CURRENT SITUATION OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING SOCIAL WORK IN VIETNAM TODAY

SITUACIÓN ACTUAL DE LA FORMACIÓN PROFESIONAL TRABAJO SOCIAL EN VIETNAM HOY

Doan Van Truong 1 * .

1. Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam.

*Corresponding author: Doan Van Truong, email: dvtruongxhh@gmail.com

Información del artículo:

Artículo original

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33975/riuq.vol35n1.1166

Recibido: 8 marzo 2023; Aceptado: 8 mayo 2023

ISSN: 1794-631X e-ISSN: 2500-5782

Esta obra está bajo una licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional.

Cómo citar: Doan Van Truong. (2023). Current situation of vocational training social work in Vietnam today. Revista de Investigaciones Universidad del Quindío, 35(1), 344-351. https://doi.org/10.33975/riuq.vol35n1.1166

ABSTRACT

The social work industry has been playing an important role in the development of equality and progress of each nation and mankind. In particular, the social work sector contributes to solving social issues related to the lives of individuals, small groups, and communities of disadvantaged people. Today, along with rapid economic growth, many pressing social issues are also on the rise. Therefore, addressing and preventing these social problems is very necessary, requiring a staff of social workers to solve the above problems. Therefore, the development and expansion of the scope of social work training is an urgent requirement and in line with the general development trend of the era. This article will focus on analyzing the current status of social work training in our country in the context of integration.

Keywords: vocational training; social work; educate; reality; Vietnam.

RESUMEN

La industria del trabajo social ha venido jugando un papel importante en el desarrollo de la igualdad y el progreso de cada nación y la humanidad. En particular, el sector del trabajo social contribuye a resolver problemas sociales relacionados con la vida de individuos, pequeños grupos y comunidades de personas desfavorecidas. Hoy, junto con el rápido crecimiento económico, también van en aumento muchos problemas sociales apremiantes. Por lo tanto, abordar y prevenir estos problemas sociales es muy necesario, requiriendo una plantilla de trabajadores sociales para solucionar los problemas antes mencionados. Por lo tanto, el desarrollo y la expansión del alcance de la formación en trabajo social es un requisito urgente y en línea con la tendencia general de desarrollo de la época. Este artículo se centrará en analizar el estado actual de la formación del Trabajo Social en nuestro país en el contexto de la integración.

Palabras clave: formación profesional; trabajo social; educar; realidad; Vietnam.

INTRODUCTION

In the world, the profession of social work has existed for a long time and is highly respected by society. In Vietnam, this is a new field of activity. Since 2010, through the Government’s Project 32, social work has also been officially recognized as a specific profession. Immediately after the Project on Social Work Professional Development for the period 2010 - 2020 was promulgated, functional ministries and branches issued documents stipulating professional standards for social work officer ranks, titles and codes number of social work officer ranks, Joint Circular guiding the management and use of funds to implement Decision No. 32/2010/QD-TTg. The Joint Circular guides the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Center for providing public social work services. And now, Decision No. 112/QD-TTg approving the social work development program for the period of 2021-2030, continuing to promote the development of social work at all branches and levels, by the conditions of socio-economic development of the country in each period; ensure to raise awareness of the whole society about social work; promote socialization, improve the quality of social work services in all fields, meet the needs of providing social work services of the people, towards the goal of equitable and effective social development.

Thus, it can be affirmed that Decision 32 and Decision 112 have created a legal corridor to gradually develop the professional social work profession. At the same time, it also creates a positive change in the awareness of the party ministries, authorities, and society about the profession of social work. The common goal is “Developing social work into a profession in Vietnam. Raising awareness of the whole society about the profession of social work; building a contingent of social work officers, employees, employees and collaborators in sufficient quantity, meeting the quality requirements in association with the development of a system of social work service providers at all levels, contributing to building a system of social work service providers at all levels. advanced social security system” (Nguyen Duc Nam, 2015).

In the current social work vocational training, although there has been strong investment and development in both quantity and quality, there are still many shortcomings such as the number of lecturers, students, facilities, etc facilities for training, practice issues, internships, students’ employment status after graduation, etc. need to be adjusted and changed to improve the quality of important professions. this important.

