Ensinar inovação social a estudantes de serviço social em estruturas de competitividade: aproximação à metodologia de ApS

"The labor market has become more constrained and, consequently, competitiveness has increased, which makes it increasingly urgent for Social Work to demonstrate what it is, what it is for, and in which areas it cannot be replaced by other professions" (Amaro, 2015: 125). With reference to the perspectives of authors in line with the above, the challenge was to combine the teaching of innovation and social intervention in the second year of the degree course in Social Work with the Service-Learning (SPL) methodology. On the one hand, we had already built a curricular unit with a seminar configuration that proposed to explore the current transformations in the field of social intervention, as well as to bring students closer to notions and initiatives of social innovation; on the other hand, the possibility of implementing a pilot project within the scope of ApS implemented in that Higher Education Institution was presented.
To talk about ApS is to talk about a pedagogical methodology that combines "in a single activity" the learning of contents, skills, and values with the performance of tasks in the service of the community. As such, learning and service establish a bilateral relationship in which both are favored: learning acquires a civic sense and service becomes a workshop of knowledge and values (Puig et al., 2010: 10). Based on this experience, we propose for the present communication to present the views of the students involved from the exploration of aspects such as: i. proximity and apprehension of the contents taught in the CU; ii. pedagogical strategy(s) implemented for the course of the CU; iii. development of competencies; iv. relevance and usefulness to/for Social Work. This study aims to bring to the debate the implementation of (new) strategies in experiential training in Social Work, reflecting on its convenience, but also necessity, when faced with profound transformations in the labor market, which not only make pressing the possibilities of facing the exercise of the profession in social economy organizations or in the private market, but also do not guarantee the professional insertion of this category (Amaro, 2014).