Social workers to require certification
Social workers to require certification
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To promote respect for the social worker profession, an
association has endorsed the idea of providing certification for
thousands of social workers across the country.
The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Social Workers
(IPSPI), Puji Pujiono, told The Jakarta Post that the social
welfare of Indonesians was deteriorating and social problems were
becoming more complex. Thus, the acknowledgement of the social
worker profession was more essential than ever.
"Based on this, we, social workers, have agreed to organize
certification to improve our capacity and promote recognition of
our profession among the public," he said over the weekend.
He explained that certification would only be required for
those who had graduated from schools and universities majoring in
social welfare or social work, and who intended to work in the
social services.
"Certification is needed to differentiate professional social
workers from charity workers, who are normally motivated by
religious conviction. Professional social workers possess a
special set of skills that are imparted through higher education
and ethical training," he explained.
Although no up-to-date statistics are available, Puji
estimates that there are at least 35,000 professional social
workers in the country, 3,500 of whom are members of the IPSPI.
Besides encouraging recognition for the profession, he also
stressed that certification was essential if Indonesian
social workers were to be able to compete with their counterparts
from neighboring countries.
"If we don't do it (certification) now, when ASEAN liberalizes
its labor market, our country will be flooded with social workers
from neighboring countries," he said, adding that the
Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore had applied certification
schemes for their social workers years ago.
"Hopefully, after establishing a national professional board
for social workers, we can begin the certification process next
year," he said.
Currently, he said, social workers were employed by NGOs,
the Ministry of Social Affairs, universities, hospitals,
orphanages, charitable foundations and penitentiaries.
Chairman of Communications Forum for the Community of Social Workers
Fadhlullah T.M. Daud supported the idea if the main intention was
to increase the quality of the county's social workers.
"But, the most important thing is that certification should
not prevent people from participating in voluntary activities,
something that is still not popular here," he told the Post.