A Social Work Degree With A Difference - The Background
Everything valuable begins with an idea. Ideas can come as a flash of inspiration or a slowly unfolding discovery and sometimes, they are offered to you from out of the blue – that is how Bethlehem Tertiary Institute’s (BTI) newly developed Bachelor of Social Work first began.
In 2008, Dr Andrew Smith, now BTI Executive Dean, was at a meeting in Wellington. During the meeting, Russell Martin, Chief Executive of the Open Home Foundation (a Christian child and family support service), turned to Andrew and asked, “Why doesn’t BTI develop a social work degree?”
In the conversation that followed, Russell shared that in faith-based social work agencies throughout New Zealand there was a real need for Christian social workers who had learned how to integrate their faith with their social work practice. BTI, who had been delivering a Bachelor of Counselling with a Christian worldview since 2001, was in many ways the ideal institute to develop a social work degree with a difference – a degree that could be shaped by Christian values and motivations from the inside out.
Andrew brought the idea back home to BTI and discussed it with Richard Cook, then Dean of Counsellor Education. “We just let it sit and we didn’t do anything about it for probably a year,” says Richard. “But it was just like the idea kept coming back, kept popping up. It actually makes me think about Victor Hugo’s well-known phrase, ‘there’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ That has always been a really influential notion for me and it resonates with me when I think about our social work degree.”
So, the wheels began to turn and soon the idea became a plan, the plan became a project, the project gathered a team and by May 2011 a fully developed Bachelor of Social Work was presented to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) for consideration.
In 2008, Dr Andrew Smith, now BTI Executive Dean, was at a meeting in Wellington. During the meeting, Russell Martin, Chief Executive of the Open Home Foundation (a Christian child and family support service), turned to Andrew and asked, “Why doesn’t BTI develop a social work degree?”
In the conversation that followed, Russell shared that in faith-based social work agencies throughout New Zealand there was a real need for Christian social workers who had learned how to integrate their faith with their social work practice. BTI, who had been delivering a Bachelor of Counselling with a Christian worldview since 2001, was in many ways the ideal institute to develop a social work degree with a difference – a degree that could be shaped by Christian values and motivations from the inside out.
Andrew brought the idea back home to BTI and discussed it with Richard Cook, then Dean of Counsellor Education. “We just let it sit and we didn’t do anything about it for probably a year,” says Richard. “But it was just like the idea kept coming back, kept popping up. It actually makes me think about Victor Hugo’s well-known phrase, ‘there’s nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ That has always been a really influential notion for me and it resonates with me when I think about our social work degree.”
So, the wheels began to turn and soon the idea became a plan, the plan became a project, the project gathered a team and by May 2011 a fully developed Bachelor of Social Work was presented to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) for consideration.
God Was Leading Us
“Every step of this project was a step of faith,” says Richard. “There were no guarantees that our social work degree would be approved. It was possible that we were putting in all this time, energy and money only to have the door close right at the end. But we believed that this was something God was leading us in, we so just kept doing what needed to be done.”
By September, after a comprehensive proposal assessment and panel visit from representatives of NZQA and the SWRB, BTI’s Bachelor of Social Work was approved, subject to some final work being completed. By December a beautifully framed and much celebrated approval certificate adorned BTI’s office wall.
“It was a great moment,” smiles Richard. “We really appreciated the support and input we received, in particular from Jan Duke from the SWRB. I had a real sense of God’s grace with us and in hindsight, I am aware of how much the purposes of God were at work with the timing of it all. Within one month of our degree being approved, the SWRB put a moratorium on any new social work degrees, which basically means that no new social work degrees are being considered in the near future. We could so easily have missed out…but we didn’t!”
Of course, the degree being developed, approved and offered represents only one half of the equation - a degree programme is nothing without students. “We decided early in 2011 that we would start to tell people about the degree, and have them journey along the approval process with us,” says Wendy Pyne, Head of Operational Services. “Using social media, email and radio advertising we gathered a community of interested people, and by the time the degree was approved in December, there was a bunch of pioneering students all ready to apply for the first ever intake in February 2012.”
By September, after a comprehensive proposal assessment and panel visit from representatives of NZQA and the SWRB, BTI’s Bachelor of Social Work was approved, subject to some final work being completed. By December a beautifully framed and much celebrated approval certificate adorned BTI’s office wall.
“It was a great moment,” smiles Richard. “We really appreciated the support and input we received, in particular from Jan Duke from the SWRB. I had a real sense of God’s grace with us and in hindsight, I am aware of how much the purposes of God were at work with the timing of it all. Within one month of our degree being approved, the SWRB put a moratorium on any new social work degrees, which basically means that no new social work degrees are being considered in the near future. We could so easily have missed out…but we didn’t!”
Of course, the degree being developed, approved and offered represents only one half of the equation - a degree programme is nothing without students. “We decided early in 2011 that we would start to tell people about the degree, and have them journey along the approval process with us,” says Wendy Pyne, Head of Operational Services. “Using social media, email and radio advertising we gathered a community of interested people, and by the time the degree was approved in December, there was a bunch of pioneering students all ready to apply for the first ever intake in February 2012.”
BTI Social Work Graduates
Social Work consultant and trainer, Chris Thomas, was one of the writers of the degree and believes that the faith aspect does make BTI’s Bachelor of Social Work distinct from other programmes offered in New Zealand. “I think the explicit nature of the BTI approach is really, really important because it is explicit – it’s saying ‘this is where we come from’, but in a very clear way which links incredibly well with the Code of Ethics and our professional framework. I suspect that BTI graduates will be snapped up. I also see that in the broader context of social work though, in terms of what this degree offers…there will be lots of opportunities for social workers inside faith-based organisations and also outside.”
The team at the Open Home Foundation, who sparked the idea in the first place, are partnering with BTI by having input into intensives and hosting BTI social work students on practicum placements. Lee Roberts, General Manager of Service Delivery, smiles as she says, “Obviously our hope is that some of the students who have come to the programme will come and work with the Open Home Foundation when they finish their degrees. We have been exceptionally excited about BTI doing a Christian social work degree and we’ll continue to be very supportive of the programme.” BTI’s newest staff member, Heidi Crawford, has left a Practice Manager role with Open Home Foundation to take up a position on the social work teaching team, so the partnership has yet another dimension.
The grace of God and the faithful commitment of His people have seen this powerful idea of a faith-based social work degree transformed from inception to reality. Key milestones have already been reached, but there are many more to come – new intakes of people with a heart that beats for social justice, the release of the first cohort into the social work profession three years down the track, and all the lives and hearts that await them. This is a story that is still being written – a story for this time, a story for this place – a story about an idea whose time has come.
The team at the Open Home Foundation, who sparked the idea in the first place, are partnering with BTI by having input into intensives and hosting BTI social work students on practicum placements. Lee Roberts, General Manager of Service Delivery, smiles as she says, “Obviously our hope is that some of the students who have come to the programme will come and work with the Open Home Foundation when they finish their degrees. We have been exceptionally excited about BTI doing a Christian social work degree and we’ll continue to be very supportive of the programme.” BTI’s newest staff member, Heidi Crawford, has left a Practice Manager role with Open Home Foundation to take up a position on the social work teaching team, so the partnership has yet another dimension.
The grace of God and the faithful commitment of His people have seen this powerful idea of a faith-based social work degree transformed from inception to reality. Key milestones have already been reached, but there are many more to come – new intakes of people with a heart that beats for social justice, the release of the first cohort into the social work profession three years down the track, and all the lives and hearts that await them. This is a story that is still being written – a story for this time, a story for this place – a story about an idea whose time has come.