Social Work in the Frame of a Professional Competencies Approach

Ana Opačić, PhD , is an associate professor at the Social Work Study Center, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb in Croatia. She was a project leader on a collaborative research project ˝Social Work in Social Welfare Centers in the Republic of Croatia˝ in which the aim was to develop, measure and validate a national framework of professional competencies. She has more than 10 years of experience in teaching theory of social work at the baccalaureate, master’s and postgraduate doctorate levels. She is one of the authors of the university textbook Theory of Social Work and author of many articles about social work in domestic and international peer-reviewed journals.

Ana Opačić is very active in professional associations, namely Croatian Chamber of Social Workers and Croatian Association of Social Workers. She is engaged in statutory bodies dealing with professional standards and competencies in social work.