Community Mental Health Journal Volume 2, Number 2, Summer, 1966
TRAINING
FOR
NEW
CAREERS
BERYCE W. MAcLENNAN, PI-I.D., WILLIAM KLEIN, PH.D.,
ARTHUR PEARL, PH.D., JACOB FISHMAN, M.D.* This paper is concerned with the training requirements for the development of new professional roles in human service fields which socially deprived youth can be expected to perform. The preparation of agencies to receive aides, the reorganization of job roles, the selection of aides, and a training method are outlined. The New Careers concept holds much promise for the reinvolvement of alienated youth, and the present three-part training appears to have considerable effect in holding the interest of the youth and teaching them how to work effectively. However, it cannot he too strongly emphasized that training, while essential, is valueless unless jobs are created and funded, and the ultimate success of this approach will be judged by the number of youth employed and the channels for advance. ment which are created.
Population increase and the spread of automation has resulted in a lack of jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled workers while the accelerated demand for human services (U.S. Dept. Labor, 1963) has created a shortage of highly trained professionals. The New Careers concept (Pearl, 1964) is an attempt to alleviate these problems through the reorganization of professional roles to provide nonprofessional positions in such human service fields as education, recreation and child care. The concept has a potential for making employment, training, and advancement available to boys and girls who are currently under-educated and unskilled, and for freeing the professional to make even better use of his education and training. Automation has drastically reduced the number of job opportunities for the semiskilled, and the trend is likely to continue and intensify. Young people who live in the slums of big cities and grow up without
adequate education and specialized training are particularly vulnerable. Today, it is not uncommon for between 40 and 60 percent of such youth to be unemployed. If a youth cannot reach a certain standard of education, he is dropped from school and is not eligible to enter specialized training. Without training he is hampered in acquiring skills and obtaining a meaningful job. Furthermore, no one feels responsible if a youth is fired for performing inadequately or behaving inappropriately on the job. Many in these circumstances exist on public relief, retreat into mental hospitals, or pass their lives in prison. The demand for such human services as education, recreation, child and health care, and social science research has been expanding over the last few years and is likely to continue to grow. This is an important area of the employment structure where services are lacking and labor is in short supply. In the New Careers system, the responsibilities of the professional are redefined so that he undertakes the direction, supervision, and highly skilled technical tasks appropriate to his training and education, while nonprofessionals and subprofessional technicians undertake the simpler and more routine parts of the job requiring less skill, training, and judgment. In this way, many new jobs for the semiskilled are created, the shortage of professionals is relieved, and the resources for service are increased. This system entails the acceptance of the following concepts: First, society has a responsibility to see that everyone receives adequate education and training to be able to perform a job. Second, if training is to be meaningful, particularly to socially deprived youth, work experience, training and
*Dr. MacLennan is Director, Juvenile Delinquency Training Center Program; Dr. Klein is Assistant Director for Training. Both are with the Center for Youth and Community Services, Howard University and Dr. Fishman is Director of the Center. Dr. Pearl was formerly with the Center. The program has received support from the National Institute of Mental Heahh, the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development, and the Ottiee of Manpower, Automation and Training.
135
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THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
education should be carried on concurrently so that work is considered one aspect of training. Institutions, agencies, and individual employers must accept the fact that they have a responsibility to assist employees to perform adequately enough to hold the jobs for which they are being trained. Third, if New Careers are to be meaningful, permanent job positions have to be created and institutionalized, career lines established, channels for employment and educational advancement cleared, and social and trade union supports built in. The nonprofessional aide must easily be able to become the sub-professional technical assistant and to move from there into full professional status if he has the capabilities and desire. Opportunity must be provided for the youth to obtain initial employment in spite of an unfavorable past. To deal with this problem, both the school and the service institutions in the community should redefine their functions and accept responsibility to engage and advance these youth to the point of independence and employability. This, in itself, would be a major service which the community should support. One way to achieve this objective is to reverse current procedures and to make education and training an integral part of the job rather than to conceive of employment as dependent on prior education and training. Thus entry jobs become essentially one aspect of training for employment. It is the purpose of this paper to consider specifically the requirements of a training program for Human Service Aides as they have been conceptualized at the Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard University (MacLennan, 1964). Such a training program must include: (1) the definition of nonprofessional roles and work responsibilities with professional and agency administrators; (2) the selection and training of aides; (3) the selection and training of instructors and the training of on-the-job supervisors; (4) the orientation of agency administrators and staff to the particular problems which
aides may present; (5) educational accreditation of the program, opportunity for the aides to obtain their high school diplomas or the equivalent, and further inservice training and education for the development of technical assistants; (6) consideration given to the kinds of training models required and where the programs should be housed whether as vocational education in high school, as in-service training in the institutions, or in an independent center or community college; (7) finally, the provision of means to evaluate and refine the program, without which no such experimental effort can be complete. Experimentation in aide training has been continuing at Howard University since March 1964 when the Center for Youth and Community Studies began a small project, financed jointly by the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development and the National Institute of Mental Health (Center for Youth and Community Studies, 1965), to train school dropouts from poverty stricken backgrounds as Day Care, Recreation, and Research Aides. All 10 of these original aides completed the training program and nine out of 10 have been employed as Aides. In the ensuing 18 months, 35 youth have been trained as Aides, 65 older men and women as Community Organization Neighborhood Development Center workers, 25 young men and women between 20 and 30 years of age as sub-professional youth counsellors and aide trainers, funded by a complex of grants from the Office of Education; the Office of Manpower, Automation and Training; and the Officeof Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development. Further, aides and youth counselors are being trained as jobs and career lines are established. JOB DEFINITION Introduction of aides into any human service program necessitates a reorganization of the work of the professional and the creating of new jobs. At this early stage, it is important for the trainer to collaborate with the professional staff and agency administrators in the joint development of a