CURRENT STATUS OF SOCIAL WORK VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN VIETNAM

Training program

In 2021, with the issuance of Decision 112, promulgating the social work development program for the period of 2021-2030. This has created favorable conditions for continuing the recruitment and training of students at intermediate schools, colleges, universities, and graduate schools across the country. With the common goal of continuing to promote the development of social work in all branches and levels, suitable to the country’s socio-economic development conditions in each period; ensure to raise awareness of the whole society about social work; promoting socialization, improving the quality of social work services in all fields, meet the needs of providing social work services of the people, towards the goal of equitable and effective social development.

According to the calculation of Decision 112, from 2021-2030, strive to reach 90% of agencies, organizations, social assistance establishments, drug addiction treatment establishments, prisons, reformatory schools, and other institutions. judicial agencies, schools, hospitals, communes, wards, townships, and relevant units shall assign and arrange personnel for social work, in which, there are at least 01 to 02 cadres and civil servants, public employees, social workers with full-time, part-time titles or social work collaborators with the minimum monthly allowance equal to the basic salary prescribed by the Government. Continue to train and foster to improve professional qualifications and skills for 40% of cadres, civil servants, employees, and collaborators of social workers working in communes, wards, and townships social work service providers, the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs sector and related industries.

Currently, the country has more than 35,000 officials, employees, and collaborators working in the field of social work, so the number of training needed is much higher than the original goal of Project 32 or Decision 112 onion. According to the scheme, currently, the number of people who need help from social work services accounts for about 40% of the population, however, the number of social work workers trained to meet these needs accounts for only a very small number, the majority (81,5%) untrained. This has led to the fact that every province and city that has universities and colleges also opens admissions to social work, even though some schools have almost no permanent lecturers specializing in social work. It is this situation that will lead to problems such as the quality of training for social work staff in the future, and career opportunities for students after graduation.

One problem that is being raised is the arbitrary application of the curriculum framework of the Ministry of Education and Training at all levels and training institutions, and the lack of legitimacy in the connection or in-depth training profession. This will more or less affect the amount of information and skills that learners want to receive formally. In the training program, the content of knowledge about social work expertise is still too thin compared to the required knowledge structure. Graduates with knowledge of social work majors are still not enough to work (Tran Xuan Binh, 2011:567). Social work researchers and teachers in Vietnam have many different ways of thinking, absorbing, and complying with the program, so their understanding of both the structure of majors and their content is inconsistent. This difference exists not only between institutions but even within a training institution. Therefore, the structure of the knowledge block in each program for the subjects in the institutions in our country is still quite different. In credit training, it is urgent to unify the understanding and specific objects to design a suitable, modern, and interconnected training program (Huynh Van Chan et al., 2017). The program structure and the theoretical outline are still heavy, the application and practical part are still small and there is almost no skill training (70% of hardware is imposed by the Ministry of Education and Training, only 30% for training institutions). In addition, the training program has not come from reality and has not met the needs of social development in Vietnam. Therefore, a large number of students until the third year when they go to practice, have not yet fully acquired the knowledge, skills, and confidence as well as the ability to practice their profession. Therefore, they face certain difficulties when completing internships and finding jobs after graduation.

Teaching staff

Currently, the country has 55 universities and colleges and 21 vocational training institutions with specialized training in social work (in 2010 there were only 1-2 establishments), attracting many students to study. In, more than 10 schools have conducted masters and doctoral training in social work. The provinces and cities have established a relatively wide network of social work collaborators, with about 235 thousand people doing social work, of which: Over 35,000 civil servants, public employees, and employees work at public social institutions. In both public and private sectors, nearly 100,000 people work in associations and unions at all levels, and over 100,000 collaborators in poverty reduction, social evils prevention, child protection, and community development.

