Three students, Sue Black and I went to the BPD conference in Cinci. Sue and I were session chairs and the students attended as volunteers and were able to go to the same sessions as Sue and I, or to a student conference.
The conference was a very good experience. In the US there are requirements for social work educators to meet the standards set by CSWE for there curriculum. These have been changed recently from objective measures to practice behaviors and competencies. This has caused a great deal of consternation for the directors of programs, and therefore much of the conference was related the the change over and what programs have experienced and how they intrepet what is needed to meeet and show compliance with the standards. After being in Cinci, I have no doubt that most have no idea what is beng expected by CSWE. Everyone had something different to say. Most have heard different things from CSWE and when we asked their reps, they were not congruent in their responses. This leads to a great deal of unnecessary anxiety.
The activities were good at the conference as well. There was an outstanding dance band on Friday night. There had also been a reception Thursday night sponsored by USC. They were introducing some computer generated programming that seemed very interesting. They also served drinks at the reception. Now anyone that has attended a conference at a Hilton will tell you that drinks are quite expensive. So when a reception offers free drinks, individuals seem to take great advantage, and we were no exception. Lets just say that we were not thirsty the whole night.
The trip was very good.
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