B. W. MAcLENNAN,W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. FISHMAN new job description. In time, this job description may well be standardized and accepted as a country-wide classification, particularly in public agencies. In the meantime, this period of working together enables the institutional staffs who are going to employ the aides to feel that they have a major stake in the program and to understand some of the special problems related to the employment of disadvantaged youth. It is important for the successful employment of aides that the tasks which they will be required to perform are clearly specified and that adequate supervision is provided. Most of the young people from underprivileged backgrounds are not sophisticated in understanding and finding their way around institutional structures. They tend to give up when they meet with confusing situations and, unless carefully instructed, do not know how to get help when they encounter difficulties. They often do not expect sympathetic understanding and assistance, and consequently fail to try to communicate their needs; rather, they act out impulsively, so that crises readily occur if problems are not identified and solved at an early stage. Agency administrators and professional supervisors need to be alerted to these matters. Working on job definition and conditions of employment offers the opportunity for agency staffs to become reconciled to some of the doubts which they have about the employment of nonprofessionals. Administrators are naturally concerned about the quality of their service. They worry about accepting boys and girls who have not given evidence of great responsibility. They distrust youth in general and are particularly anxious if there is evidence of past delinquency and school dropout. The idea of using supervised work experience as a period during which the young people will be trained how to hold a job and to become more responsible seems foreign to them at first, and they have to be convinced of its importance. The Neighborhood Youth Corps is helping to spread this idea but has so far, in most instances, failed to build in concurrent training, adequate job de-
137
scriptions, or to push for the creation of permanent jobs. Very frequently, administrators express the idea they would only like to employ aides who are "poor but honest," or older people. They do not fully recognize the need to reinvolve alienated youth and to enable them to become a part of the regular work force. SELECTION As present methods of predicting work performances or of selecting people for either professional or nonprofessional roles in human services are very unreliable, particularly for youth with a history of poor functioning, no specific criteria have yet been established in the Center for Youth and Community Studies training programs (MacLennan, 1964; Center for Youth and Community Studies, 1965) for aides, beyond the youths' expressedl interest in taking part in the program, a poverty-stricken background, and a need for a job. Aides are interviewed together and separately and undergo a medical examination, so that anyone suffering from acute infectious diseases, or who has a court action pending, can be temporarily eliminated. However, records are being scrutinized so that, over time, dimensions may be identified which can predict suitability for human service fields. Meantime agencies for whom aides are being trained usually participate in the final selection of trainees. One question Which arises is how to provide these young people with sufficient in. formation on which to make reasonable career choice. It has been found that most youngsters who have lived all their lives in the slums do not know what is entailed in selecting one career as against another. They cannot describe the functions of a day care or research worker. It would seem important that more effort be made in school to provide within the curriculum itself more knowledge of what different kinds of jobs entail and to carry out realistic vocational guidance. One method which has proved effective when only a small number of choices are offered is to rotate the trainees through the different jobs, ex-
138
THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
pose them to the various routines, and then require them to help each other choose the occupation most suited to their interests and capabilities. Part time work and work study programs also offer the opportunity to try out different jobs.
AIDE TRAINING Many of those for whom the aide training programs are being designed come from very poor environments in which they have developed standards and values which are antagonistic to steady work. In general, low income youth are considered to suffer from a poor self-image and feelings of powerlessness, low frustration tolerance, and impulsivity. The Howard University programs have been established on the following assumptions: It is assumed that the aides will need to revise and reconsider their customary standards and values in regard to employment,and they will have to learn how to comport themselves on the job. Many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds consider that to work hard is to be "square". They are unwilling to accept the fact that they have to dress appropriately, stick by the rules and routines, report punctually and regularly on the job, and even, perhaps, change their customary manner of speech. They do not know how to understand the institutional structure, to use supervision or get help if things go wrong. Second, it is assumed that in order to counteract the poor self-image and low self-esteem the youngsters must be respected and valued; adequate standards of work and behavior must be expected of them, and they should feel that they are doing a meaningful job. It is believed important that they should be encouraged to take responsibility for themselves, participate in decision-making, and help each other attain satisfactory work habits. Third, if people are going to learn easily they need to be told how their performance appears to others and must learn to face problems as they arise. Consequently, early feedback is considered essential. Lastly, in the ever-changingstate of the presentday world it is important to build flexibility into the training. The youth are encouraged to think of themselves as human service aides with specialization in one area, so that, if need arise, they can easily move from one specific field to another with a small amount of additional training. For these reasons the Center's aide training programs have been constructed in the
following way. The aides spend six weeks in intensive training which consists of half of each day spent in supervised work experience; skill workshops; and a daily "core group" which lasts two to three hours. This is followed by a three to six month period during which the Aides work under intensive supervision with two core group periods a week and continuing weekly workshops. Aides differ in the speed with which they develop adequate work habits and allowances should be made for this difference in flexibility.
