This article presents the findings of a four-year survey on the development of social work education in Russia from 1995 to the present day. Through a series of questionnaires, interviews and discussions with Russian academics, practitioners and students, the study looks at a variety of issues including the high rate of attrition. It focuses on aspects of students' practice placements such as the type, length and quality of practice placements, the students' workload and the supervision provided. It also looks at the contribution that international collaboration has made to the development of social work education in Russia.The survey concludes that there is a need to enhance the overall package for social workers and raise the status of the profession in order to retain qualified personnel. Longer practice placements which start in the first year and are adequately funded and supervised are seen as the key to retaining new graduates. It concludes that although international projects have made a difference to those participating at the time, it is difficult to disseminate these benefits beyond the immediate region. Now that international funding to Russia has been reduced it is critical that any remaining funding is accurately targeted and properly coordinated.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been a steady stream of western consultants ready to work in eastern Europe and Russia and share professional and academic expertise and experience. Social work, unknown as a discrete discipline or profession in the Soviet Union, has been a growth area with funding from a variety of sources to help promote east-west partnerships (Bridge, 2000a;Constable and Mehta, 1994;Ramon, 1996; Wilson, 1999).Social work theory and practice emphasizes critical appraisal of policy and issues of power, discrimination and oppression. In principle, social work educators should be especially alert to the complex ethical questions which these kinds of collaborations raise, and adept at finding practical solutions or workable compromises. This article explores these ethical and political issues with reference to a project to develop social work practice learning in a Russian oblast' (region). The project was an ambitious partnership of British, Ukrainian and Russian educators, involving numerous Russian social work and related agencies, and four Russian universities and colleges 1 . The authors use a series of vignettes to help the reader achieve contrasting insights into these east-west transactions. The article concludes with a discussion of different interpretations of these dealings, using three prisms: technical assistance, neo-colonialism and mutual trade.
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