An Historical-Philosophical Analysis Of the Evolution of C.S.W.E. Policies Towards Undergraduate Social Work Education, 1931-1979

Prepared 1979 for Professor Alfred Kahn's doctoral course, History and Philosophy of Social Work and Social Welfare

This paper uses Alfred Kahn's historical philosophical analysis method to study the policy of the Council on Social Work Education towards undergraduate social work education through the mid-1970s, and its relationship to the question of the labor market in social welfare. This topic presents interesting opportunities for the study of A the social work profession as a corporate entity in its relationship to social welfare as an institutional complex, @ as called for by Willard C. Richan.

This paper is divided into three sections. First, the background of historical evidence is presented from three areas: the history of the guidelines and objectives of the professional accrediting organization towards undergraduate programs in social welfare; the actual course of development of undergraduate programs from the thirties to the sixties; a brief outline of the nature of the shortage of social service workers during this period. It is hoped that this section will demonstrate an incongruity between the unchanging policy of the C.S.W.E. and the actual growth of undergraduate education.

In the next two sections this incongruity is subjected to a historical-philosophical analysis. In the second section, several hypotheses are briefly examined which may shed light on the nature of the incongruity observed.

In the final section, one hypothesis is examined in depth: that C.S.W.E. policy was the response of a fledgling social work profession which was unable to attempt to simultaneously define its own boundaries and ease its standards of membership in response to the needs of the social welfare system.  The paper concludes with observations on the significance to the process of professional growth of the C.S.W.E. policy on undergraduate education.