The Core Group Core Groups serve as a major vehicle for the development of human service skills. They consist of 10 members who help each other learn how they function in relation to each other and on the job. They use their own group, the total aide program and their experiences in the community to examine how groups work, how the community is organized, and how to understand the meaning of behavior and their own reactions to life. Each of these groups has a Core Trainer who works with them throughout the program, encourages members to use themselves for self-study, serves as liaison with the job supervisor, helps the group to develop programs in terms of the agenda, and is available as need arises for individual consultation. Daily reporting from the job supervisors to the core group leader is a very important part of this program so that the leader can help the group examine the problems which they are facing on the job. From their experiences the Aides learn to understand how they react differently to different kinds of people. They learn how to analyze and cope with situations and know where and how to get help. Specifically, in relation to employment they learn how to apply for jobs, what a job description is and why it is important, the function of administrative structure, the use of supervision, the necessity of keeping to the rules of the job and the management of problems as they arise. They also study general techniques such as how to work
B. W. MAcLENNAN, W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. FISHMAN as leaders and participants with different kinds of groups, how to observe and how to keep records. Maximum opportunity is created for the group to take responsibility for themselves to make their own decisions and to establish the conditions under which they will operate. They are encouraged to feel that it is important that they help each other work out dit~cuties. Essentially, the Core Group should be seen as a new reference group in which the leader sets standards and confronts the members with the inappropriateness of inadequate and delinquent ways of dealing with situations. General knowledge required of all human service personnel is also taught in the Core Group. The aides start from their own experience to examine the process of adolescence and the problems of living in poor areas of the city. As the groups progress, they draw in experts to study with them areas of knowledge of human services common to all. Some of the areas discussed are: 1. Human development, family life, childhood, adolescence, dating and marriage. 2. Common mental health problems, normalcy and deviance. 3. The structure and function of community institutions and their resources. 4. The special problems of socially deprived areas and minority groups. 5. Health care, common health problems and first aid. 6. The employment structure and labor organizations. 7. The law and the use of legal aid. 8. Credit unions, insurance, medical care programs. 9. Budgeting and the management of money. All curriculum is taught in seminar fashion with maximal group discussion. Field visits, planned by the youth, are made to community institutions.
Specialty Workshops While the knowledge common to all human services is taught in the Core Group, each special service has theory and skills which are unique, and curriculum has to be developed for each. For instance, rec-
139
reation aides need to know how to start a baseball league and to possess a repertoire of crafts and games which they can introduce into their groups. Day Care Aides must understand the uses of different kinds of play activities and be able to care for the children's physical needs. The aides are assembled in small groups in accordance with their specialty in order to take part in these workshops.
Supervised On-the.lob Experience When the aides are working on the job, emphasis is placed on the development of responsible work habits, on learning how to use supervision and on obtaining practice in the basic skills and routines of the particular service which the aide has chosen. It is important that the work is carefully planned so that the aides are able gradually to enlarge their experience and have opportunity to practice all essential routines and skills. TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES Responsibilities have been variously distributed. In one part of the program, the work supervisor also undertook the skill workshops. In another of the services, these workshops were conducted independently. In a future program, it is planned for a training coordinator to conduct the Core Group and the skill workshops as well as to maintain liaison with the work supervisors. These changes have been organized pragmatically in terms of the capacities of the personnel involved in the programs and the organization of the agencies concerned. No opinion has yet been formed of the relative values of these different arrangements. However, it is important that the basic philosophy and standards of the training staff and the cooperating agency are consistent.
