Socialinio darbuotojo asmenybės savybės – santykio su profesija išraiška
PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A SOCIAL WORKER AS EXPRESSION OF THEIR RELATION TO PROFESSION

Summary/Abstract: In Lithuania, the profession of a social worker started to form rather late, only after the restoration of independence, however, the professionalization of social work has been very fast. The development of the activity of social work has been attested by legal acts of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, by the establishment of the service of social aid and management systems in different areas of welfare, by formal training of social workers in schools of different types and levels, by the upgrading of the infrastructure of social services, by the growth of the community of qualified social workers-professionals, etc. To assure the quality of social aid, scientific knowledge has been accumulated, research has been done, and different technologies, methods, and ways have been employed. Significant experience has been accumulated in the solution of problems of different complexity both on the micro- and macro-levels. All that demonstrates that in the field of social work more attention has been paid to the external, objective, visible side of the profession, and the fact that the quality of social work is influenced by social workers – the subjects of social work – has often been forgotten. As social work is considered to be practical-moral rather than rational technical activity, the human aspect – a social worker as the subject of professional activity – becomes a major factor in the said professional activity, in particular nowadays, when the problem of the subject as a phenomenon of social reality is becoming increasingly more topical. (cf. Saiko, 2006). The subjective work circumstances of a social worker have been recognized in the profession; however, works providing more exhaustive analysis of the subject are not numerous. The present article adds to the studies of the subject related to the subjective module of the profession of a social worker. The aim of the article is to theoretically justify that the personal qualities of a social worker disclose their relation to the profession and provide information about the quality of their professional work. In the article, the personal qualities of a social worker shall be defined in the philosophical (a social worker’s understanding of the meaning of their profession and making the profession meaningful) and psychological (motivation and communicative ability) aspects. In the discussion of the personal qualities of a social worker from the philosophical viewpoint, their ability to think beyond everyday cares, e.g., their reflection on the cognition of themselves and the world, on the system of personal meanings contributing to the perception of the world, meaningful human existence and themselves, while relating themselves to supreme values, their understanding and experiencing, and the efforts to implement them in their professional activity, are highlighted. The activities of a social worker have a clear function and are meaningful: they strive to help man to solve both material

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