Aspects of the development of social work as a helping profession

Straipsnyje aptariami socialinio darbo profesijos raidos ypatumai, pabrėžiant socialinių darbuotojų pastangas stiprinti šią profesiją ir kreipti ją klasikinės profesijos link. Apžvelgiama dabartinė socialinio darbo profesija globaliu požiūriu ir kaip besiplėtojanti, stiprėjanti profesija Lietuvoje. Remiantis įvairiomis socialinio darbo definicijomis, ryškinama socialinio darbo esmė. Aptariamas socialinio darbo, kaip pagalbos žmogui profesinės veiklos, sudėtingumas, parodant sunkumus ir problemas, su kuriais susiduriama praktinėje veikloje.In many countries, the profession of social work has “done its work” for more than a century. In Lithuania its history is closely related to social transformation that took place after the restoration of independence in 1990. The question of how fully, if at all, social work has achieved professional status has been debated throughout the last century. It is known that efforts to evaluate whether social work is a “semi-profession” or a “fully developed” profession have been made by J. Baird. Already in 1972 social work was considered as a profession. In the opinion of Baird, the evaluation of the status of the profession depends on whether social work is being measured by the classical criteria of the once “free” professions, or by the contemporary criteria that are relevant to helping professions substantially committed to public and governmental service enterprise. The status of social work as a profession is not unequivocally fixed. There are some aspects that are considered negative in the professionalisation of social work. Namely, the private practice of social work, which is said to have been growing dynamically since the mid- 20th century. However, with the dramatic rise of medical care, social workers are said to return to their original mission. The nature of professional practice in any particular state is grounded in the historical and cultural context and mediated through political, economical and social systems. This makes social work difficult to define at the global level, and attempts to identify a universal essence of social work are problematic