Welcome to the website of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Our school is the first of its kind in Israel, with a past replete with academic and professional achievements, and future still to come.  

Our school plays an integral part in the shaping of the social work profession in Israel, with impact reaching far beyond its borders. Our mission is to prepare the future generation of social workers and influence research in the area, including social policies in Israel and beyond.

The School of Social Work also influences the profession through the faculty’s research activities, which are placed at the forefront of contemporary research in broad areas of social work. This also takes place through the teaching and fieldwork training provided to the students.

Our research is innovative and knowledge-developing, including evaluation of treatment and training approaches, promotion of social issues and shaping all sectors of Israeli society. We are committed to training future researchers from among our students, who will become the next generation of leaders in the field and pioneers working towards new horizons. The research we promote and encourage facilitates a cross-fertilization process between the professionals in the field and our cadre of researchers.

We seek to train future social workers by applying the highest professional standards. The curricula of our various programs are up-to-date and pluralistic, where the understanding of the individual is informed by a systemic view addressing the intrapersonal level through the family, community, and societal systems. We are committed to a friendly, inspiring, challenging, and culture-sensitive environment where students are able to form and refine their own professional identities. Clearly, in order to provide the finest professional training, an environment that accepts its students and faculty with their diverse ethno-national, social and gender identities, is necessary.  Thus our students are enabled to express their otherness through teaching, training, and social activities on campus.

Our school is involved in social activism in Israel, particularly in efforts to shape the country’s social policies. The combination of training, social engagement and research which we lead promotes our profession and the specific populations we treat on both the personal and community levels, and also generates social change and affects social policies.

We are proud of our students’ extensive activities at the school and university levels, in departmental and school committees, as well as in the student association. We are also proud of their engagement in social activism through civil society organizations promoting equality and social justice in Israel.

On a personal note, as a school graduate (all three degrees), I know that studying here is a unique experience and a privileged exposure to the beauty and complexity of the world of social work. I have acquired the basic concepts of the profession and experienced the spheres of theory, research, and fieldwork. As a faculty member for over twenty years, I have always enjoyed constructive and dignifying encounters with my colleagues, and no less importantly, with my students. I feel certain that the environment which has benefitted me so greatly in my own academic career will remain with us for the foreseeable future, and will enable us to give the school community the gift of a fascinating and challenging, as well as individualized and personal, learning experience.

Prof. Asher Ben-Arieh,

Dean, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Work

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, Versailles, France

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work was established for the first time by the Joint at the Château de la Maye in Versailles, France. It operated as a school between 1949 and 1953. Technically, it continued to exist until 1955, but instead of a central school, the staff engaged in various programs for training social services and consulting Jewish organizations in Europe, North Africa and Iran.

In 1955, the status of the school was changed to a division of the Joint-, the Division of Social Services and Human Resource Development named after Paul Baerwald, which continued the training and counseling activities.

Around the same time, a process began to transfer the training of social work to Israel under the auspices of the Hebrew University and to expand its scope. The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University was opened in 1958 with the participation of JDC on the Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem.

Video: The Barwald family visits the school in Versailles 1950	The Bearwlad family together with the school principal, Dr. Henry Silver, 1950	Château de la Maye, 1949

The Establishment in Israel

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was founded in 1958 and offered a study program for a bachelor's degree in social work. The program was operated in collaboration with the Joint Organization, the Ministry of Welfare and the Tel Aviv Municipality.
 

The cornerstone laying for the establishment of the school on the Givat Ram campus, Jerusalem	The school building, Givat Ram campus The 60s

The establishment and activities of the school until this very day reflect the joint effort of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Joint. This organization provided the initial funding for the establishment of the school and the construction of the building on Givat Ram (where the school was located for a few years) and also contributed greatly over the years to the various programs that were developed in it. Since the academic year 1982, the school is located in the university campus on Mount Scopus. Paul Baerwald (1871-1961), after whom the school is named, was one of the leaders of American Jewry and a founder of the World Joint. He devoted himself to many humanitarian and philanthropic activities for the Jewish people.

*The pictures and video are taken from the JDC archive.

Bachelor's program

The "Bachelor of Social Work" program, which was established as mentioned already with the establishment of the school, trains academic social workers to work with individuals and families and to work in the community, with the aim of integrating into the welfare and social service systems in Israel.

In the sixties, a special program was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor to train immigrants with academic degrees for social work, and in 1974, in collaboration with the Ministry of Aid, the "Program for Training Academics for Social Work" was established, which awarded a bachelor's degree in social work to holders of an academic degree who demonstrated practical experience in social work or in a related field. A similar program was also established in 1977 in Beersheba under the auspices of the school. These programs ended in 1980. In addition, over the years, the school has run several conversion programs.

Master's programs

Since 1970, the school also offers a master's degree program, which prepares students for roles in the academic field of teaching and research in social work, planning and management of welfare services and direct treatment of individuals and families.

In the seventies, two certificate programs were established within the Joseph J. Schwartz program and in collaboration with the School of Education: one for training managers and senior staff for community centers and one for training human resources for early childhood. In the nineties, the two programs were upgraded and became master's programs that grant an advanced degree: one is the master's program in early childhood, which has been operating since the academic year 1994-95 and grants a master's degree in early childhood studies. The studies are based on an interdisciplinary approach and are designed to train professional staff for the development and management of programs in the field of early childhood.