From the perspective of human resources, in terms of long-term training, the Project on Social Work Vocational Development has supported the Ministry of Education and Training to research and perfect the plan to develop bachelor’s degree social work education and training in 55 universities and colleges and 21 vocational training institutions with specialized training in social work. Regarding short-term training, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in collaboration with universities, organized training of 500 social work trainers for colleges and vocational secondary schools throughout the country; training 8 classes of 320 senior social workers and managers in the South and North…

However, a current reality shows that, although the number of teaching staff has increased in number and their professional qualifications in social work have been increasingly improved, compared with the actual needs, there is still a shortage. a large number of lecturers with professional qualifications in social work. On the other hand, most of the lecturers with deep professional qualifications in social work are mainly trained abroad, so they lack practical experience in Vietnam. Many social work lecturers have never practiced their profession, so their knowledge is heavily academic and theoretical, not suitable for the training of a highly practical profession such as social work. In addition, the majority of lecturers teaching social work at present are mainly from recent transitions such as sociology and psychology. Although lecturers have invested in research, cultivating professional and professional knowledge, and rubbing against reality, this cannot avoid certain limitations in social work knowledge.

A very important issue in training social work students is practice, in which the social work supervisor plays a decisive role. Currently, the team of social work trainers in the true sense of the word in institutions with social work training is very limited. Therefore, this team has not been supplemented, causing a serious shortage of social grassroots trainers, so the practice of social work is not accurately evaluated and if there is, it is only a formality.

Curriculum for training

In the past time, along with Project 32 and Decision 112 of the government on supporting the development of the social work industry, there have been training courses with the participation of many foreign experts to support schools with social work training on the preparation of curricula for teaching. However, these textbooks are only in basic subjects, not rich and diverse.

The current source of textbooks and reference books on social work is very lacking. Some subjects have a lot of reference books, but the content between these documents is different at some points. This leads to confusion among readers, who do not know which book to take as the standard because most of these documents are not accessible from the original but have been refracted by the prisms of different scholars creating a lack of consistency, lack of standards in research and teaching (Tran Xuan Binh, 2011:568).

There are many books on social work in English, but the reality shows that there is a shortage of social work teaching staff in universities and colleges and many lecturers do not have access to specialized materials. Social work in English, not many documents translated into Vietnamese. In a few specialized subjects, the lecturer mainly gives students self-composed lectures to assist students in accessing the subject, such as social work in hospitals, social work in schools, social work in gender equality, and domestic violence prevention (Huynh Van Chan et al., 2017).

Infrastructure, social network

Social work training in our country is currently developing rapidly, but it has revealed shortcomings that need to be addressed. Many training schools are facing difficulties, the problem of funding forces them to enroll a lot, but many enrollments face the problem of finding internships, practice facilities, and a team of qualified lecturers to guide the guide. Due to the specific nature of the profession, this is a highly demanding discipline in practice, internship, and career training in the training program of the discipline. Many training institutions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with a large number of students, by the time they go to practice, the annual internship is not enough for them to experiment and the team of junior trainers’ instruction requirements is not met. If you don’t focus on training vocational skills, you will not meet the output standards.

SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SOCIAL WORK TRAINING IN VIETNAM

About the training program

Programs, textbooks, and teaching materials are still lacking, with many shortcomings. First of all, it is necessary to improve and perfect the social work training program in the direction of reducing theoretical hours in the general knowledge block, supplementing and strengthening the modules in the basic and specialized knowledge blocks so that students can acquire in-depth industry knowledge.

The training institutions need to increase the consultation of society on the field of study, thereby serving as a foundation for building and developing training programs by social needs. For example, the introduction of social work modules in schools and social work in hospitals is an inevitable trend, in line with the actual needs of society.

Facilities also need to refer to the training programs of other countries in the world to supplement and update with the actual situation at the unit. Attracting and expanding cooperation relationships, exchanging lecturers, students, digital libraries, textbooks, short-term, medium-term, and long-term training courses with countries with a strongly developed social work industry such as the Philippines, UK, and USA.

