Social Work

We learn to help people with troubles about mutual relations with the society around them.

Degree programme objectives

The mission of social work is to help people (individuals, families, communities) who are unable to resolve difficulties in their relationships with other people or organizations, such as authorities or service providers, and to support their overall well-being. The first goal of the Master of Social Work is to deepen reflective knowledge and mastery of contemporary ways of fulfilling that mission. The second objective is to strengthen the graduates' ability to create social conditions for the practical application of social work practices. The third goal is to develop students' resilience in their professional growth. Candidates for the program must therefore be a graduate with a Bachelor's degree in social work or another field of study that shares its title with one of the other fields listed in Section 110(4)(b) of Act No 108/2006 Coll., on Social Services, as amended. The study focuses primarily on the use of social work theories, methods, and research to address the problems and life situations of people who face difficulties in their social environment and do not achieve the necessary well-being.

Study plans

Social Work

full-time, single-subject

Social Work

combined, single-subject

Social Work Macro - Community Services Programmes

full-time, specialized

Social Work Macro - Innovations in Organisations

combined, specialized

Social Work Micro - Counselling

full-time, specialized

Social Work Micro – Counselling

combined, specialized

Social Work Universal

full-time, specialized

Social Work Universal

combined, specialized

Studies

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Objectives
The mission of social work is to help people (individuals, families, communities) who are unable to resolve difficulties in their relationships with other people or organizations, such as authorities or service providers, and to support their overall well-being. The first goal of the Master of Social Work is to deepen reflective knowledge and mastery of contemporary ways of fulfilling that mission. The second objective is to strengthen the graduates' ability to create social conditions for the practical application of social work practices. The third goal is to develop students' resilience in their professional growth. Candidates for the program must therefore be a graduate with a Bachelor's degree in social work or another field of study that shares its title with one of the other fields listed in Section 110(4)(b) of Act No 108/2006 Coll., on Social Services, as amended. The study focuses primarily on the use of social work theories, methods, and research to address the problems and life situations of people who face difficulties in their social environment and do not achieve the necessary well-being.
Learning Outcomes
After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:
- make a complex assessment of the case (life situation, helping intervention, service system in a particular locality, organization);
- conceive and implement a/ a helping intervention appropriate to the client's life situation, b/ social work measures appropriate to the conditions in the community or organization;
- reflect the case or helping intervention or other social work measures;
- select and apply relevant theories, research methods or methods of social intervention in the expert solution of the selected problem;
- implement and use research as a tool for a comprehensive case assessment or evaluation of a helping intervention or other social work measure;
- to increase one's resilience to the demands of the social work profession.
Occupational Profiles of Graduates
Graduates of the follow-up master’s degree in social work will be qualified to work as social worker specialists, experts in the planning and implementation of social service policy, coordinators of assistance programs or social services, or researchers in governmental, non-governmental, or private sector institutions. After gaining additional experience, some of the abilities (see "Learning Outcomes") may also be transferred to other segments of social work.
Regulated Professions
- Social worker
Practical Training
Supervised practice aims to support the graduate's reflective orientation in practice and the acquisition of relevant skills. The scope of the compulsory internship is 80 hours + 2 supervision sessions, which includes the development of a written reflection on personal practice experience, group supervision sessions, and the possibility of individual supervision. The internship is linked to the completion of the Professional Practice and Supervision course for the Master's degree, which is offered in both the fall and spring semesters, taking into account the possibility of entering the Master's degree in both semesters. Based on their profile, students choose an organization that matches their focus and consult this choice with the teachers of the Professional Practice and Supervision for Masters course.
Goals of Theses
The master’s thesis is graded based on formal, theoretical, and methodological criteria. Formal criteria are published on the website of the Department of Social Policy and Social Work and the website of Masaryk University (http://www.is.muni.cz). Theoretical and methodological criteria include the following: a) the thesis is focused on research regarding assistance interventions and their actors; b) the thesis is dedicated to a research question that has not been answered yet; c) the thesis is grounded in a broader review of theoretical approaches to the research question; d) the author pays attention to what is not clear at first sight; e) throughout the thesis, the author consistently follows the explicit research question, and therefore the whole thesis follows a continuous methodological process; f) the author makes clear argumentation; g) the knowledge gained in the thesis can be applied in practice and the solution of practical problems.
Access to Further Studies
Graduates from master’s program in social work may continue their studies in a postgraduate doctoral study program in Social Policy and Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, MU or in postgraduate doctoral programs of associated fields (social work, social pedagogy, public policy, etc.) at other universities.