How Do Social Workers Learn in Japan?

Takahiro AsanoPhD student (ta614@york.ac.uk)Department of Social Policy & Social Work University of York

Overview1. Background of the study

2. Research Design

3. Data Analysis

4. Findings

(1) Research basis: My work experiences In Kyoto International Social Welfare Exchange Centre (KISWEC) - A non-profit organization

- Its main activities are the continuing education of helping professions, mainly social workers.

- Providing professional education programme for pre-qualified and post- qualified social workers.

1. Background of the study

How to qualify as a social worker in Japan?There are two routes:1) Universities (undergraduate level)2) Schools ↓

State examination which is paper-based

After qualifying as a social worker…Social work practice requires a commitment on the part of social workers to continue their professional development throughout their careers.

Dissonance between a) Traditional assumptions about professional development

underlying in workplaces, professional associations and universities

andb) What social workers experience in an actual work setting as front-line practitioners. ↓

My research questions arose from this awareness…

(2) Research questionsGeneral theme:What constitutes professional learning for social workers in their working context in Japan?

It can be divided into the following two parts: 1) How do social workers see learning experiences that have

significantly affected them?

2) What would make a difference in professional learning?

2. Research Design

6 focus groups with 26 social workers who had around ten years of practice experience after they had qualified.

One-to-one interviews with 16 participants of the FG after each of them got involved in the FG.

Participant Observation

Summary of the participants

Gender Female: 14 Male: 12

Age 30-39: 14 40-49: 9 50-59: 3

Practice experience

8-10 years: 12 11-15 yrs: 8 16-20 yrs: 4 over 21 yrs: 2

Field of practice

Mental Health: 2Learning Disabilities: 6Children and Families: 3Health and Disabilities: 12Community Work: 2Probation: 1

Summary of the observations

Formal learning

PD programme: - Course on Family Therapy offered by KISWEC - 8 sessions on a weekly basis - 2 interviewees attended the programme

Informal learning

Learning meeting: - 3 different kinds of learning meeting in which some of the interviewees attended as member

Purely Informal meeting: - 4 meetings organised by some of the interviewees

Others

Site visiting: - Sheltered workshop for those with learning disabilities - Two interviewees had worked for it - 4 visits

Participatory inquiry Research Team: - 5 experienced social workers who have about ten years of practice after they have qualified; - Not participate in the interviews;

Role of the research team: - Before conducting the interviews, giving feedback on the questioning strategy for the interviews.

- During the fieldwork, giving a chance to share experiences of fieldwork and exchange ideas on the study.

3. Data Analysis1) Chose a few of focus groups and one-to-one

interviews which seemed to have much to tell me.

2) Coded those data and then developed a tentative framework for analysis.

3) Applied the themes identified to the other data of the interviews with CAQDAS package: ‘MaxQDA’.

4. Findings How the participants saw their learning experiences?

→‘Turning point’, ‘shocking’, ‘surprised’, ‘unforgettable’, ‘painful’…

Example 1:For me, what I have learned ‘solution focused brief therapy’ is a great turning point in my career. I find that learning solution focused brief therapy has changed fundamentally the way to progress with my work, conduct interview, and moreover a way of looking at a case. (Hisa)

Learning experiences challenged assumptions they had about something associated with their practice. ↓Saw things from different perspectives to the past one.

Changes in learning1) Specific changeIn knowledge and skills associated with their practice

Example 2:What I have learned is that in the idea of the solution focused brief therapy, briefly speaking, you get clients to have an image about what they want to achieve in the future without exploring their problems, just like what they did in the past. And then, you support them to go toward them by themselves. That idea is diametrically opposite to the one we had. The skills required in the solution focused brief therapy is not so different from the ones we are familiar with in a daily practice, but the idea behind it is completely different. (Hisa)

2) Broad change In professional ways of being

Example 3 :I have come to think that we should have a basic principle as social workers, pride of profession after experiencing the study leave. (Satoko)

* * * * *

In my routine work, I get involve in various tasks like providing direct care with those with learning disabilities, counselling, sometimes using a kind of educational approach. Recently, I have come to realise that social workers can provide service users with a more comprehensive service, compared with other helping professions like counsellors. (Satoko)

What constitutes professional learning for the social workers?

Experience + Opportunity + Reflection = Professional Learning?

• Closely interconnected each other• Should be seen as a holistic experience

1. Cumulative background experience• Refer to past experience as only one kind of experience.

• Can include practice, learning and personal experiences.

• Learning did not take place in an isolated situation, rather their learning experiences was more than a single learning situation.

Example 4 :Looking back on my learning experiences, I found myself learning a lot when I reflected on what would be causes of a case which went well or wrong. If anything, I found myself learning a lot when things went wrong. In such occasions when I felt impatient as a professional, I sometimes attended a training course and workshop which was of interest to me, and then I sometimes found something I learnt in those opportunities fitting into what I sought for. I mean, for example, a lecturer explained the things that I had not been able to put into words well. Or, I found out in a book the things that I had wanted to express. I suppose, I have repeatedly been learning something in those ways as a professional. (Miho)

Learning transition

• PL involves an open-ended process without any starting and ending point.

• Relating one experience to another one among a wide range of cumulative experiences

Example 5 :I had a study leave in Denmark after I had worked as a social worker for about five years. At that time, I felt like seeing the fact that what I had learned in the University was realised there. I mean, for example, the principle of service user-centred that might seem to be kind of ideal. Through those experiences in Denmark, I have found myself connecting what I had learned in the University with what I actually do in practice for the first time. In that way, those experiences in Denmark have had a great impact on me. (Harumi)

2. Learning opportunityWhat kind of opportunity caused the participants to experience change in understanding?

1) Learning through engagement in practice;

2) Formal learning; - Professional development programme

3) Informal learning - Learning group/ meeting - Purely informal meeting

→ Should treat these opportunities as a unified entity.

Learning through engagement in practice

• Different kinds of activities within & beyond their own workplace:

e.g. attending PD programme, joining a learning meeting, reading a book at home.

• Learning from a case that went wrong rather than right in day-to-day practice.

↓

tended to involve the SWrs dealing with ‘uncertainty, in social work practice. ↓

Value-based practice, uncertainty about ‘evidence’…etc.

Challenges I have been tackling…

• Can the themes identified exhaust all I can say about and from the data?

• How do I draw a picture of the ideas?

• How to relate my findings to the concepts and arguments I make from the literature?

• Issue of translation of my Japanese data.

Thank you so much for your attention!!

ご清聴ありがとうございました !!

Any feedback is appreciated!