HOMEPAGEACCREDITATION SYSTEM FOR SOCIAL WORKERS AND SOCIAL SERVICE PRACTITIONERS
Introduction
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, together with the National Council of Social Service and Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW), is implementing Accreditation for Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners. The primary objective of accreditation is to ensure professional standards among social work practitioners. The accreditation system is targeted for implementation on 1 April 2009.
The accreditation will be open to two primary groups, namely Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners. “Social Workers” refer to new graduates and current practitioners with social work qualifications, i.e. Degree in Social Work or a Graduate Diploma in Social Work or a recognised Social Work qualification acceptable to SASW. “Social Service Practitioners” are those who are performing social work functions such as intake, assessment, information and referral, outreach, home visits, financial assessment for the major part of their work but are without relevant social work qualifications. Examples of Social Service Practitioners include counsellors, programme executives and others.
Criteria for Accreditation
To be accredited, Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners must meet the following criteria:
a. Social Workers
(with recognised Social Work qualifications acceptable to SASW)
|
New Graduate/Entrant[1]
(to qualify to be accredited |
Practising Social Worker
(to qualify to be accredited |
|
Entry Requirements
|
Entry Requirements |
[1] “New Graduate/Entrant” refers to social work trained personnel with less than one year of practice in social work position
[2] “Relevant training” refers to all in-house and externally conducted training in a social work or social work related area which would enhance the professional delivery of services by the social worker in his / her area of work; documents showing proof of courses / workshops / conferences attended or in-house training endorsed by the social worker’s employer would be acceptable as proof of having received the relevant training hours stipulated.
[3] “Supervised practice” refers to a social worker having the opportunity to consult regularly throughout his / her term of employment with immediate supervisor and external experts, when discharging his / her duties; evidences of supervised practice include formal and informal case discussions (direct contact such as face-to-face supervision and tele-conferencing, and indirect contacts such as emails, reports etc), case conferences and professional meetings.
Registered Social Workers with SASW who meet the above requirements will be recognised for accreditation. SASW will be in touch with registered social workers on details pertaining to the switch to accreditation.
b. Social Service Practitioners
(without recognised Social Work qualifications)
|
Graduate
(to qualify to be accredited |
Non-Graduate
(to qualify to be accredited |
|
Entry Requirements
|
“Grandfathering”
|
[4] "Direct supervision" refers to a social service practitioner having been assigned a qualified professional, for example, a senior social worker, who has regular face-to-face supervision sessions with the social service practitioner with the main objective of guiding him / her to be better equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in his / her role as a social service practitioner. Direct supervision has the quality of professional engagement such as exchanges of professional views, demonstration / display of a skill and modeling that would allow the social service practitioner to learn, clarify and perform in his / her job.
3-Year
Window Period for Accreditation of SSPs
There will be a
3-year window period for SSPs to obtain the accreditation status. SSPs who are
accredited during the 3-year window period can continue to renew their
accreditation so long as they are working in social work positions and can
fulfill the criteria for renewal. However, there will not be any accreditation
for new entrants to social work positions without recognised social work
qualifications beyond the 3-year window period commencing 1 April 2009.
Funding
Support for SSPs acquiring Recognised Social Work Qualifications
Funding
support of up to $20,000 is available for SSPs to acquire recognised
social work qualifications. For more information, please click
here.
Accreditation Board
An Accreditation Board has been set up to evaluate and endorse applications for accreditation. The Accreditation Board comprises the following members who have been appointed by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS):
|
S/No. |
Name of Representative |
Appointment in the Accreditation Board for Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners |
|
1 |
Mrs
Corinne Koh |
Chairman |
|
2 |
Dr
Aline Wong |
Member |
|
3 |
Ms
Tina Hung |
Member |
|
4 |
Mr
Gilbert Fan |
Member |
|
5 |
Dr
Rosaleen Ow |
Member |
|
6 |
Ms
Morene Sim |
Member |
|
7 |
Mr
Abdul Halim Aliman |
Member |
Secretariat for Accreditation
The Singapore Association of Social Workers has been appointed as the Secretariat for Accreditation. The Secretariat will provide support to the Accreditation Board and is responsible for administration of the accreditation system. The Secretariat comprises the following personnel:
Head of Secretariat - Ms Nancy Teo
Senior Executive - Ms Jade Lim
Functions of Accreditation Secretariat
To process new applications and renewal of applications.
