Social Dimension Singapore

WELCOME TO SOCIAL DIMENSION!

Welcome to Social Dimension ONLINE!

This is an online blog which hopes to serve as a platform for the discussion of Social Issues and Social Work Practice in Singapore. This is an initiative by the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) to engage Social Workers as well as the Public through the use of New Media. 

News from SASW will also be published here. Do stay TUNED!

Feel free to contribute your thoughts and articles HERE, and also grace us with your comments on how we can improve support for Social Workers in Singapore, as well as address any pertinent social issues regarding our community.   

(Please note that the articles here are solely the views of the authors and in no way reflect the views of SASW)

Jobs and Salaries of Social Work Graduates 2009-2011

by Irene Y.H Ng, Xian Jie Chan, & Amdis Chay

 

 

Introduction

    This report follows up on the repeated annual study of the jobs and salaries of social work graduates from the National University of Singapore. Graduates graduating from 2009 onwards were tracked yearly, and this report details the latest findings from the 2009, 2010, and 2011 batches.

     The purpose of the study is to look at the trends in the progress of social workers‟ salary revisions. The trends will be discussed in relation to the various measures that were introduced over the years in the social service sector that sought to address the shortfall of social workers.

 

The Inaugural ASEAN Social Work Consortium (1 - 3 March 2011)

By Amran Jamil

In March 2011, Social Work EXCO member Amran bin Jamil represented the Singapore Association of Social Workers in the first ever ASEAN Social Work Consortium held in Manila, Phillipines. 

 

The ASEAN Social Work Consortium (ASWC) held its first meeting from 1 to 3 March 2011 in Manila, the Philippines, attended by more than 70 social work practitioners, educators and policy makers from all ten Member States. ASWC represents a platform for social workers, social work educators and schools of social work to enhance quality of social work practices and policies in the region as well as to synergize ideas and initiatives to further address fellow ASEAN people’s welfare, especially the underprivileged, marginalized and disadvantaged.

Social Work as "Net" Work

Dr Vincent Chua

National University of Singapore, Department of Sociology, socckhv@nus.edu.sg

‘Social’ work is essentially, ‘net’work. Helping others often means connecting with them, asking simply: “how can I help?” Mention ‘social networks’ today, and images of the Internet and Facebook come to mind. Yet, people have networked since the beginning of time. And the practice has not stopped. If anything, tsunamis, earthquakes and other crises, have brought man to helping one another through high water and low valley.

More than technological artifacts, ‘networks’ are the everyday connections made between family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers. Whether online or offline, networks are real and consequential, they are the concrete channels through which resources, whether money, emotional aid or creative ideas, flow between people. Social workers are well acquainted with the power of connect and contact in crisis. Networks are indispensable and we all need them.

The EBP (Evidence Based Practice) Spirit

By Firdawati Masri, Wong Liling & Yum Sin Ting

 

   

We carved this pumpkin!!!

Halloween is around the corner and in the midst of all our papers and mid-term exams, we still made time to soak in the ghostly atmosphere and celebration in St. Louis. Baking pumpkin muffins and roasting pumpkin seeds, carving jack-o-lanterns, decorating the house and stocking up on sugary treats.

 

An Idiot's Call to REACH OUT!

Social Dimension catches up with the inspirational Dr Timothy Sim for his expert advice on Social Work Development in Singapore.

Social Dimension: During your visits to Singapore for the various symposiums and workshops you conducted, you have been vocal in speaking out about how Social Workers in Singapore may have strayed from their true calling.

In your view, what are your thoughts about the true calling and mission of Social Workers in Singapore?

Dr Timothy Sim: You must watch the movie “3 Idiots”! I believe it answers the key question you asked. In a nutshell, we need to be passionate about what we do and reflect on the meaning of success.  What is the reason for becoming who we are and doing what we do? I think an outstanding social worker has that “idiot’s” passion to be different and to make a difference. I cried buckets watching this movie. You watch it and tell me if it does anything to you?

 

Understanding Oppression in Mental Health

 By Koh Li Lian

 

 

 

What is Oppression?

