Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 23rd Question: Nearly 900,000 people apply for the social worker profession increasingly recognized
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter
The 2022 National Social Worker Vocational Qualification Examination will be held on June 18 and 19.
About 890,000 people applied for the exam this year, a record high.
Social workers are short for social workers, not "community workers". Their work covers all aspects of social life: from poverty alleviation to rural revitalization, from social assistance to child protection, from community corrections to drug control and rehabilitation, from post-disaster services to epidemics prevention and control.
Social workers are important participants in grassroots social governance.
In recent years, the number of applicants for the social worker vocational qualification examination has increased significantly year by year.
What is the reason behind the popularity of the test?
What is the outlook for social work?
The number of applicants is increasing
After graduating from Fujian Medical University with a major in social work, Dong Yani entered the Fuzhou Mupai Drug Rehabilitation Social Work Service Center.
She noticed that in the past two years, more and more people took the social worker vocational qualification examination.
"If the social work graduates around you continue to work in this industry, they will generally choose to get certified." She said, "The craze for research shows from the side that the social work industry is gaining more recognition from the society, and more and more people are beginning to understand this industry. "
The professional level evaluation of social workers is divided into three levels: assistant social worker, social worker and senior social worker.
There are certain thresholds for the examination and certification. For example, for assistant social workers, fresh graduates of social work majors can apply for the examination; those who have obtained a bachelor's degree or above in other majors, and have been engaged in social work for 2 years can apply for the examination; those who have obtained a college degree in other majors can apply for social work. You can apply after 4 years.
According to statistics, since 2019, the number of applicants for the Social Work Vocational Qualification Examination has increased significantly year by year, with an annual increase of more than 100,000 people; candidates include community workers, employees of social organizations, staff of enterprises and institutions, and fresh graduates of social work majors in colleges and universities.
According to Zou Xueyin, secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Social Work, about 890,000 people applied for the exam this year, a record high.
The social work exam craze in recent years is manifested in an increasing number of applicants from other professionals, an increasing number of applicants from outside the civil affairs system, an increasing number of applicants from social organizations, and an increasing number of applicants from grass-roots community workers. more and more.
According to Zou Xueyin, the pass rate of the social worker vocational qualification examination varies from year to year. Taking assistant social workers as an example, according to statistics, the average pass rate in the past five years is 22%.
Why heat up?
The demand for professional social workers in social governance continues to increase, which is an important reason for the rising popularity of social workers vocational qualification examinations.
Zou Xueyin said that with the improvement of the level of sophistication of social governance, the division of labor in social work has been continuously refined, and the demand for social work employment in various fields such as community, pension, medical care, drug control, justice, education, etc. is increasing.
For example, a document issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs proposed to train and train 100,000 full-time and part-time elderly social workers by the end of 2022.
"The current number of professional social workers is still far from meeting the needs of society, and there is a huge talent gap in various fields, especially in the fields of elderly care, justice, and medical care." Meng Meng, director of the Department of Charity Promotion and Social Work of the Civil Affairs Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Zhaoping said.
Some localities have formulated incentive measures for social work professionals, giving corresponding subsidies or one-time rewards to those who have been engaged in social work for a certain number of years and have obtained a social work professional qualification certificate to encourage the improvement of the professional level.
In Meng Zhaoping's view, this is also the need for professional service forces to enter the grassroots governance framework.
Zhang Jie, director of Fuzhou Trust Social Work Service Center, who was elected as "China's Most Beautiful Social Worker", has been engaged in social work since 2008.
"When you first started to engage in social work, social recognition was low; if you have a social work certificate in hand, it is easier to gain trust."
Dong Yani introduced that some community workers, township and village affairs workers were certified for work needs.
Some government-purchased services have certain requirements on the certification rate of social work agencies.
At the same time, the competitive pressure of recruiting social workers is relatively low, the working environment is relatively stable, and the working hours are relatively fixed, which is also a good employment choice for many people.
In social work service agencies, social workers also have advanced channels from front-line social workers to supervisors and agency managers.
"Social workers solve the problems of disadvantaged groups. By helping them connect and win resources, they can make their plight more visible and make society more equitable. I think this is a job with a sense of professional value." Huang Chengyan, who started working as a resident social worker in the village in 2018, said that because she was "lighted up" at a certain stage of her life, she also wanted to "light up others".
"Social workers are mainly service work, they must be dedicated and sacrificed, and have high ethical and value requirements for practitioners," said Gan Mantang, director of the Department of Sociology at Fuzhou University.
What's the outlook?
"There is great potential for development." Zou Xueyin said that according to relevant estimates, my country needs 2 million to 3 million social workers, and there are currently 1.63 million social work professionals in my country; so far, there are 737,000 social workers who have obtained professional qualification certificates. .
Gan Mantang believes that now is a good period for the development of social work.
On the one hand, with urbanization and aging, the problems of migrant workers, community governance, elderly care and other issues have become prominent, and the demand for social worker talents is increasing; The number increased rapidly.
Zou Xueyin said that the career development space and institutional environment of social workers will get better and better.
In recent years, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has vigorously promoted the construction of township (street) social work stations. By the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", it is expected that more than 100,000 social work posts will be added, greatly expanding the employment space.
The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of Shanghai's Social Work Talent Team" proposes that by 2025, the total number of social work talents in Shanghai will reach 200,000, and the number of people who hold relevant certificates of social work occupation level will reach 45,000, and the number of social workers in the streets and towns will reach 45,000. 100% site coverage.
Zhang Huiping, a professor at the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at Renmin University of China, said that in the impression of some people, anyone can do social work, and the threshold is low.
In fact, social workers are highly specialized and need to have strong communication skills, as well as relevant professional knowledge such as law and psychology.
Some grass-roots administrators reported that social work stations are now fully opened, but due to low salaries and serious brain drain, many places are faced with the dilemma that professionals are reluctant to go and social work stations cannot recruit people.
Due to the lack of professional talents, some social organizations have also suffered unsuccessful bids in the government's procurement of public services, or were forced to suspend the project after winning the bid.
What is worth looking forward to is that governments at all levels have issued a number of policy documents on the remuneration of social workers.
Some localities have made detailed regulations on government-purchased projects to ensure the professionalism of social service projects and the stability of social workers' remuneration packages.
Zhang Huiping suggested that social work organizations should further improve their service capabilities, attach importance to the growth of social work professionals, and build a professional, professional and vibrant social work team.
Zou Xueyin said that the top-level design system for the development of social workers has been continuously improved, and relevant legislative documents are currently being explored.
In terms of talent cultivation, colleges and universities should focus on the cultivation of specialized talents from general-purpose talents to specialized talents in different fields and groups; social worker vocational qualification examinations should be more professional, with equal emphasis on professional knowledge and practical ability.
For in-service social workers, we should vigorously carry out continuing education and professional training to continuously improve the level of professional services.
"Social workers should be prepared to face difficulties." Zhang Huiping said that in the face of the challenges of grassroots social governance, social workers can win social recognition only if they really like and are willing to serve and speak out for those in difficulty.
(Reporters Shu Jing, Gao Lei, Deng Qianqian, Tan Xingxing, Wu Jianfeng)