PROGRAM CLIMATE It is believed that the climate of the training programs affects the outcome so that staff have attempted to generate an atmosphere of enthusiasm and interest and
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TIlE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
the value of the work of aides has been emphasized. At the same time, all participants have been asked to recognize that the future as yet holds no security for aides, that everyone has to be able to tolerate much uncertainty, and that no guarantees or promises can be made. Staff and aides have also been expected to face the fact that no one is perfect, that everyone makes mistakes, and that much learning takes place through the analysis of error. Thus, a high value has been placed on the capacity to be undefensive, flexible and free to examine one's own behavior in a critical fashion. REMEDIATION AND EDUCATION
Because so many children who grow up in the slums are lacking the basic skills of reading, writing, spelling, and counting, remedial activities have been incorporated into all aspects of the training. The aides are expected to write reports, transcribe materials from tapes, keep accounts of their observations, budget and read simple pamphlets and manuals. In this way, they not only obtain practice in basic skills but also perceive the relevance of formal educa. tion and become stimulated to request instruction in these subjects. tu~ comThis leads to the question of "~^ pletion of high school education and the auspices under which aide training should be conducted. It is probable that the most convenient model for such programs would be to incorporate them as part of vocational education within the school system so that credit could automatically be obtained for all parts of the program. This would resern. ble the present work study arrangements except that education training and work experience would be closely related and have relevance for each other. Because many of these young people are disillusioned with formal education, a period of work experience and Core Group training outside the formal structure of the school may be necessary before they are sufficiently motivated to accept any formal classroom instruction. Our experience to date has been that the younger aides attend
night school while those who are nearly 21 work for the High School Equivalency exam. Aide training should not be limited to high school students, however, and it seems likely that institutions will find it convenient to develop their own post-high school in-service training programs which might be integrated with universities and community coIleges and make a smooth transition to the training of technical as. sistants at the sub-professional level, where a model of continued supervised work ex. perience, in-service training, and courses at the Associate of Arts and Bachelor's levels is already being tried in some places. The advantages of this arrangement are that agencies tend to be more interested in their own trainees, that such trainees can move more easily into the lower levels of the institutional hierarchy, and that channels for technical and educational advancement are already created. ROLE FLEXIBILITY AND THE IDENTITY OF THE HUMAN SERVICE AIDE
Although the idea of a specific aide training center as a permanent institution seems of doubtful value, the concept of a common Human Service Aide who can move with relative ease across t_he range of _New Careers has considerable validity at the present time when the future of such aides is still quite uncertain. No one knows which services will accept such aides and how fast employment opportunities can be made available. With a common basic training, it is relatively simple for the aide to make such a transfer if additional specific training is provided. A second reason for such role flexibility and common identity is related to the problems created for the aides by the change in their own attitudes and behavior. They tend to move away from their old associates on the streets, are not yet numerous enough to influence their own neighborhoods, and, by reason of disparate background and lesser education, are unlikely to be fully accepted as social equals by the professional. Consequently some Aide Center or
B. W. MACLENNAN, W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. ~ v t ~ X ~ ":: Clubhouse where all can meet, socialize, and share experiences seems to be a valuable institution. Such an association also provides a nucleus for the development of credit unions and other material supports which serve to increase the stability of the aides. THE SELECTION AND TRAINING OF INSTRUCTORS AND SUPERVISORS
The quality of the Core trainers and supervisors is crucial in the training of aides and it is probable that the personalities and character of the staff are as important as their knowledge and skill. Although selection criteria and procedures are still minimally developed, attempts have been made to hire people who are sincere, interested, and able to stimulate interest in others. They must be able to like and respect the aides or they cannot work with them. No educational criteria as yet have been set, and the Center is experimenting with the use of staff at different educational levels and from different backgrounds. Although it is hard on the candidates, the best way known, at present, for predicting how people will perform in human services is to expose them to a diversity of human interactions such as taking part in a group a n d acting as interviewer in a simulated situation. Training for instructors has included orientation to the New Careers concepts and aide training, the life styles of socially disadvantaged youth, the organization and resources of the community, the special problems of working with aides such as learning how to convey knowledge and skills in a form which is understandable to the aides, and developing the perceptiveness, sensitivity, undefensiveness, and techniques necessary to understand and conduct groups of aides. Training has been organized in a fashion similar to aide training with a central Core Group and supervised practical experience gained through working with aides. Staff aides take part in some of the group discussions and act as informants in some of the seminars.
i~1,!'
EVALUATION
Attempts are being made to conceptualize all activities in the program and to work out instruments to evaluate whether the program is being maintained within the range of these designated activities. Careful observation and feedback to staff and aides is arranged, both to evaluate and control the nature and quality of the training and to teach the importance of studying one's own performance. The kinds of youth who apply for the program, the affect of the program on their lives, the capacity of the youth to obtain and hold jobs as Aides after training, and the influence of New Careers on the services and structure of institutions, and the role of the professional are all important objects of the study. REFERENCES BLOOMBERC, CLAIRE, & KLEIN, W. L. Pre-school aide training curriculum. Washington, D. C.:
Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1955. (mimeo) CENTER FOR YOUTH AND COMMUNITY STUDIES, Training for new careers. Washington, D. C.: President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime, June, 1965. FISHMAN,J. R., PEARL,A., & MACLENNAN,BERYCE W. New careers: ways out o] poverty for disadvantaged youth, a con/erence report. Washington,
D. C. : Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1965. (mimeo) KLEIN, W. L., & M&cLEN~rAN,BERYCEW. Health aide training curriculum. Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard University, 1964. (mimeo) MAcLENNAN,BERYCEW. The training o/community apprentices
and
of professional
supervisors.
Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1964. (mimeo) MACLENNAN,BERYCEW. & KLEIN,W. L. Utilization of groups in job training with the socially deprived, Internat. J. o/ Group Psychotherapy, 1965, 15, 4. MAcLENNAN,BERYCEW., et al., Job descriptions of community aides. Washington, D. C. : Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1965. (mimeo) PEARL,A., Forging new careers: a new approach to the problem o/poverty. Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1964. (mimeo) U. S. DEPARTMENTOF LABOR,Manpower Report to the President. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, March, 1963.