About the teaching staff

The staff, staff, and collaborators of social work are still thin and unprofessional; most are trained in other professions, and a few are not even professionally trained. The training and training for social work officers and employees have just stopped at the initial stage, with little training experience. Activities are more of State management than guiding and supporting the provision of public services for people with special circumstances. In particular, the team of social work collaborators in the community has only been initially formed in some localities. Therefore, to build a teaching force that meets the needs of society in quantity and quality in teaching and practicing professions, investment in recruitment and training is required. To encourage lecturers to participate in short, medium, and long-term social work training courses, enroll in graduate studies, and conduct graduate studies in social work at home and abroad to improve their professional expertise.

To encourage the participation and effective use of foreign experts in teaching at educational institutions with social work training to improve the qualifications of school teachers and grassroots supervisors through specialized training courses and training content.

About the curriculum for training work

Educational institutions need to carefully read Project 32 on building standard curricula for training and teaching specialized social work. There is coordination with social work training institutions in the country to organize seminars related to teaching and publishing of textbooks for training, selection, and publication of unified textbooks, that conform to common standards.

Read foreign language documents written on social work, these are important documents that can be consulted from foreign educational institutions that have specialized and methodical training in social work. Can inherit and use materials for teaching and scientific research. The search for materials must have clear and official sources, helping learners to have standard resources in teaching and learning.

Along with accessing official documents from lecturers, the acquisition and cultivation of foreign language knowledge from students is also a mandatory and objective requirement, due to the scarcity of domestic documents, and the lack of foreign documents. Besides, it is mainly English, so learners need to improve their foreign language skills to be able to read and understand and approach academic issues in social work majors.

In terms of facilities, the network of social facilities

Currently, the network of social work service providers is still lacking in quantity, weak in quality, low in socialization, and has not yet promoted the role of non-public organizations. Therefore, as soon as possible, facilities should invest and equip some modern facilities for learning and experimenting. Create conditions for students to connect between theory and practice.

Building a wide network of social institutions and NGOs across many fields and subjects, creates close relationships because this network is a core element in the student’s practice system as well as career opportunities for students after graduation. Besides, connections with social organizations and state agencies also need to be made to serve training effectively.

CONCLUSION

As society develops, many social phenomena arise that greatly affect the general development activities of the community. Therefore, it is necessary to have a team of social workers with knowledge and skills to serve the goals of the community. Over the past years, the project on developing the social work profession has created a strong change in awareness and enhanced responsibility of managers, policymakers, economic and social organizations, etc the importance of the social work profession to the development of the country, as well as strengthening the development of investment policies for the development of the social work profession, supporting those who need the help of social workers access to social services, enhance the responsibility of the family, the community and the whole society in joining hands in building the social work profession in Vietnam.

To improve the quality of vocational training in social work at institutions in the coming time, it is necessary to build a professional association of social work professions, thereby linking and sharing in teaching, curriculum, learning materials, practice facilities, scientific research results in training and fostering staff, as well as linking and exchanging students and lecturers to create development opportunities, becoming a professional force.

Conflict of interest: The author declares the non-existence of conflicts of interest.

Contribution by author: The author is responsible for all components of this work.

Funding or funds: No financial support was provided.

REFERENCES

Huynh Van Chan, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tung, Dinh Cong Danh (2017), Current status of social work training in Vietnam, Proceedings of the International Conference “Social work and social security in the community context” ASEAN Community: Integration and Sustainable Development, Thu Dau Mot University, Binh Duong, pp.68.

Tran Xuan Binh (2011), Social work training and research in Vietnam - Looking back and prospects, Proceedings of the XIV World Social Work Conference, City University of Social Sciences and Humanities Ho Chi Minh City, pp.568-569.

Nguyen Duc Nam (2015), Developing a professional social work profession is the right direction, Vietnam Social Work Forum, accessed from: http://congtacxahoi.net, accessed 20 months March 2015.

Prime Minister (2010), “Approval of the project on the development of the social work profession in the period 2010-2020”, Decision No. 32/2010/QD-TTg, March 25, 2010, Hanoi.

Prime Minister (2021), “Decision on Promulgating the Social Work Development Program for the 2021-2030 period”, Decision No. 112/QD-TTg, January 21, 2021, Hanoi.