Teacher, Social Worker and Health Visitor. Why specific skills and qualities are needed in this chosen jobs?

Question

Teacher, Social Worker and Health Visitor. Why specific skills and qualities are needed in this chosen jobs?
In our course work we need to choose three kinds of job one in the EARLY YEARS which I choose TEACHER, second is in SOCIAL CARE I choose SOCIAL WORKER and the last thing is HEALTH I choose HEALTH VISITOR. I need to know why specific skills and qualities are needed in my choosen jobs?

Answer 1

The profession of the social worker is unlike that of any other. Simply having the necessary qualifications is not enough to be able to do the work effectively. Unlike any other profession, social work is a vocation which requires particular qualities from the person who practises it.

Empathy
An essential quality is empathy, which is the ability to be sensitive of other’s feelings. This is not to say that one must feel as the other person feels. That is sympathy. Empathy implies that the social worker is able to understand how the client is feeling, what are the client’s views towards the options available to him / her and understand what the needs of that client are. In order to be empathetic, the social worker must be a good listener and also be able to understand things beyond what the client is expressing. By being empathetic, it also implies that the social worker must be able to keep a professional distance from the clients and not get too emotionally involved; at the extent of affecting his / her own personal life and / or the service given to the clients. If I had to become a social worker, I would need a lot of training and supervision in order to maintain this professional distance as I would probably attach myself too much to the problems of my clients to the extent that I would not be able to help them as effectively as I could.

Objectivity
Objectivity is also a main and essential quality and this means that whilst the worker is dealing with its client, he / she has to be free from all preconceptions, labelling and ethnocentrism. This quality has been talked about by several guest speakers in the course especially the social workers coming from the mental health centre and those dealing with refugees. The social worker has to be able to perceive the issue as objectively as possible, in the method of classifying the problem, asking the questions and assessing the needs of the person/s. In order to be objective, the social worker has to make sure, he / she does not take his / her preconceptions and cultural background for granted and this requires an extant of self awareness. According to Harrison (1991), being aware carries the responsibility to examine one’s own preconceptions critically, either on one’s own or with the help of others. Harrison, during his study of self awareness amongst other social workers as himself, recorded sessions of casework and he says, ‘I often found myself in awe’. Despite their attempts to limit the intrusion of biases and presentiments, Harrison found patterns of imperfection in the way they interviewed clients, in the way they asked them questions and in the ways they made referrals. Sometimes social workers showed their emotions ‘explicitly’ whether these were sadness, anger or disgust. While social workers are not expected to agree with or approve of the values and behaviours of others, it is expected that social workers posses a non-judgmental attitude toward others.



Although I am aware, that achieving objectivity is easier said then done, I think I already posses a certain degree of this quality and this comes from my own awareness of my culture and from my knowledge and experience of other’s.

Resourcefulness
A good social worker is one who’s aware of his / her own resources, his / her client’s resources and also the resources that are available within and outside the agency. Besides acquainting the client to the pertinent resources, the social worker is also expected to help the client see the significance and weigh each choice so that it will be the best choice for him. However it is not the role of the social worker to make the choice for the client, the client should only be guided.

A good social worker will stimulate the client to activate his own resources by motivating him and helping him to free himself from fears and tensions and supporting him in which ever choice he makes. Harrison tells the case of a 16year old girl who has always lived in institutional care and was convinced by her foster care mother that she was ‘dumb’. A social worker motivated her to retake her GCSE examinations which she had previously failed most and continue her education. However in such cases the social worker has to be able to asses the client’s capabilities practically and motivate the clients to reach practical goals.

Problem Solving Skills
Social workers make decisions every day. Some decisions are easy, such as deciding when to schedule appointments. Other decisions are difficult, such as whether to take an abused child into protective custody and place that child in a foster home. Social workers frequently make decisions that are considered to be ethical dilemmas. Ethical dilemmas are difficult to deal with and are often a painful experience. They involve deciding which ethics, among the ethics subscribed to by the social work profession, and should take priority in a situation. For example, clients may reveal information potentially threatening to someone else. Taking preventative action by revealing the information to law enforcement officials and to the person who is threatened involves revealing information that a client shared in confidence. This issue was highlighted by the guest speaker / social worker from the education department. The ethical dilemma involves making a choice between two ethics: preserving human life or protecting confidentiality. In such cases there are no clear cut solutions but a good social worker will come up with the best solution.

Team Player


Good Interpersonal Skills

Answer 2

Having gone through, or mostly gone through I should say, a teacher education program, I know that it takes a special person to become a good teacher. Anyone can give students a book and say read this, or put up a powerpoint and say look at this, but a good teacher will find a way to help you learn the material. It's not easy to make something presentable, especially complex subject matter, to a large group of people with different levels of knowledge AND get them to understand the material. Ken Griffey, Jr. might have one of the sweetest swings in baseball, but it doesn't mean he can teach someone to hit a homerun (he might be able to, but that's just an example). Knowledge of subject is important, but being able to convey that is more important. And that is why teachers are important in early years. They will help shape students lives, and if they can't find a way to light the education desire fire, there's a good chance the students will not light it themsleves. Teachers make the world go round, or else there would be no understandable communication, no passing on of knowledge, and no learning. So when you come across a good teacher, tell them thank you because they've worked hard to help you learn so that you can contribute to the world.