TRAINING
FOR
NEW
CAREERS
BERYCE W. MAcLENNAN, PI-I.D., WILLIAM KLEIN, PH.D.,
ARTHUR PEARL, PH.D., JACOB FISHMAN, M.D.* This paper is concerned with the training requirements for the development of new professional roles in human service fields which socially deprived youth can be expected to perform. The preparation of agencies to receive aides, the reorganization of job roles, the selection of aides, and a training method are outlined. The New Careers concept holds much promise for the reinvolvement of alienated youth, and the present three-part training appears to have considerable effect in holding the interest of the youth and teaching them how to work effectively. However, it cannot he too strongly emphasized that training, while essential, is valueless unless jobs are created and funded, and the ultimate success of this approach will be judged by the number of youth employed and the channels for advance. ment which are created.
Population increase and the spread of automation has resulted in a lack of jobs for unskilled and semi-skilled workers while the accelerated demand for human services (U.S. Dept. Labor, 1963) has created a shortage of highly trained professionals. The New Careers concept (Pearl, 1964) is an attempt to alleviate these problems through the reorganization of professional roles to provide nonprofessional positions in such human service fields as education, recreation and child care. The concept has a potential for making employment, training, and advancement available to boys and girls who are currently under-educated and unskilled, and for freeing the professional to make even better use of his education and training. Automation has drastically reduced the number of job opportunities for the semiskilled, and the trend is likely to continue and intensify. Young people who live in the slums of big cities and grow up without
adequate education and specialized training are particularly vulnerable. Today, it is not uncommon for between 40 and 60 percent of such youth to be unemployed. If a youth cannot reach a certain standard of education, he is dropped from school and is not eligible to enter specialized training. Without training he is hampered in acquiring skills and obtaining a meaningful job. Furthermore, no one feels responsible if a youth is fired for performing inadequately or behaving inappropriately on the job. Many in these circumstances exist on public relief, retreat into mental hospitals, or pass their lives in prison. The demand for such human services as education, recreation, child and health care, and social science research has been expanding over the last few years and is likely to continue to grow. This is an important area of the employment structure where services are lacking and labor is in short supply. In the New Careers system, the responsibilities of the professional are redefined so that he undertakes the direction, supervision, and highly skilled technical tasks appropriate to his training and education, while nonprofessionals and subprofessional technicians undertake the simpler and more routine parts of the job requiring less skill, training, and judgment. In this way, many new jobs for the semiskilled are created, the shortage of professionals is relieved, and the resources for service are increased. This system entails the acceptance of the following concepts: First, society has a responsibility to see that everyone receives adequate education and training to be able to perform a job. Second, if training is to be meaningful, particularly to socially deprived youth, work experience, training and
*Dr. MacLennan is Director, Juvenile Delinquency Training Center Program; Dr. Klein is Assistant Director for Training. Both are with the Center for Youth and Community Services, Howard University and Dr. Fishman is Director of the Center. Dr. Pearl was formerly with the Center. The program has received support from the National Institute of Mental Heahh, the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development, and the Ottiee of Manpower, Automation and Training.
135
136
THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
education should be carried on concurrently so that work is considered one aspect of training. Institutions, agencies, and individual employers must accept the fact that they have a responsibility to assist employees to perform adequately enough to hold the jobs for which they are being trained. Third, if New Careers are to be meaningful, permanent job positions have to be created and institutionalized, career lines established, channels for employment and educational advancement cleared, and social and trade union supports built in. The nonprofessional aide must easily be able to become the sub-professional technical assistant and to move from there into full professional status if he has the capabilities and desire. Opportunity must be provided for the youth to obtain initial employment in spite of an unfavorable past. To deal with this problem, both the school and the service institutions in the community should redefine their functions and accept responsibility to engage and advance these youth to the point of independence and employability. This, in itself, would be a major service which the community should support. One way to achieve this objective is to reverse current procedures and to make education and training an integral part of the job rather than to conceive of employment as dependent on prior education and training. Thus entry jobs become essentially one aspect of training for employment. It is the purpose of this paper to consider specifically the requirements of a training program for Human Service Aides as they have been conceptualized at the Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard University (MacLennan, 1964). Such a training program must include: (1) the definition of nonprofessional roles and work responsibilities with professional and agency administrators; (2) the selection and training of aides; (3) the selection and training of instructors and the training of on-the-job supervisors; (4) the orientation of agency administrators and staff to the particular problems which
aides may present; (5) educational accreditation of the program, opportunity for the aides to obtain their high school diplomas or the equivalent, and further inservice training and education for the development of technical assistants; (6) consideration given to the kinds of training models required and where the programs should be housed whether as vocational education in high school, as in-service training in the institutions, or in an independent center or community college; (7) finally, the provision of means to evaluate and refine the program, without which no such experimental effort can be complete. Experimentation in aide training has been continuing at Howard University since March 1964 when the Center for Youth and Community Studies began a small project, financed jointly by the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development and the National Institute of Mental Health (Center for Youth and Community Studies, 1965), to train school dropouts from poverty stricken backgrounds as Day Care, Recreation, and Research Aides. All 10 of these original aides completed the training program and nine out of 10 have been employed as Aides. In the ensuing 18 months, 35 youth have been trained as Aides, 65 older men and women as Community Organization Neighborhood Development Center workers, 25 young men and women between 20 and 30 years of age as sub-professional youth counsellors and aide trainers, funded by a complex of grants from the Office of Education; the Office of Manpower, Automation and Training; and the Officeof Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development. Further, aides and youth counselors are being trained as jobs and career lines are established. JOB DEFINITION Introduction of aides into any human service program necessitates a reorganization of the work of the professional and the creating of new jobs. At this early stage, it is important for the trainer to collaborate with the professional staff and agency administrators in the joint development of a
