The code of society transformation in social work : modelling the construction of Lithuanian social work professionalization

The main topic of this meta-analysis is the disclosure of the process of social work becoming a profession in Lithuania under complicated conditions of society transformation. When we speak about the process of any activity becoming a profession we speak about professionalization. The aims of this meta-analysis are: 1) to analyse social work professionalization in Lithuania in the light of constructivist and systemic theoretical perspectives. 2) to extract and elaborate the main factors creating the conditions for professional social work development in Lithuania over the period of 1992-2013. 3) to answer to the main research question of the meta-analysis – how did Lithuanian social work professionalize? The code of society transformation becomes an ultimate assumption for modelling the construction of social work professionalization, highlighting its manifestation. In Lithuania, there is a lack of a detailed work, which would sum up the results of twenty years of social work development from microthrough mesoto macro-levels trying to cover the whole multi-complexity of the phenomenon; and there is also a need for a comprehensive theoretical conceptual analysis on the issue of social work professionalization. The theoretical conceptual model of Lithuanian social work professionalization is constructed as an answer to the research question. The theoretical conceptual model of social work professionalization manifests the main domains and dynamics of the process from microthrough mesoto macro-levels and does not include smaller scale agents or processes which are tied to the development of a profession. Thus, it leaves space for additional mechanisms to be integrated into it. The created theoretical conceptual model can be interpreted as follows: On the one hand, social work practice, studies and science are in the centre of social work professionalization. In Lithuania, these three social work fields develop simultaneously, leading to their tight interdependence. However, each of them is developing by its own pace. Extremely intensive processes of creation of the profession are revealed causing many 6 The Code of Society Transformation in Social Work contradictions. The contradictions are caused by the lack of stability of the social work professionalization basement, consisting of social policy and education policy. Social workers work in the system of social care, which is one of the most regulated spheres in the state management. Social care is a part of the state policy defined by a general concept welfare state and described in terms of the state social policy, public funding and administrative-bureaucratic apparatus, as well as ideological background and economic behaviour of the society. The lack of stability in the Lithuanian welfare state, predetermined by the lack of experience and the consequences of post-communist transformation, affect the development of state social policy, which in its turn affects the construction of social work as a profession. On the other hand, the more complex and intellectual professions become, the more the centre of gravity gradually moves to the emphasis on education. Education and training sectors begin to play an increasingly active and influential role in the creative process of professional standards and qualifications. Nowadays, social work is developing rapidly, supported by a growing and becoming stronger community of professionals. An important assumption is namely a lack of traditional scientific heritage and still dynamic professional identity due to still developing legislation regulating social work as a profession in Lithuania. Legally, the requirements for social workers’ qualification growth, behind that the standards for social worker’s education, seek to construct a much clearer professional identity, as well as professional status of social work. The lack of communication between the main state institutions implementing social and education policies creates the perpedulum/ swings effect, and causes the turbulence processes in the centre of social work professionalization. On the other hand, all these professionalization processes are promoted, supported and maintained as well as interfered by the networks of educational institutions and professional associations. The networks of educational institutions and professional associations attempt to perform the balancing as well as shaping and creating a more unstable role in the processes of social work professionalization. While the model is illustrated as the one functioning in the institutional child care system in the meta-analysis, it can be applied in other