DEVELOPING MORAL COMPETENCIES IN THE TRAINING OF SOCIAL WORKERS

Background: Moral competencies in the field of social work education need to be developed in terms of compliance with the social worker's code of ethics, as well as in terms of the pillars of social work in the implementation of methods and procedures in working with clients. Methods: The present contribution describes the initial phase of the research, which was conducted from January 2023. This research phase focused on obtaining input data that will be the basis for formulating hypotheses and conducting further research to find possible ways to influence the value orientations and competencies of social workers so that they are based on moral values. This first and initial phase of research is prototype research. The aim is to map the basic value attitudes of social work students. The prototype research was conducted based on qualitative research strategies. The instrument was semi-structured interviews. The prototype research involved 20 respondents: social work students aged 25 years and above. Results: Respondents generally perceive social work as a formal job aimed at providing certain services. Professionalism was the predominant core value and social work skill they listed in their answers. For them, professionalism is both a core value in social work and a core value that is absent in social work. Based on this, the first preliminary finding of the conducted research was the fact that the interviewed respondents do not perceive the moral values of social work as a basis for their future profession as social workers. Conclusion: The following research phases will help determine the current value orientations of future social workers and at the same time look for ways to anchor these value orientations in the core values of social work.