To provide secretariat support to the Accreditation Board.
To conduct public education and to promote the Accreditation System to potential applicants.
To maintain records of accredited social workers and accredited social service practitioners.
To answer queries.
To handle complaints.
To update accredited members on training and other matters.
To review training matrix and/or CPE (Continuing Professional Education) credits.
Fees
No fees will be levied for accreditation.
Renewal of Accreditation Status
The accreditation status is valid for 2 years. Social Workers and Social Service Practitioners must fulfill 160 Continual Professional Education (CPE) Credits during the two year period to qualify for renewal, of which 60 CPE Credits must be from structured activities [1 CPE Credit – 1 CPE Learning Hour] . The CPE credits can be obtained through structured and unstructured activities as shown in Table 1 and Table 2 below.
TABLE 1 - STRUCTURED ACTIVITIES |
|||
|
Category |
Criteria |
CPE Credit |
|
|
Category 1(a)
Formal Study courses
|
Relevant graduate or diploma courses on social work |
1 CPE Credit for each contact hour |
|
|
Category 1 (b)
Formal / Structured Lectures, short courses, conferences, workshops and seminars
|
Attend lectures, short courses, conferences, workshops and seminars which are relevant to social workers on professional development, legal/ethical issues or management. |
1 CPE Credit for each contact hour |
|
|
Category 1(c)
Formal / Structured in-house training
|
Attend structured in-house training which are relevant to social workers on professional development, legal/ethical issues or management.
CV of speakers to be similar to category 1(a) or 1 (b).
|
1 CPE Credit for each contact hour |
|
Category 2
Participation in Professional Boards, Committees and Societies |
(a) |
Members of Boards of local Professional Institutions or relevant government agencies
|
8 CPE Credits per organisation |
|
(b) |
Member of relevant professional or working committees of professional associations or government agencies |
4 CPE Credits per committee
(Maximum of 32 CPE Credits for this category) |
|
Category 3
Contribution to relevant social work or management knowledge |
(a) |
Conduct Formal / Structured lectures, seminars, conferences or training courses for the first time. (Exclude regular lectures by full-time lecturers) |
4 CPE Credits for each lecture hour or part thereof |
|
(b) |
Conduct Formal / Structured lectures, seminars, conferences or training courses after the first time. (Exclude regular lectures by full-time lecturers) |
2 CPE Credits for each lecture hour or part thereof |
|
|
|
(c) |
Write or edit articles or papers published in distinguished publications, conference proceedings, professional journals or books. |
5 CPE Credits for each topic |
TABLE 2 - UNSTRUCTURED ACTIVITIES |
|||
|
Category |
Criteria |
CPE Credit |
|
|
Category 1
Self- study of relevant topics |
(a) |
Reading of relevant professional, ethical or educational literature. |
1 CPE Credit for every 2 hours
(Maximum of 64 CPE Credits for this category)
|
|
(b) |
Listening / viewing audio / video tapes on relevant topics or taking correspondence courses. |
||
|
Category 2
In-house training and discussion |
(a) |
Conducting informal in-house training and presentations to colleagues |
1 CPE Credit per hour
(Maximum of 64 CPE Credits for this category) |
|
(b) |
Attending informal in-house learning and sharing sessions |
1 CPE Credit for every 2 hours
(Maximum of 64 CPE Credits for this category) |
|
|
Category 3
Professional Membership |
(a) |
Membership in professional social work bodies |
2 CPE Credits per organisation
(Maximum of 64 CPE Credits for this category) |
|
Category 4
Relevant social work activities |
(a) |
Attending professional and technical courses which are not covered under category 1(b) and 1(c) |
1 CPE Credit for every 2 hours
(Maximum of 64 CPE Credits for this category) |
|
(b) |
Attending organised group visits to VWOs and other agencies |
||
Application Forms (Click on the following to download the forms)
Application form for New Social Work Graduates/Entrants
Application form for Practising Social Workers
Application form for Social Service Practitioners
Frequently Asked Questions
To help you better understand the accreditation system, a list of FAQs can be found here.
For enquiries, please contact us at the following address:
Secretariat for
Accreditation
Singapore Association of Social Workers
Block 324 Clementi Avenue 5
#01-209
Singapore 120324
Tel: 6778 7922 Fax: 6778 0609
Email:
accreditation@sasw.org.sg
Look out for more information on the accreditation system in the coming weeks!