If human services in America are to become more responsive to the needs of the consumer, the training of the service worker will have to be radically transformed. Currently, the training of human service workers resembles that of prolonged apprenticeships. Teacher training, for example, requires general education and broad knowledge rather than…

The growing demand for more services that are effective, accountable, and responsive to the consumer calls for a new training design for workers in the human services. A comparison of training for pilots and plumbers suggests a basic technique for this design. (Author)

Uses data on human services in China to take a broader look at human services and conceptualize them differently. (DM)

Since World War II, the U.S. has had an economy primarily based on human services. Human services are labor intensive and produce an intangible product. In the light of the growing environmental crisis, it seems likely that, if we are to survive, increasing numbers of people will be employed in service work that does not deplete our resources and…

Despite the difficulties emerging in relationships between paraprofessionals and agency professionals--difficulties related to basic social cleavages (black-white, community-professional, and participation-authority)--the utilization of paraprofessionals will continue to increase because of community desire to influence the staffs of the agency or…

There are probably over 300,000 persons working as paraprofessionals now, most of them in public schools, health institutions, and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). In the past year major strides have been made in organizing these human service workers to satisfy their concerns for better services, closer community ties, and new avenues of…

The concept of consumer participation is discussed as a new basis for the organization of a school and as a general basis of organization for all types of services. A service consumer might be involved as a general consumer around the service, as an active participant in service delivery to other service consumers, and as one directly engaged in…

The major antipoverty strategies of the 1960's are analyzed--the conflict model of Alinsky, the welfare crisis approach of Cloward and Piven, and the new careers viewpoint of Riessman and Pearl. The latter strategy is said to have a greater "multiplier effect" on poverty than other approaches. Discussed are such specific strategies in…

These essays concentrate on the challenge that adult education faces in helping the urban poor develop meaningful paraprofessional careers in the human services. In one essay, the reformist approach to improving access to credentials is compared with the radical approach, which questions the validity of the credentials process as well as its…