Veranderende leerbehoeften van pleegzorgwerkers

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this research is to explore the professional and personal needs and competences of social workers in foster care and their knowledge about foster care organizations. Needs of social workers in foster care might change, because of the changing laws and rules. Method: To get a clear view on social workers’ needs, fourteen interviews are carried out in three different foster care organizations. Needs are separated into three different areas, i.e.: professional knowledge, personal competences and knowledge about the organization. Results: Foster care organizations help to increase the competence of their social workers by offering in-service training. The results suggest that social workers are content with the current in-service training, but still want to learn more about communication with foster children and their environment. The findings also suggest that social workers in foster care think it is useful to make learning methods in in-service training more interactive and also to learn from each other’s experiences. On top of that, they would like in-service training to be repeated. Conclusion: On the basis of these findings it can be concluded that social workers’ needs can be met by changing learning methods, by repeating them and by adding communication training. It is recommended that foster care organizations monitor the needs of their social workers by using a tripartite competence model, which is developed in this study.