As escolhas, motivações e representações dos alunos da licenciatura em Serviço Social

Abstract

The following master’s degree dissertation has the purpose of reopening a discussion about the motivations that lead to the choice of the Social Work undergraduate degree, identifying them through ethic, political, social and professional values, or from other sources. The topic at hand is therefore, if there is a vocation towards being a Social Worker. The theoretical framework is based on three main topics of investigation: the juvenile cultures; the motivations and representations of young people who opt for Social Work and the existence, or nonexistence, of a vocation; the specificities of the professional identity of the Social Worker. A sampling was created in order to found this analysis, which is composed of 83 students that are enrolled in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of the undergraduate degree in Social Work, in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Lisboa, in the academic year of 2012-2013. As priviledged informants, we have our professors of Social Work in the FCH-UCP Lisboa that have provided us with pivotal data for this study case, because we consider them to be close to their students, which makes them able to better identify their motivations and their profile. It also seemed important to interview some psychologists that practice their profession in high schools, in order to take into account their opinions and learn from their experience regarding Vocational Orientation. The processing of the data enabled us to compare the choices of the young students. This data was gathered from two surveys with relevant information regarding the 1st year students of the undergraduate degree of Social Work, in the academic year of 2000-2001. The motivations that lead young people into choosing to take the Social Work course are tied to a previous experience that is related to the profession or its field of professional action, the contact with social issues like poverty and suffering, the will to help other people and to intervene in the society, the realization of social assistance and intervention as a life project and a way of personal fulfillment. The representations that students have of Social Work are tied to a disciplinary knowledge (scientific theoretical and practical knowledge); the provision of services of social assistance and action; helping others); that enables the mediation between the Government and the citizens; a political action that intervenes in the society in order to promote the individual and general welfare.

Date of Award	14 Feb 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isabel Maria Paula Amado de Freitas Vi (Supervisor)