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More about the Congress:2. congress of social work - Portorož 2005
In the past decade the profession and science of social work in Slovenia has experienced rapid expansion and radical changes. The 2nd Congress of Social Work is taking place in the time when we are celebrating 50th anniversary of education for social work in Slovenia and at the time when the profession is undergoing major changes and fundamental conceptual shifts.The aim of the Congress is to celebrate the achievements of social work throughout its existence in Slovenia, and to examine and reflect on its historical foundations as well as the changes it is witnessing. Moreover, the Congress will offer a venue for all ideas linked to these changes and processes.
It is about the systemic and organisational changes required by the introduction of community care and action (restructuring of institutions, introduction of personal assistance), new ways of providing social protection security? (insurance for continous care), the greater and more decisive participation of users and different participation of all actors in planning and co-ordination of? in social care. At the same time, we are witnessing the renewal of social work methods which are increasingly oriented to the development of processes for effective and diverse professional responses to people's multilevel needs and the growing assertion of the user’s power perspective.
The Congress will also present the opportunity for a thorough consideration of the professional profile of social work. Slovenia’s entry to the European Union; the conclusion of the process by which our education establishment was transformed into a faculty; and the many systemic changes are posing new questions and new challenges regarding how the social work profession is defined. They are also opening up possibilities of new education levels and new profiles of social work. The European processes of the renewal of higher education is allowing new opportunities for partnership co-operation in the creation of new international study lines in social work.
Global standards in social work education and the ethical standards of social work as accepted by all schools of social work in the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) prove that social work has made an exceptional shift in understanding its mission, while also showing that in order to realise our vision significant effort still awaits us.
In various ways and along with the many participants the Congress intends to consolidate social work as a profession which should strengthen the equality of all citizens and people and bring about shifts leading to the exercise of concrete human rights in everyday life.