Cultivating scientific and research skills of social work students outside the classroom

Abstract

Background: Bachelor’s Standard in the social work specialty imposes the responsibility on Ukrainian higher education institutions to elaborate the educational programs directed at the scientific and research skills development to be further applied in the professional field. Purpose: The study focuses on the extracurricular forms of social work baccalaureate students' training aimed to improve scientific and research skills, namely participation in scientific groups, volunteering, scientific conferences with publications, competitions of student scientific works, sociological research, and international project implementation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research was conducted at the Sociology and Social Work Department (Uzhhorod National University, Ukraine) and involved 118 baccalaureate students enrolled in a social work program with the learning strategy to improve their scientific and research skills. Research methods applied: scientific literature analysis ‒ to clarify the key concepts; generalization ‒ to determine the extracurricular forms of training that develop students’ scientific and research skills; analysis of regulatory documents ‒ to identify trends in the training of social workers; pedagogical monitoring and questionnaires ‒ to trace the dynamics of student involvement in extracurricular activities. Findings: Extracurricular activities advance the students’ independence in scientific and research practice, form a positive attitude towards science and research, motivate scientific and research development, and raise awareness of scientific and research skills development importance. Conclusions: The students' scientific and research skills development is to become an integral part of both curricula and extracurricular activities equally contributing to this process.