Youth Workers and Innovative Development of Social Work

Abstract

We conducted the research taking into consideration the fact that in organization of the professional training of a social worker for work with young people it is necessary to focus on the formation of high level professional culture, the development of the needs for constant professional development, as these should guarantee the success and effectiveness of the activities in the modern educational environment. The purpose of the experimental work was to check the competences gained at the workshops of the Youth Centre “START” and to determine the relevance of such competences. The survey engaged 48 participants who were students obtaining Bachelor and Master degrees at Social and Psychological Education Department in Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. The respondents chose 13 competences among 31 proposed positions. In student youth’s opinion, the youth worker should have basic competences. As a result we identified 5 main competences, which students had claimed in their questionnaire as the most relevant ones. The results of the research confirm the opinion that in the process of organizing the professional preparation of a social worker to work with young people, it is necessary to emphasize the formation of a high level of professional culture, the development of needs for continuous professional self-improvement, which is a guarantee of success and efficiency of activities in a modern educational environment. Therefore, the development of the theory and practice of vocational training for youth workers is on the agenda; research of the problem of the subjects of social and educational sphere in preparation of social workers for work with youth; development of theoretical and methodological bases and recommendations for training specialists for youth work; scientific support for youth policy areas; practical application of scientific research in youth work, etc.