Pledge:

The Concentrated BSW was designed as a quick response to
Gove’s recommendation that social workers have a BSW —
degree, but the education gap still remains. There are still
hundreds of social workers who don’t have a BSW.

Marshall hopes that some kind of support will be available _
for them, noting that it was a challenging program to offer, but a
very valuable one. 7 —

—

Lucky stars .

Congratulations to Deb Greenfield of
Community Relations, who will be jetting off
to Hawaii with husband Keith to catch the
Rolling Stones later this week. Deb won the _
luxury package by calling radio station CFMI
(Rock 101) at the right time.

Congratulations also to Mathematics and
Statistics department head Susan Milner, who
won a $5,000 travel grant in First Heritage’s
fall bond-buying promotional campaign.
Here’s her story:

“I bought some term deposits at First
Heritage in the fall. They put my name into
their draw.

I didn’t even realize I had entered the draw, —

so when they left messages for me saying ‘you
might have won’, I thought it was a scam of
some sort. Eventually I talked to someone who
assured me it was the credit union, not some
fly-by-night thing. Then I got excited...

“At any rate, the deal was $5,000 towards
travelling expenses, air fare, hotels and so on,
whatever could be arranged by the travel
agent, plus $1,000 spending money. I decided
to do something I’d probably never do with my
own money: We went to New York over
Christmas. We stayed in the theatre district,
went to shows every night (Broadway shows,

opera, plays, the ballet), walked all over
Manhattan, did all the tourist things — Central
Park, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty,
Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street,
World Trade Centre, etc. We did a little
shopping — Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Lord
and Taylor’s, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and
so on! (I was quite tickled to walk down
Bleecker Street — you know the Simon &
Garfunkel Song?)”