BSW students' perceptions of key competencies, values, and practitioner skills Implications for social work education

Abstract

This study profiled undergraduate Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students' self-reported skill levels and valuations of personal qualities, practitioner skills, values and ethics, scientific skills and key competencies germane to social work practice. Differential assessments of personal qualities, practitioner skills, values and ethics, and scientific skills as well as differential assessments of the importance of 14 key competencies challenge a pattern of social work education where an integration of theory and practice is made difficult by a linear sequence of theory, followed by applied theory, followed by practice.

Key Words:

• competencies
• values
• practitioner skills