Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1963-1964 — Page 50

In addition, training for day nursery work, a field of growing importance in a highly industrialized community, merits special mention. Fifteen nursery supervisors attended a two-week seminar, and continued with monthly half-day sessions for five months; twenty-one nursery workers are still studying, and another twenty will be taken in later. All these trainees represent twenty-four different voluntary agencies, three govern- ment departments and eleven nurseries, nine of which are sending their workers for training for the first time. On the other side of the coin, where agencies organize their own in-service courses, the training unit complements them with foundation courses, and offers help and advice; the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association in particular has benefited from this.

88. Equipment and teaching materials still come from two sources: UNICEF funds provided films and books, and a new grant of $5,000 from the Social Work Training Fund, with earlier assistance, enabled the training unit to buy demonstration equipment and a study book for every trainee and to contemplate further honoraria against the time when UNICEF aid may cease.

89. Suitable Chinese literature and publications with a Hong Kong background are still scarce, although selected articles and pamphlets are duplicated and issued to trainees in special folders. Persons of experience in the social work profession who know the cultural and economic back- ground of Hong Kong, particularly Chinese workers themselves, have a clear duty to meet this need and so to break down one of the main obstacles to social work teaching in the local setting.

90. The Advisory Committee on Social Work Training (see Appendix 3) continued its functions and met four times. A sub-committee was appointed on recruitment and is working on various projects, including pamphlets and possibly films. It co-operated closely with the Hong Kong Social Workers' Association on a recruitment campaign in secondary schools.

91. Meanwhile the academic social work courses have continued to provide a much needed source of trained staff. The University of Hong Kong has a two-year course for matriculates leading to a Certificate in Social Study, and a one-year post-graduate course leading to a Diploma; these credentials qualify for appointment in the Department as Social Welfare Officer Class III and Class II respectively. One hundred and five

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