ABSTRACT
The provision of additional and advanced professional studies for social workers is now a pressing issue in many European countries. At the present time a good deal of basic level material may have to be included in additional trainings in order to fill earlier gaps. ‘Basic’ and ‘higher’ are relative terms which continually change as the level of each rises in any given situation, with the result that previous training becomes outdated, and also social work education regarded as basic in one country may be higher or advanced for social workers from some other countries. The most profound change in the European schools of social work came with the teaching of dynamic psychology, whether taught as such or as the underpinning of casework diagnosis and treatment. The social workers of the present day must have an objective understanding of themselves, their colleagues and their clients which may touch painfully on past unhappy experiences, likes and dislikes and prejudices.
