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4/11/2008
Meeting with RSWs
13/10/2008
Sharing / Consultation Sessions on Continuing
Professional Development
for Registered Social Workers
The Social
Workers Registration Board (“the Board”) is now working
on measures to promote the culture of Continuing
Professional Development (“CPD”) for registered social
workers (“RSWs”) in the social welfare sector. The Board
considers that without assistance and support of the
RSWs, it would be very difficult to promote the culture
of CPD in the social welfare sector. Along this line,
the Board has prepared the following two sets of
documents for use in consultation exercises with RSWs :
(a)
The draft document on voluntary CPD scheme
(English
Version only)
(b)
The draft supervision guidelines
(Chinese
Version)
(English Version)
For economy purpose, we do not attach hard copies of the
above draft documents with this letter. You are invited
to logon the Board’s web-site: http://www.swrb.org.hk/chiASP/news_c.asp
to peruse the two documents. If you need hard copy of
the two documents, please contact us by email at : info@swrb.org.hk
or by phone at 2591 1955. We would send hard copy
documents to you accordingly.
You are cordially invited to give your views and
comments on the two draft documents. For this purpose,
you may send your views and comments to the Board
Secretariat by post, by fax (fax no. 2591 1411) or by
email to email address: info@swrb.org.hk on or before 6
November 2008.
With a view to gathering the views and comments of RSWs
on the above matter in a more direct manner, the Board
has scheduled two sharing / consultation sessions with
RSWs as follows:
First sharing / consultation session:
Date : Saturday, 1 November 2008
Time: 10:00a.m. to 12:00 noon
Venue: Room Y5306, City University of Hong Kong, Tat
Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon.
Second sharing / consultation session:
Date : Thursday, 6 November 2008
Time: 6:00p.m. to 8:00p.m.
Venue: Room 501, BGCA Headquarters Building, No.3,
Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
At the said sharing / consultation sessions, Dr. Hung
Suet-lin and Prof. Tsui Ming-sum, Members of the Working
Group on Professional Development of the Board, would
give a briefing on Continuing Professional Development
and Supervised Practice respectively as a means to
facilitate our discussion. After Dr. Hung and Prof.
Tsui’s briefing, we would proceed to the sharing and
consultation on the two draft documents.
We treasure very much your views and comments on the two
draft documents. In this respect, you are cordially
invited to attend the sharing / consultation sessions as
scheduled in the above. If you need further information
from us on this matter, please contact our Registrar,
Mr. Thomas Leung at 2591 1955.
8/7/2008
Invitation for Provision of Service
-
The Social Workers
Registration Board is planning to conduct a survey,
entitled "Survey on Behaviours and Attitudes of Registered
Social Workers towards Continuing Professional
Development". It cordially invites proposal from
researchers to provide service in conducting the survey.
Please click
here for details.
-
The Social Workers
Registration is planning to conduct a survey, entitled
"Survey on Policies and Practices of Employing Agencies on
Continuing Professional Development". It now cordially
invites proposals from researchers to provide service in
conducting the survey. Please click
here for details.
8/4/2008
Voluntary Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme for
RSWs of HK
The expiry date of the Voluntary
Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme for RSWs of HK
was extended to 31 March 2009. You may
procure the captioned insurance by completing and
returning the application form to
American International Underwriters Ltd.
If you wish to obtain more information on the
matter, please feel free to contact Ms Amanda Lau
(2864 5514) or Ms Mabel Chiu
(2864 5348).
Application Form
Details of Scheme
10/12/2007
Work Reports and Audited Accounts
Work Reports:
http://www.swrb.org.hk/documents/work2007_eng.doc
Audited
Accounts:
http://www.swrb.org.hk/documents/accounts2007.pdf
25/5/2007
Termination of free
web-mail accounts provided to RSWs
Five-day week for Board Office
Termination of free web-mail accounts
provided to RSWs
The Social Workers Registration
Board has provided free web-mail accounts to all RSWs since
September 2003. The free web-mail system has been in
operation for more than three years. Out of the 13,000 RSWs,
only about 2,000 have activated their free web-mail
accounts. Of these 2,000 web-mail users, slightly more than
one hundred RSWs use their web-mail accounts on frequent
basis.
