Case Records For Teaching Purposes (An Old And Rare Book)

For a long time there has been a need for local case records for teaching purposes in the Schools of Social Work in our country.

It was to supply this need that the Faculty of Social Work in co-operation with T.C.M., whose personnel Miss H. Pinkus who was attached to the Faculty, edited and prepared the re cords for publication. This is the first time that Indian case records from students' field work reports have been assembled and published for teaching of case work. I hope that these records will prove useful to teachers in the field of Social Work.

HANSA MEHTA

In education for social work, one of the goals is to equip the student with competence in at least one of the many areas of social work practice. This goal is reached primarily through the plan of supervised fieldwork experience. In the classroom situation the use of record material permits emphasis on the integration of practice with theory and thus helps to prepare the student for his fieldwork experience. The records which follow are illustrative of one method of social work practice, i.e. casework or work with individuals. While the records have been designed primarily for use by teachers and students in graduate school of social work, it is hoped they may prove useful in many other settings where knowledge of how to work constructively with individuals is required.

The material in this volume has been assembled from agencies used by the Faculty of Social Work, M. S. University of Baroda as centers for training in fieldwork practice. The records have been selected for their usefulness in teaching and do not necessarily represent either the best practice of casework or the level of practice in agencies in India. They do present a wide range of psychosocial problems and of casework techniques as well as the use of the case wide range of psycho-social problems and of casework techniques as well as the use of the case work method in several of the different fields of social work recognized in India today. The listing by fields in the table of contents is, however, not intended to suggest the order in which the cases might be taught: this is discussed in the teaching notes.

Each record provides an opportunity for discussion of content and the helping methods employed and may be used with or without the teaching comments. The latter only suggest some possible areas for discussion and in no way cover all the potentialities of each case as every teacher will want to use the records in varied ways with groups at different levels of experience. It is hoped that these records may contribute in some small way to the many educational and staff development programmes currently being sponsored by governmental and voluntary agencies concerned with social welfare.

Identifying information in the records has been disguised. I am grateful to many persons for their assistance in the preparation of this material To Dr. Helen Wright, Chief of Party, Council of Social Work Education-India Project (New York) for her guidance, stimulation and support; to all of my colleagues at the Faculty of Social Work, M. S. University of Baroda whose help in collecting and editing of this material has made the entire project possible; to the students and workers whose untiring efforts to help their clients are presented herein. A special word of appreciation is due to my mother, Blanca Pinkus whose assistance in the mechanical details of preparing the material has been invaluable. As a social worker I am deeply indebted to the clients whose many problems-only a few of which have been presented here-present a great challenge to all of us concerned with human welfare.

HELEN PINKUS

Adviser in Education

For Social Welfare Council on Social Work Education

India Project (New York)

U.S. Technical Co-operation Mission (New Delhi)