B. W. MAcLENNAN,W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. FISHMAN new job description. In time, this job description may well be standardized and accepted as a country-wide classification, particularly in public agencies. In the meantime, this period of working together enables the institutional staffs who are going to employ the aides to feel that they have a major stake in the program and to understand some of the special problems related to the employment of disadvantaged youth. It is important for the successful employment of aides that the tasks which they will be required to perform are clearly specified and that adequate supervision is provided. Most of the young people from underprivileged backgrounds are not sophisticated in understanding and finding their way around institutional structures. They tend to give up when they meet with confusing situations and, unless carefully instructed, do not know how to get help when they encounter difficulties. They often do not expect sympathetic understanding and assistance, and consequently fail to try to communicate their needs; rather, they act out impulsively, so that crises readily occur if problems are not identified and solved at an early stage. Agency administrators and professional supervisors need to be alerted to these matters. Working on job definition and conditions of employment offers the opportunity for agency staffs to become reconciled to some of the doubts which they have about the employment of nonprofessionals. Administrators are naturally concerned about the quality of their service. They worry about accepting boys and girls who have not given evidence of great responsibility. They distrust youth in general and are particularly anxious if there is evidence of past delinquency and school dropout. The idea of using supervised work experience as a period during which the young people will be trained how to hold a job and to become more responsible seems foreign to them at first, and they have to be convinced of its importance. The Neighborhood Youth Corps is helping to spread this idea but has so far, in most instances, failed to build in concurrent training, adequate job de-
137
scriptions, or to push for the creation of permanent jobs. Very frequently, administrators express the idea they would only like to employ aides who are "poor but honest," or older people. They do not fully recognize the need to reinvolve alienated youth and to enable them to become a part of the regular work force. SELECTION As present methods of predicting work performances or of selecting people for either professional or nonprofessional roles in human services are very unreliable, particularly for youth with a history of poor functioning, no specific criteria have yet been established in the Center for Youth and Community Studies training programs (MacLennan, 1964; Center for Youth and Community Studies, 1965) for aides, beyond the youths' expressedl interest in taking part in the program, a poverty-stricken background, and a need for a job. Aides are interviewed together and separately and undergo a medical examination, so that anyone suffering from acute infectious diseases, or who has a court action pending, can be temporarily eliminated. However, records are being scrutinized so that, over time, dimensions may be identified which can predict suitability for human service fields. Meantime agencies for whom aides are being trained usually participate in the final selection of trainees. One question Which arises is how to provide these young people with sufficient in. formation on which to make reasonable career choice. It has been found that most youngsters who have lived all their lives in the slums do not know what is entailed in selecting one career as against another. They cannot describe the functions of a day care or research worker. It would seem important that more effort be made in school to provide within the curriculum itself more knowledge of what different kinds of jobs entail and to carry out realistic vocational guidance. One method which has proved effective when only a small number of choices are offered is to rotate the trainees through the different jobs, ex-
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THE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
pose them to the various routines, and then require them to help each other choose the occupation most suited to their interests and capabilities. Part time work and work study programs also offer the opportunity to try out different jobs.
AIDE TRAINING Many of those for whom the aide training programs are being designed come from very poor environments in which they have developed standards and values which are antagonistic to steady work. In general, low income youth are considered to suffer from a poor self-image and feelings of powerlessness, low frustration tolerance, and impulsivity. The Howard University programs have been established on the following assumptions: It is assumed that the aides will need to revise and reconsider their customary standards and values in regard to employment,and they will have to learn how to comport themselves on the job. Many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds consider that to work hard is to be "square". They are unwilling to accept the fact that they have to dress appropriately, stick by the rules and routines, report punctually and regularly on the job, and even, perhaps, change their customary manner of speech. They do not know how to understand the institutional structure, to use supervision or get help if things go wrong. Second, it is assumed that in order to counteract the poor self-image and low self-esteem the youngsters must be respected and valued; adequate standards of work and behavior must be expected of them, and they should feel that they are doing a meaningful job. It is believed important that they should be encouraged to take responsibility for themselves, participate in decision-making, and help each other attain satisfactory work habits. Third, if people are going to learn easily they need to be told how their performance appears to others and must learn to face problems as they arise. Consequently, early feedback is considered essential. Lastly, in the ever-changingstate of the presentday world it is important to build flexibility into the training. The youth are encouraged to think of themselves as human service aides with specialization in one area, so that, if need arise, they can easily move from one specific field to another with a small amount of additional training. For these reasons the Center's aide training programs have been constructed in the
following way. The aides spend six weeks in intensive training which consists of half of each day spent in supervised work experience; skill workshops; and a daily "core group" which lasts two to three hours. This is followed by a three to six month period during which the Aides work under intensive supervision with two core group periods a week and continuing weekly workshops. Aides differ in the speed with which they develop adequate work habits and allowances should be made for this difference in flexibility.