As shown in the above, only about
1% of our RSWs use the free web-mail accounts on frequent
basis. On the other hand, the annual maintenance cost of the
system is about $80,000. It is therefore not cost-effective
to maintain the existing web-mail system to provide free
web-mail accounts to RSWs.
After a careful review, the Board
has decided that for better use of existing resources, it
should terminate the provision of free web-mail accounts to
RSWs. The Board has decided to terminate the free web-mail
accounts with effect from 1 September 2007. All
personal data in the web-mail system would be deleted
shortly after the said termination of free web-mail service.
Please therefore make arrangements to find alternative email
account services if you have used the Board’s web-mail
accounts. I hope you would understand that for better use of
its resources, the Board has to stop further spending money
to maintain this expensive but not cost-effective web-mail
system.
Five-day week for Board Secretariat
The
Government first introduced five-day week in some
departments in 2006. Recently, the Board has examined
whether the Board Secretariat can adopt the government’s
five-day week practice. After detailed consideration, the
Board has decided to follow the government’s practice to
introduce five-day week for the Board Secretariat with
effect from 1 September 2007. Under the five-day week
arrangement, the opening hours of the Board Office would be
from 9:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. (lunch break from 1:00p.m. to
2:00p.m.) from Monday to Friday.
18/1/2007
Audio-Visual Training Materials on Code of Practice for
RSWs
The Audio-visual Training Materials
on Code of Practice for RSWs is now ready, you may
download them at here.
16/10/2006
Notice of Revised Fee Schedule
In
accordance with subsection 38(3) of the Social Workers
Registration Ordinance (Chapter 505), the Social Workers
Registration Board, following consultation with the
Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food, announces the
revised fee schedule as follows:
Application
for Registration $600
Renewal of Registration
$400(unchanged)
Re-application for Registration
$600
For enquiries, please call
2591 1955.
23/6/2006
Study on the Current State of Supervision for Social
Workers in Hong Kong
The
Research Report is set out below
for information:
Please click here to view the
Research Report
11/2/2004
Renewal on Web
With immediate effect, RSWs will be able to make
on-line applications for renewal and pay the renewal
fees by PPS
on the phone or through the Internet.
26/09/2002
The
Board launched an opinion poll in March 2002 to gauge
RSWs' opinions and intent on the Board’s proposed amendments
to the Social Workers Registration Ordinance. The result
of the poll is emunerated as follows for RSWs' easy
information.
Please
click here to download the result of the poll
24/8/01
Statement
of the Advisory Committee
On
Social Work Training and Manpower Planning
On Continuing Professional Development of Social Workers
The
Advisory Committee on Social Work Training and Manpower
Planning, an advisory body on the education and training
of social workers, notes that in the newly released
Guidelines on Code of Practice for Registered Social
Workers, the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB)
recommends social workers to attend professional enhancement
activities of not less than 24 hours a year aiming at
upgrading their professional skills and knowledge. The
committee believes that the social work profession is
a progressive profession that strives for improvement
and excellence. Like other professions that share the
mission of enhancing the well-being of the community,
the social work profession, in view of the rapid changes
in Hong Kong, should be aware of the need to refresh
and consolidate the existing knowledge and practice
through training and should also constantly upgrade
and advance itself to better serve the community and
facilitate positive social development. Social workers,
being professionally trained, should always keep themselves
abreast of the changes impacting on the community and
the profession, and explore new approaches in discharging
their competence to meeting the new and changing demands
on, and the rising expectation of the profession.
As
stipulated in the Reform Proposals for the Education
System in Hong Kong issued by the Education Commission
in September 2000, Hong Kong needs to develop into a
society that values lifelong learning. Everyone should
have the attitude and ability for lifelong learning
and a willingness to advance further beyond the existing
knowledge level, and to continuously consolidate and
upgrade their knowledge and ability. Continuing education
is therefore crucial for the social work profession
in facing the challenges ahead.
