Socialinių darbuotojų / socialinių pedagogų rengimas Lietuvoje
Training Social Workers / Social Pedagogues in Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: Social – economic changes that took place in Lithuania after independence had been proclaimed, as well as social problems that surfaced in Lithuania at the time, caused the necessity of the training of social professions. Although the professions are rather old, Lithuanian higher and post – secondary schools (which later were reformed into colleges of non-university higher education) did not have any experience in the training of this type of specialists. That was a challenge for the system of higher education: to find the optimum model of training qualified social workers and social pedagogues who would meet the need of a changing civil activeness-oriented society for that type of specialists. A rather spontaneous process of drafting the study programmes in social work and social pedagogy started, inspired by enterprising scholars with substantial experience in the field of human socialization and with a good understanding of the significance of social professions for that time and for the future. The aim of this article is to disclose the peculiarities of the training of social workers / social pedagogues in Lithuania. To achieve the aim, the following aspects shall be analyzed in the report: the problem of integrity of the profession of social worker/ social pedagogue; regulations of the training of social workers/ social pedagogues; the network and development of the network of schools that train social workers/ social pedagogues; problems and prospects of the training of social workers / social pedagogues in the context of establishment and enhancement of civil society. Today in Lithuania one could state that social pedagogy and social work are two integral professions that supplement each other; the focus of discussions is not the practical activities of these social professions, but rather their academic and scientific status. The regulation of the training of social workers / social pedagogues was a gradual process, and it has not finished yet. It is a positive fact that currently the activities of social workers / social pedagogues are regulated by a number of documents that reflect general academic and practical agreements and bring order into the training of specialists. The regulation of the training of social work specialists facilitated the transition from a spontaneous and nearly uncontrollable process to a more coordinated and systematically governed training of social workers / social pedagogues. One can state that in the period of 1991– 2006, a network of the training of social workers / social pedagogues in Lithuania has formed. At present, the said specialists are trained in seven universities and eight colleges in different regions of the country, thus, study programmes are easily accessible to the people in different parts of the country and meet the need for specialists of social professions of all the regions of Lithuania. Most of the named higher schools train both social workers and social pedagogues.

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