The Core Group Core Groups serve as a major vehicle for the development of human service skills. They consist of 10 members who help each other learn how they function in relation to each other and on the job. They use their own group, the total aide program and their experiences in the community to examine how groups work, how the community is organized, and how to understand the meaning of behavior and their own reactions to life. Each of these groups has a Core Trainer who works with them throughout the program, encourages members to use themselves for self-study, serves as liaison with the job supervisor, helps the group to develop programs in terms of the agenda, and is available as need arises for individual consultation. Daily reporting from the job supervisors to the core group leader is a very important part of this program so that the leader can help the group examine the problems which they are facing on the job. From their experiences the Aides learn to understand how they react differently to different kinds of people. They learn how to analyze and cope with situations and know where and how to get help. Specifically, in relation to employment they learn how to apply for jobs, what a job description is and why it is important, the function of administrative structure, the use of supervision, the necessity of keeping to the rules of the job and the management of problems as they arise. They also study general techniques such as how to work
B. W. MAcLENNAN, W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. FISHMAN as leaders and participants with different kinds of groups, how to observe and how to keep records. Maximum opportunity is created for the group to take responsibility for themselves to make their own decisions and to establish the conditions under which they will operate. They are encouraged to feel that it is important that they help each other work out dit~cuties. Essentially, the Core Group should be seen as a new reference group in which the leader sets standards and confronts the members with the inappropriateness of inadequate and delinquent ways of dealing with situations. General knowledge required of all human service personnel is also taught in the Core Group. The aides start from their own experience to examine the process of adolescence and the problems of living in poor areas of the city. As the groups progress, they draw in experts to study with them areas of knowledge of human services common to all. Some of the areas discussed are: 1. Human development, family life, childhood, adolescence, dating and marriage. 2. Common mental health problems, normalcy and deviance. 3. The structure and function of community institutions and their resources. 4. The special problems of socially deprived areas and minority groups. 5. Health care, common health problems and first aid. 6. The employment structure and labor organizations. 7. The law and the use of legal aid. 8. Credit unions, insurance, medical care programs. 9. Budgeting and the management of money. All curriculum is taught in seminar fashion with maximal group discussion. Field visits, planned by the youth, are made to community institutions.
Specialty Workshops While the knowledge common to all human services is taught in the Core Group, each special service has theory and skills which are unique, and curriculum has to be developed for each. For instance, rec-
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reation aides need to know how to start a baseball league and to possess a repertoire of crafts and games which they can introduce into their groups. Day Care Aides must understand the uses of different kinds of play activities and be able to care for the children's physical needs. The aides are assembled in small groups in accordance with their specialty in order to take part in these workshops.
Supervised On-the.lob Experience When the aides are working on the job, emphasis is placed on the development of responsible work habits, on learning how to use supervision and on obtaining practice in the basic skills and routines of the particular service which the aide has chosen. It is important that the work is carefully planned so that the aides are able gradually to enlarge their experience and have opportunity to practice all essential routines and skills. TRAINING RESPONSIBILITIES Responsibilities have been variously distributed. In one part of the program, the work supervisor also undertook the skill workshops. In another of the services, these workshops were conducted independently. In a future program, it is planned for a training coordinator to conduct the Core Group and the skill workshops as well as to maintain liaison with the work supervisors. These changes have been organized pragmatically in terms of the capacities of the personnel involved in the programs and the organization of the agencies concerned. No opinion has yet been formed of the relative values of these different arrangements. However, it is important that the basic philosophy and standards of the training staff and the cooperating agency are consistent.
