Socialization Factors Conducive to Social Work Students’ Gain in Competence

• Summary: Socialization experiences related to background and secondary education are likely to affect academic achievement in university education, according to extant theory and research. How these experiences affect Hong Kong social work students’ grade-point-average (GPA) and self-assessed gain in competence in social work is the focus of examination in the present study. It is argued that among the experiences, that of volunteering during secondary school is likely to benefit the student, because of value congruence between volunteering and social work education.

• Findings: This effect bears out in a survey of social work undergraduates in Hong Kong. Another important finding is the absence of privilege accruing from the socioeconomic status of students’ parents. In contrast, some indicators of the status negatively affected the students’ grade-point-averages.

• Applications : These findings favor the use of the applicant’s volunteering experience as an admission criterion for the social work education program in university.