OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRAINING OF SOCIAL WORKERS
Application
No. 10631/83 Lilja vs.
By Tom G. A. Hardt, Theol. Dr
|
This
statement was produced by Dr of Theology Tom G. A. Hardt in the complaint
that the Liljas submitted to the European Commission for Human Rights in
1983. More information about the Lilja Case can be obtained in A Family Flees From The Welfare State
and Swedish couple enduring USA poverty to keep
son It is
published here both in the NCHR's Article section and in the section |
1. Today's
social workers in
2. From.1969 and on, a number of successive changes took place in the instruction in psychology at the Socialhögskolan in Lund in order to adapt better to the requirements of professional life. A basic course in psychology was developed which was common to the social line and to the administrative line. It functioned as an extended introduction for the new students at the faculty. Thus, psychology was the first subject with which the freshmen had to grapple.
As
from 1973 important changes tock place too, in the instruction in psychology at
the Socialhögskolan in
Such part courses which were offered during the spring term of 1973 and during 1974 made themselves famous for particularly vicious Marxist indoctrination. After a few years, the training system meant that all students were required to pass a common basic course in 'social sciences’: in this was included the subject 'psychology'.
In Umeå you had a university at which the student body voted 50 percent Communist and used the hammer and sickle as logos in the letterhead. Here, students intent to become social workers met the subject 'psychology' at the Institution for applied psychology.
3. The relative importance of
psychology as a subject mandatory people wanting to qualify for social work put
the students at the mercy of Marxist enthusiasts. Complaints by students over
indoctrination and abuse of power were an everyday occurrence. In Umeå it was
whispered to the new students: 'pretend you are a Marxist otherwise you will
not survive here' (as per Maare Tamm. Expressen
As evidenced by a number of complaints to the Ombudsman and to the Chancellor of Justice ¹), in ail three faculties - Lund, Stockholm and Umeå - training in psychology took the form of mobbing sessions at which in particular students known for less than enthusiasm for the Marxist cause were chosen as victims and left them "broken" (knäckt).
Somebody called it "moral
rape" (as per Anders Bendroth, Skånska Dagbladet
Individual command of the very subject 'psychology' was of little avail to the student, since examinations took place per groups (So-called collective examinations), and there was no way to obtain a degree for social work unless you got a pass relating to the course in group dynamics or sensitivity training.²) You were stuck with the group.
Furthermore, in Stockholm, a system of course evaluation was practiced which was held to be obligatory (although when complaints were brought before the Chancellor of Justice, the teacher in question denied that this had been his intention). The point was that having to evaluate the course before getting your pass relating to same, you also had to reveal your reactions to the Marxist message. Furthermore it was understood that taking a negative view of the course meant criticism of the teacher more or less automatically; at least he could read it that way. This may later influence - or be suspected of influencing the objectivity of the teacher in the course of the examination'' (JK decision p 19).
4. Only a few complaints reached the
Ombudsman and the Chancellor but in the student paper ''Gaudeamus'' of
''Many other students are reluctant to speak about ail the mobbing. One of the students most badly hit does hardly know if she dares to tell about ail the treatments to which she has been subjected. This is so because of her fear for what will happen to her in the future. Since she is a student at the social line, she is forced to study psychology if she is to exercise her profession in the future.''
5. To the Marxists themselves the treatment meted out to the dissidents was completely rational.
''They consider that their primary task is to influence people politically. Marxism solves all problems. Those easiest to influence are the children in the nurseries. 'Working as a psychologist in the traditional se-rise comes second.'' ³)
''All those <Marxist> students are <technically> competent to start, today, working as assistant psychologists.
Maare Tamm: - Considering the attitude which they reveal to their work this circumstance is almost the worst of all." 4).
''Afterwards the psychologists will end up in our nurseries and day homes. I have received information that they talk about, that exactly the kindergartens are suitable places for imposing their political indoctrination, and I have seen already letters to the editor in which we local politicians are asked whether political indoctrination is really practiced in our kindergarten.''
6. Trying to identify the consequences of the now sketched state of affairs at the Swedish social service schools during the 1970s the following points stand out:
(1) That the recruitment to these schools was largely negative inasmuch as only those more or less genuinely sympathetic to the Marxist message of conflict could hope to be accepted in the groups and thus hope to pass the psychology exams
(2) that the students and thus the future social workers- so--e used to, and willing to practice themselves, the abusive attitude toward dissidents of a less Socialist persuasion which characterized the mobbing sessions, be these dissidents parents, or destitute seekers;
(3) that the students and thus the future social workers were disinclined to learn more than attitudes from the university instruction, the teaching system having replaced individual examinations with collective ones which made a pass dependent upon acceptance 'by the group rather than on individual command of facts and principles.
7. The
Swedish Government has been responsible for this state of affairs in the
training of social workers inasmuch as, for a long time, no measures were taken
to remedy the situation and it may be doubted whether the remedies finally
adopted by the university authorities were ever very effective. The Ombudsman
and the Chancellor of Justice only approached the matter as an ad hoc problem.
In the Hamburg Case before the Chancellor of Justice, the complaints addressed
questions of great importance as to essence and principle for the training, but
the Chancellor felt that it was not up to him to make statements on the
suitable form of the training or the quality of the instruction (decision
It may be added that in these days of
the 1970s, under the impact of the so-called transformation theory, Swedish
authorities in the administrative sector did not feel bound by Article 17, if
they ever knew about it. In the early 1970s, the Minister for human rights Mr.
Carl Lidbom - had voiced in the Diet, in no uncertain terms, his displeasure at
the Svea Court of Appeal having made reference to the European Convention in a
consultative opinion, and thereafter the Swedish supreme courts became
increasingly indifferent in their attitude to the Convention. This shift in
attitude climaxed in the Råneå Case (RÅ 1974 p 121) in which the
NOTES
¹) See decision of the Ombudsman in files 2882-1975, 2892-1975 and 2893-1975, issued June 29, 1977; and report published in JO berättelse 1978/79 P 474; decision of the Chancellor of Justice (JK) December 6, 1976, file 1124-75-21.
²) As per the Prefect, JO berättelse 1978/79 p 474, at 480.
³)
As per Maare Tamm, a 40 year old graduate student with a degree in
philosophy, of Estonian descent, victimized in Umeå. Her report on the mobbing
sessions was annexed to a complaint to the Ombudsman, made by three teachers,
B. Andersson, L. Brännström and I. Lundberg, of
4)
Expressen
5)
As per Mr. Bertil Carlsson, Counselor to the Commune of Umeå, interview
published in Dagens Nyheter
A Family Flees From The Welfare State
Swedish couple
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