Standards for Practice of Social Work with Groups has recently been published by the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups, Inc. (AASWG) and are now available to the profession. These are the first published standards for social work with groups.

Major topics covered include "Core Knowledge Needed" and both "Tasks" and "Knowledge Needed" in the
"Beginning", "Middle" and "Ending" Phases.

Both graduate and undergraduate schools now have a base line from which to plan for teaching group work knowledge, values and skills. Both practitioners and students can know what they need to learn to be able to demonstrate competence in working with groups. Providers will have statements of expectation against which performance can be measured. Copies have been mailed to all schools and departments of social work and the national organizations.

While the Standards identifies the unique and distinctive features of social work with groups, it is written so it may be applied to the various models of practice and teaching of group work.

Copies may be obtained from AASWG, Inc., c/o University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-8050, 800-807-0793, fax
330-836-2136, jhramey@uakron.edu.

AASWG is an International Professional Organization with chapters in the United States, Canada and Germany, and members in many nations around the world. It sponsors an Annual Symposium on Social Work with Groups each October and publishes Social Work with Groups Newsletter.

In 1999 the Symposium will be held in Denver, Colorado, October 21-24.