PROGRAM CLIMATE It is believed that the climate of the training programs affects the outcome so that staff have attempted to generate an atmosphere of enthusiasm and interest and
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the value of the work of aides has been emphasized. At the same time, all participants have been asked to recognize that the future as yet holds no security for aides, that everyone has to be able to tolerate much uncertainty, and that no guarantees or promises can be made. Staff and aides have also been expected to face the fact that no one is perfect, that everyone makes mistakes, and that much learning takes place through the analysis of error. Thus, a high value has been placed on the capacity to be undefensive, flexible and free to examine one's own behavior in a critical fashion. REMEDIATION AND EDUCATION
Because so many children who grow up in the slums are lacking the basic skills of reading, writing, spelling, and counting, remedial activities have been incorporated into all aspects of the training. The aides are expected to write reports, transcribe materials from tapes, keep accounts of their observations, budget and read simple pamphlets and manuals. In this way, they not only obtain practice in basic skills but also perceive the relevance of formal educa. tion and become stimulated to request instruction in these subjects. tu~ comThis leads to the question of "~^ pletion of high school education and the auspices under which aide training should be conducted. It is probable that the most convenient model for such programs would be to incorporate them as part of vocational education within the school system so that credit could automatically be obtained for all parts of the program. This would resern. ble the present work study arrangements except that education training and work experience would be closely related and have relevance for each other. Because many of these young people are disillusioned with formal education, a period of work experience and Core Group training outside the formal structure of the school may be necessary before they are sufficiently motivated to accept any formal classroom instruction. Our experience to date has been that the younger aides attend
night school while those who are nearly 21 work for the High School Equivalency exam. Aide training should not be limited to high school students, however, and it seems likely that institutions will find it convenient to develop their own post-high school in-service training programs which might be integrated with universities and community coIleges and make a smooth transition to the training of technical as. sistants at the sub-professional level, where a model of continued supervised work ex. perience, in-service training, and courses at the Associate of Arts and Bachelor's levels is already being tried in some places. The advantages of this arrangement are that agencies tend to be more interested in their own trainees, that such trainees can move more easily into the lower levels of the institutional hierarchy, and that channels for technical and educational advancement are already created. ROLE FLEXIBILITY AND THE IDENTITY OF THE HUMAN SERVICE AIDE
Although the idea of a specific aide training center as a permanent institution seems of doubtful value, the concept of a common Human Service Aide who can move with relative ease across t_he range of _New Careers has considerable validity at the present time when the future of such aides is still quite uncertain. No one knows which services will accept such aides and how fast employment opportunities can be made available. With a common basic training, it is relatively simple for the aide to make such a transfer if additional specific training is provided. A second reason for such role flexibility and common identity is related to the problems created for the aides by the change in their own attitudes and behavior. They tend to move away from their old associates on the streets, are not yet numerous enough to influence their own neighborhoods, and, by reason of disparate background and lesser education, are unlikely to be fully accepted as social equals by the professional. Consequently some Aide Center or
B. W. MACLENNAN, W. KLEIN, A. PEARL AND J. ~ v t ~ X ~ ":: Clubhouse where all can meet, socialize, and share experiences seems to be a valuable institution. Such an association also provides a nucleus for the development of credit unions and other material supports which serve to increase the stability of the aides. THE SELECTION AND TRAINING OF INSTRUCTORS AND SUPERVISORS
The quality of the Core trainers and supervisors is crucial in the training of aides and it is probable that the personalities and character of the staff are as important as their knowledge and skill. Although selection criteria and procedures are still minimally developed, attempts have been made to hire people who are sincere, interested, and able to stimulate interest in others. They must be able to like and respect the aides or they cannot work with them. No educational criteria as yet have been set, and the Center is experimenting with the use of staff at different educational levels and from different backgrounds. Although it is hard on the candidates, the best way known, at present, for predicting how people will perform in human services is to expose them to a diversity of human interactions such as taking part in a group a n d acting as interviewer in a simulated situation. Training for instructors has included orientation to the New Careers concepts and aide training, the life styles of socially disadvantaged youth, the organization and resources of the community, the special problems of working with aides such as learning how to convey knowledge and skills in a form which is understandable to the aides, and developing the perceptiveness, sensitivity, undefensiveness, and techniques necessary to understand and conduct groups of aides. Training has been organized in a fashion similar to aide training with a central Core Group and supervised practical experience gained through working with aides. Staff aides take part in some of the group discussions and act as informants in some of the seminars.
i~1,!'
EVALUATION
Attempts are being made to conceptualize all activities in the program and to work out instruments to evaluate whether the program is being maintained within the range of these designated activities. Careful observation and feedback to staff and aides is arranged, both to evaluate and control the nature and quality of the training and to teach the importance of studying one's own performance. The kinds of youth who apply for the program, the affect of the program on their lives, the capacity of the youth to obtain and hold jobs as Aides after training, and the influence of New Careers on the services and structure of institutions, and the role of the professional are all important objects of the study. REFERENCES BLOOMBERC, CLAIRE, & KLEIN, W. L. Pre-school aide training curriculum. Washington, D. C.:
Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1955. (mimeo) CENTER FOR YOUTH AND COMMUNITY STUDIES, Training for new careers. Washington, D. C.: President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime, June, 1965. FISHMAN,J. R., PEARL,A., & MACLENNAN,BERYCE W. New careers: ways out o] poverty for disadvantaged youth, a con/erence report. Washington,
D. C. : Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1965. (mimeo) KLEIN, W. L., & M&cLEN~rAN,BERYCEW. Health aide training curriculum. Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard University, 1964. (mimeo) MAcLENNAN,BERYCEW. The training o/community apprentices
and
of professional
supervisors.
Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1964. (mimeo) MACLENNAN,BERYCEW. & KLEIN,W. L. Utilization of groups in job training with the socially deprived, Internat. J. o/ Group Psychotherapy, 1965, 15, 4. MAcLENNAN,BERYCEW., et al., Job descriptions of community aides. Washington, D. C. : Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1965. (mimeo) PEARL,A., Forging new careers: a new approach to the problem o/poverty. Washington, D. C.: Center for Youth and Community Studies, Howard Univ., 1964. (mimeo) U. S. DEPARTMENTOF LABOR,Manpower Report to the President. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, March, 1963.