The other program is the master's program in management of human services and community organizations, which was opened in the academic year 1996-97. Its main purpose is to provide extensive theoretical knowledge and skills required for policy-making processes and advanced and professional management of community organizations and non-profit organizations, organizations that belong to the "third sector" and are part of civil society.

From then until today

In 2009, the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.

During its years of existence, the school's teaching staff grew, the fields of research and teaching were expanded, the professional training methods were improved, and new study programs were added. Today, about 850 students study in the school's undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs. In recent years, the school has opened a program that offers the possibility of certification in social work and a master's degree in social work for graduates in other fields. In addition, the school offers joint degrees at the undergraduate level with the faculties of law, humanities and social sciences at the university. The school's staff includes an academic staff of researchers in various fields of knowledge, a field guidance staff and an experienced administrative staff.

Within the school, various research centers and research groups operate. The school's staff and research students are at the forefront of research in social work and social welfare; The staff also play central roles in shaping social policy and welfare services in Israel, maintain close ties with the field of social work, and are an integral part of the academic community of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare endeavors to further social justice and the personal and social wellbeing of individuals through path-breaking research, the training of leading professionals, and an active role in the social work profession and the development of social services and policies for individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities in Israel and across the globe.

Our Vision

To fulfill our mission, we will

• Engage in path-breaking research that contributes to a better understanding of complex social issues and the ways to address them.  We will endeavor to undertake this research in partnership with students, social workers and other professionals, as well as with social service users.
• Educate and train professionals in the fields of psychosocial treatment and social welfare who will be committed to the vision and values of the social work profession and will be actively involved in their studies, the social services, and in civil society.
• Train professional leadership in the social services that will further social change and formulate social policy on the local, national and global levels.
• Develop critical thinking, academic curiosity, creativity, cultural and sociopolitical sensitivity, and adaptability to changing environments in our students.
•  Promote social justice through education, research and the civic and social engagement of the school community. In particular, the school seeks to consolidate the ties between the Hebrew University and social services and social workers in the field, and to strengthen our local community in Jerusalem.

Throughout the life cycle and in diverse social situations, a person is liable to suffer from disadvantage and distress.  Individuals, families and communities are susceptible to poverty, to physical and mental health issues, and to dependencies that can lead to social exclusion, harmful behavior, delinquency and family violence.

The institutions, the services, and the cash benefits of the welfare state offer support in these situations. These provide members of society with social rights, with access to a safety net throughout the life cycle, and with psychosocial services that assist individuals and families in need.

The social mandate of the social work profession is to ensure the wellbeing of people by affecting social policies, forging partnerships with communities and service users, and responding directly to the psychosocial needs of individuals and families.

In order to fulfill its mission, social work draws upon a commitment to engage in practice that is grounded in social justice, knowledge and skills. These principles are linked to a fundamental approach that focuses upon dynamic interactions between a person and his or her environment. People are affected by the systems that comprise their environment – their families, communities, culture, as well as social policies and social welfare services. Improvement in the wellbeing of people requires a deep understanding of these systems and the intricate ways in which interactions between people and their environment are created, and of the means by which they can be improved.

As such, social work can be defined as a profession that furthers human wellbeing in society through the development and application of research-informed knowledge, by actions that seek to bring about social change and better social policies, and by general interventions with individuals and their families to create a relevant body of responses – intra-personal, inter-personal, material, occupational and rehabilitative.

Social work is undertaken in a wide range of service settings provided by the state, local authorities, and civil society that serve very diverse social groups. Social workers engage in various roles ranging from direct practice with individuals and families, through community work, administering social services, engaging in advocacy, and actively participating in social policy formulation.

Given the wide ranging expertise required from social workers, in Israel the profession is taught in academic institutions and its practice is regulated by the Social Workers’ Law. Social workers also play a role in developing theoretical, research, and practice-based knowledge in their academic studies and by joining the research and teaching staff at schools of social work.

Becoming a social worker is an exciting and challenging process of personal development and it offers an opportunity to engage in practice that not only helps others but reflects individual and social values.

The school has a community-academic study canter. At this center, the students experience the elements of community social work: building a profile of the community, locating community needs, diagnosis of social problems, recruiting and organizing people to deal with social questions and activating programs for social change.

The study center is active for three years in a single Jerusalem neighborhood with the aim of trying to influence the area, as well as creating a community and community feeling among the students. The students are training within the community services and welfare services available in a selected geographical area: at the community center, the welfare bureau, schools, absorption centers, NGOs active in the area, etc.

Since its founding, the center has been active so far in the following neighborhoods: East Talpiyot, Pisgat Zeev and Gilo.

Among the projects carried out by the students are:

• Establishing a neighborhood pupils’ council
• Establishing community gardens
• Developing groups of activists on various topics, such as education, health, etc.
• Working with people with disabilities to increase accessibility in the neighborhood and raising the residents’ awareness of people with special needs
• Organizing evenings dealing with rights and information for the residents on various topics according to need
• Organizing merchants to improve the appearance of the commercial center

The study center works in cooperation with the residents of the neighborhood, the activists and the social services already existing there. The work aims at maximal involvement of all concerned and is conducted with full coordination between all sides.

Example of the center's activities (2015-2016)

Example of the center's activities (2013-2014)