second year of study) at the University of Toronto and one taking a single year course at the same University; also one each in courses in the following subjects: Social Welfare Administration at the University College of Swansea; Community Development at the School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal; Community Development and Extension Work at the Institute of Education in London; the Care and Education of Mentally Retarded Children at the University of Illinois; Applied Social Studies at the University of Nottingham; a three months' course on Probation, Child Care and Work with Families in London; and a Course on Psychiatric Social Work at the University of Edinburgh. Three officers with degrees in other subjects were sent to take the post- graduate diploma in social study at Hong Kong University.
113. The practical and very remarkable effect that the provision of these training facilities has had on the qualifications of staff in the Depart- ment may be judged in part only by reference to Appendix 24 which shows the comparative numbers of qualified officers serving in profes- sional posts at the beginning and end of the last seven years. Although certain sections of one or two very large professional departments of Government have also expanded strikingly, it is questionable whether any other department as a whole can claim to have raised its standards and increased its professional establishment to a comparable degree in such a short period of time.
CHAPTER XI
CONCLUSION
114. By the time that this report has been tabled in the Legislative Council and published for the citizens of Hong Kong-and those in the world overseas who are interested-to read, the Department will have forgotten about its preparation and will be immersed in the future. Social workers cannot afford to be backward-looking. Planning for the expansion and extension of the Government's welfare services will follow the settlement of its aims and policy, as has already been pointed out; but the plan will have to be fitted to at least five separate limitations, and it would be dishonest to pretend that this can be done without further straining the inevitable shortcomings of any human performance. There is the limitation of resources, in personnel, space and money: trained and experienced workers are at the greatest premium and services which are over-extended because they are not directed by people who under- stand what they are aiming to do and why can be wasteful or even do
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