Professional opportunities

Functions

In general terms, social workers perform a dual function:

a) Case management of individuals, families, or larger social groups, initiating and conducting support processes aimed at overcoming specific challenges and restoring, as much as possible, personal autonomy. In practice, this involves managing and making decisions on a range of interventions, such as: the provision of economic support, in-home or residential care for individuals in need, job placement, and other tailored actions.

b) Planning and managing complex community-based interventions, involving multiple stakeholders in projects that aim to foster social cohesion and solidarity, and requiring the mobilisation and coordination of economic, human, and social resources.

In both areas, social workers operate as part of interdisciplinary teams alongside professionals such as psychologists, educators, medical staff, magistrates, and law enforcement officers. They collaborate with public and non-profit institutions, and interact with local and regional policy-makers and administrators.

Competences

The competences associated with these functions are diverse and may be summarised as follows:

  • Competences in case assessment and management (e.g., interviews, home visits, etc.);

  • Competences in interacting with individuals, families, and groups;

  • Competences in identifying social needs and analysing the characteristics of specific communities or territories;

  • Competences in planning and managing complex interventions, including knowledge and application of social policy tools and models of intervention.

Graduates in Social Work Sciences and Techniques (STESS) are qualified to work as frontline social workers or to manage basic operational units in a variety of sectors, such as private organisations; national, supranational, and international public institutions; NGOs, third-sector organisations, and for-profit enterprises.

Career Opportunities

Graduates in Social Work Sciences and Techniques can pursue careers in:

  • Direct support for individuals, groups, and communities;

  • Management and coordination of social interventions;

  • Employment as social service professionals within public bodies, third-sector organisations, or as freelance practitioners.

They are eligible to take the State Examination for Social Workers (Section B), required for registration in the Professional Register of Social Workers, which is mandatory for practising the profession in Italy.

Graduates may also continue their studies in a second-cycle degree programme in Social Work (LM-87), which prepares them for managerial and advanced social work roles, and qualifies them to sit for the State Examination (Section A) to become specialist social workers.

Alternatively, graduates may access other master's degree programmes that accept a first-cycle degree in Social Work.