The
Committee considers that now is the opportune time to
promote continuing professional development among social
workers, and strongly supports the recommendation of
the SWRB that social workers should attend professional
enhancement activities of not less than 24 hours a year.
11/08/2000
Policies
and Procedures for handling complaints against / opinions
on Social Workers Registration Board
To
strengthen the communication with Registered Social
Workers (“RSWs”), the Board has drawn up a set of procedures
to deal with the complaints/opinions lodged by the public/RSWs
against/on the Board’s policies, practice and operation.
Please
click here for the details of the procedures. You
may also download the forms as appended from “Forms”
of this homepage.
11/04/2000
Web
Resources on Social Work Programs
Please
be informed that WWW Resources for Social Workers is
providing a list of social work programs available round
the world. You may visit website www.nyu.edu/socialwork/wwwrsw
for details.
03/04/2000
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Extracted
Replay to RSW's Enquiries
The
Board has recently received enquiries from RSWs seeking
clarification on the interpretation of section 35
of the Social Workers
Registration Ordinance and the interpretation of the
Judgement handed
down by Mr. Justice Stone on the judicial review sought
by en ex-social
worker. After seeking legal advice, the Board has
issued a reply which
is extracted hereunder for general information:-
Interpretation
of the Ordinance
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Under section 35 of the Ordinance,
"Any person who-
...
(h)
hot being a registered social worker...knowingly
permits the
use of, or uses, in connection with his business
or profession.
(i) the description "registered social worker"
or "註冊社會工作者"
(ii) the initials "R.S.W."
(iii) the description "social work"
or "社會工作" or
"social work"
or 社會工作者
or "社工",
(iv) any initials or abbreviation of words intended
to cause, or which
may reasonably cause, any person to believe that
the person using
the initials or abbreviations, as the case may
be, is on the Register,
(i)
not being on the Register, advertises or represents
himself as a registered
social worker or knowingly permits himself to
be so advertised or represented;
...
commits an offence and is liable on conviction
to a fine at level 5..."
-
According to the afore quoted section of the Ordinance,
a person who is not
registered under the Ordinance but nevertheless
describes himself as a
"registered social worker", or "social
worker", or use the description of
"social work", or permits the use of these
terms with his rank title, is liable
to be prosecuted.
-
A non registered person practicing social work or
occupying the post of a social
worker would have, if not directly used, permitted
the use of the term "social work",
or even "registered social worker" in
his rank title in the course of his job,
and therefore might trigger section 35 of the Ordinance.
-
The Board is fully aware that aware that any use
of the terms "social work"
or "social worker" etc. will not constitute
an offence under the Ordinance if
such use is within sections 34(3) and (4) of the
Ordinance, i.e. using the
terms "social work" etc. to describe his
academic qualification or past working
experience (as envisaged by section 34(3) and (4)
of the Ordinance).
However, such exceptions will not apply to the situation
which a person actually
practices social work by engaging a social worker's
post.
-
The Board is also fully aware that it is not a statutory
requirement for person
to any person to register under the Ordinance provided
always that such person
does not describe himself or permit himself if to
be described in connection with
the terms "social work", "social
worker" etc.
Interpretation of the Judgment delivered by Mr.
Justice Stone
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The Board appreciates that Mr. Justice Stone has
clarified that the
Ordinance dose impose a statutory requirement
for all social
workers to register. The Bored also notes that Mr.
Justice Stone has
clarified how an unregistered social worker could
be held liable of
a criminal offence under the Ordinance.:-
"...it is plain on a fair reading of the sequence
of correspondence
that the criminal aspect which was principally arousing
concern lay
not in failure to register per se but in the event
that social workers
in the relevant grades continued to use their rank
titles in the course
of their jobs absent such registration" (page
19)
-
It is under such circumstances that a social worker
who fails to register
or fails to renew his registration status whilst
practicing social work
and occupying social work post may trigger section
35 under the Ordinance.
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20/12/99
On
3 December 1999 the Court has handed down its judgement
on the judicial review sought by Miss Cheung Man-wai,
Florence. The Court's judgement is posted on the Homepage
for your information.
[ Please
click here to download the court judgment ]
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