             Mary Rogers (1997), in sharing on feminist ideas, defines oppression as “an experiential notion” and referred to “how people in the lower reaches of social hierarchies react over time by way of their identities and emotions”; and a measure of “the toil of social hierarchies and systems of domination on the more dominated”. The concept of the dichotomy of men and women parallels the concept of abnormality and sanity. The ‘sane’ persons often dominate persons who are deemed to be ‘abnormal’ due to their mental states.

             Adam Podgórecki’s (1993) definition of oppression as “an external or internal man-made limitation of the available options of human behaviour of an individual or a group” strikes a chord with me. Oppression can be experienced publicly or privately, does not exist naturally and may be directed to an individual or a collective group. He speaks of false consciousness, which indicates that oppression could appear in covert and implicit forms and may not be explicit to the public’s eyes, such as in racial domination and oppression of females.

 

Four Fallacies about the Singapore Welfare State

Ng Kok Hoe

 

    If ever one needed proof that habits of thought are hard to break, we need only look at the way social welfare is treated in Singapore. There is probably no other policy domain which impacts on our lives more directly and yet is less contested.

    The whole question of the well-being of vulnerable members in our society is framed by a core of ideas that over time have become so ossified that we no longer check and challenge ourselves, and because of that, foreclose any chance for change. In times when everything else is changing – from interpersonal communication and family structures to patterns of international migration and global financial systems – static policy thinking is risky.

    At risk of simplification, this static thinking about our social welfare can be roughly summed up in a few statements: Singapore is not a welfare state and should never be, because the Western welfare state is doomed to fail and social welfare is fundamentally un-Asian. As a small country with no natural resources, we have no choice but to define our own style of social welfare, which by and large has worked over the years. So why fix it if it ain’t broke?

    Underlying these statements are four powerful ideas about social welfare and Singapore society. In the spirit of critical reflection, let us now examine the truth in each of them.

PIONEERS OF THE PROFESSION: Mr K V Veloo

by Hayley Chau

In PIONEERS OF THE PROFESSION, we feature key figures in Singapore Social Work who have been influential in steering the development and direction of the Social Work Movement in Singapore. Today we feature Mr K V Veloo.

Mr. Veloo’s career that started in 1964 in Probation and Aftercare has spanned more than 35 years. During his stint in government service, he worked passionately on the issue of transportation for disabled people and on socio-legal issues facing intellectually disabled people. He also initiated the Singapore Indian Welfare Association (SIWA, current-day Singapore Indian Development Association or SINDA).

Mr. Veloo was the first President of the restructured and present Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW).  He brought about the merger of the then two prevailing organizations, one for medical social workers and the other for general social workers.

Perhaps he will be remembered most of all of for helping the social work profession to gain inroads into the penal and correctional system. He was the first social worker to hold the post of Chief Probation & Aftercare Officer. A key achievement was the setting up of the Community Probation Service (CPS) in 1971 – staffed with more than 400 trained Volunteer Probation Officers (VPOs).It became the model for similar schemes not only within Singapore but also around the region.

 

REFLECTIONS: Adopting a Strengths Based Perspective

In today's article, Faith Wong, a 3rd year Social Work Student shares her paradigm shifting experiences caused by reflections during placement.

 

Introduction

During my placement at a family service centre, I had the opportunity to work as a case worker. This role gave me the ability to interact with clients directly and the privilege of listening to their life stories. Such experiences have been filled with challenges but also great lessons. One particular challenge that I find myself tussling with is how I often view my client through a problem-based and pathological perspective. Such perspectives, as I have learnt, can be disempowering to clients and may cause dependency. This experience is thus important in my learning because it challenges me to think about my personal values and my position as a social worker in helping my clients.

 

SASW NEWS: Introducing the SASW EXCO 2011 - 2013

Dear Readers,

 

On behalf of the SASW Executive Committee, we would like to wish all our Muslim readers a belated Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! 

After our Annual General Meeting held on the 29th of July 2011, the new Executive Committee for 2011 - 2013 has been elected. 

The elected members of the SASW EXCO are as follow: