1. Dragana Zaharijevski, Danijela Gavrilović

2.  We conducted a research of social needs and labor market needs for the following professions: social policy analyst, social worker and social pedagogue  Identification of existing positions in which the experts of these profiles, according to the current systematization and in the presence of related professions, could work  Identification of duties performed in these institutions by other professions due to the lack of qualified staff  Determining which jobs are not being performed, but for which there is a need recognized by the institutions themselves.  These data provide knowledge on the qualifications the possession of which would help professionals take these jobs

3.  The description of duties and responsibilities of a social policy analyst  Creation of an evidentiary base for the creation of social policy measures  Participation in the creation of social development strategies  Comparative analysis of measures for achieving social goals and recommendation of measures  Evaluation of social policy measures and their effects on citizen groups  Prediction of political, economic and social trends  Monitoring of current events and public policies relevant for social policy measures   The description of duties and responsibilities in the area of social work  Assessment of the needs of users of social protection services  Development of individual support plans  Monitoring users in the state of social need  Provision of social protection services  Implementation of planned support measures  Monitoring the effects of implemented support measures  Advisory (counseling) work  Reaction to crisis situations   The description of duties and responsibilities of a social pedagogue  Assessment of the needs for resocialization  Creation of resocialization plans  Advisory (counseling) work with individuals and groups included into the resocialization process  Implementation of resocialization measures  Monitoring the users that are included in the resocialization process  Monitoring and evaluation of the effects of implemented resocialization measures

4.  This list was the basis for designing the questionnaire which, in addition to the list of jobs, had the following questions:  Is this job (duty) being performed in your institution? (Representation of jobs of certain qualification profiles)  Do you think there is a need for this duty although it is not performed in your institution? (Assessment of the need for performing certain jobs)  Please list the education profiles / occupations of all employees who perform this duty/job.  Is there a necessity for the provision of services that your institution is not providing?

5.  Institution type Number of institutions  Centers for social work 19  Institutions for social protection and resocialization 47 (adults– 21; children and youth– 6; prisons – 20)  National Employment Bureau 1  Institutes for the analysis and evaluation of public policies 3  Local self-governments 18  Ministries 2  Total: 90

6.  Assessment of the current state and prediction of future users’ needs in order to prepare an institution development plan  Creation of the institution’s work plan in accordance with the law, national and local strategies in the area of social protection  Networking with relevant institutions in order to provide adequate social protection and support to the users  Jobs in crisis situations – measures of social protection and assistance in cases of natural disasters, extraordinary situations…)  Assessment of the needs of the users of social protection services and determination of the aims of the support  Development of individual protection and support plans  Implementation of the planned protection and support measures  Counseling work with the users of social protection and support measures in order to make social inclusion more adequate  Monitoring of the user who is in the state of social need.  The evaluation of the effect of protection and support measures

7.  REPRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS FOR JOBS The activity of the centers in the area of planning on the examined sample of institutions is underrepresented. “The assessment of the current state and prediction of users’ needs in the social protection system” is recognized as a necessary activity in the centers, but is not performed in 4 centres or is only partially performed in 3. As for the other questions, it is obvious that other activities are almost completely performed in the centres.  PROFILES OF EXPERTS WHO PERFORM THE JOBS The jobs mentioned are performed by various profiles of experts. It is clear that social workers are most often responsible for all these jobs or work tasks, and after them come professions like psychologists, pedagogues, lawyers, special pedagogues and sociologists. This indirectly tells us that there is no single personnel solution on who should perform these jobs. In these institutions, there is a need for the analyst of social policy profession, because there are jobs which require the engagement of trained personnnel for tasks in the area of analytics, which have been performed by other educational profiles so far.  NECESSARY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTION  There is a whole range of services, such as, for example, a daycare for children with disabilities, counseling work with young people, families, various services for the elderly, persons with disabilities, women and children who are victims of violence, which are needed, and which many Centers for Social Work do not have the conditions to realize, and the need for them still exists. That means that there are no staff members, nor material, nor physical resources to develop these services.

8.  Assessment of the current state and prediction of future users’ needs in order to prepare an institution development plan;  Creation of the institution’s work plan in accordance with the law, national and local strategies in the area of social protection;  Reaction to crisis situations – measures of social protection and assistance in case of natural disasters, extraordinary situations…);  Assessment of the needs of the users of social protection services;  Development of individual support plans;  Monitoring of the user who is in the state of social need;  Offering social protection services;  Implementation of the planned support measures;  Monitoring of the effects of the applied support measures;  Assessment of need for the performance of resocialization (if it is in the scope of your work);  Making resocialization plans;  Counseling work with individuals and groups involved in the process of resocialization;  Implementation of resocialization measures;  Monitoring of the users who are involved in the process of resocialization;  Evaluation of the effects of the implemented measures of resocialization.

9.  REPRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS FOR JOBS In the examined institutions, mostly all the jobs offered from the scope of work of social policy analysts, social workers and social pedagogues are performed. The jobs typical for the educational profile social policy analyst are recognized as necessary jobs. At the majority of institutions, particularly expressed is the need for jobs “Assessment of the current state and prediction of future users’ needs in order to prepare an institution development plan”, “Creation of the institution’s work plan in accordance with the law, national and local strategies in the area of social protection”. A group of jobs from the defined scope of work of a social worker is represented in all examined institutions. In almost all social protection institutions, even though they are already represented, it is estimated that there is an additional need for these jobs. A group of jobs recognized as predominantly the scope of work of a social pedagogue is present, mostly, in prisons. The need for these jobs exists: facilities for the elderly (three to four) have expressed a uniform need for all the jobs from this scope of work; usually, only one institution for children and youth recognizes the need for them; whereas in prisons a somewhat more pronounced estimate for the jobs of monitoring of the users who are involved in the process of resocialization, as well as for the evaluation of the effects of the implemented measures of resocialization is registered.

10.  PROFILES OF EXPERTS WHO PERFORM THE JOBS The group of social policy analyst jobs is mostly performed by social workers and then by special pedagogues and psychologists, sociologists. Jobs from the scope of work of a social worker are performed, first of all, by social workers, then, by psychologists, pedagogues and sociologists. The jobs recognized as the scope of work of social pedagogue are currently performed in these institutions by sociologists, psychologists and social workers.  NECESSARY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTION postpenal acceptance of convicted persons; daycare for persons in need of support; various forms of offering assistance in the homes of persons who are in need of support; support from outside of the institution: resocialization, therapeutic, preventive and counseling work; various forms of foster care.

11.  Collection of relevant data (needs and resources) and making of evidential basis for the creation of policies in the area  Processing and analysis of the collected data in order to establish the situation in the area  Comparative analysis of the measures for achieving social goals and the recommendation of more effective measures in the area  Creation of strategic documents in the area  By creating concrete plans for the implementation of measures in the area  Tracking the realization of the social policy measures in the area  Evaluation of the effects of the implemented policy measures in marginalized groups  Provision of counseling services to clients

12.  REPRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS FOR JOBS A majority of jobs offered in the questionnaire were from the field of work of the social policy analyst. Out of all the jobs offered, in the National Employment Service, only the job “Tracking the realization of the social policy measures” is not done, and a need has been recognized for this job. In the Ministry of Education, all (except for one) jobs mentioned are carried out. “Evaluation of the effects of the implemented educational policy measures “ is not carried out because that activity is assigned to another institution, although a need for the execution of this job as well has been recognized in this Ministry. In the Ministry of Labour, all the jobs mentioned are performed.  PROFILES OF EXPERTS WHO PERFORM THE JOBS The jobs of the analyst of social policy are, both in the National Employment Service and in the Ministries, performed by very different educational profiles. It is certain that there in no way that all of them can have the qualifications needed to perform these jobs. What is interesting is that computer scientists, to a large extent, work on collecting, processing and even analyzing data, even though they do not have the necessary knowledge or the competencies to perform these jobs.  THE NECESSARY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTION Evaluation, Determining the indicators for evaluation, Creation of measures, Analysis, implementation and evaluation of measures. Synthetic analysis which includes a simultaneous observation of all the action levels (measures to the local level, all actors) Creation of differentiated measures, Market analysis for different professions, Counseling work in management

13.  Keeping track of current events and decisions concerning social policies  Evaluation of the effects of social policies and laws and the proposal of new policies  Anticipation of political, economic and social trends  Designing research projects in order to examine certain problems or to check theories about social issues  Collection, processing and analysis od data collected as a part of the research  Presentation of research results through the creation of reports, presentations, publication of articles  Introduction of the participants in the creation of social policies to the research findings

14. REPRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS FOR JOBS  All the offered jobs are from the scope of work of a social policy analyst. At the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, the majority of offered jobs are performed. The jobs related to the monitoring of current events and anticipation of social trends are not performed. It is estimated that there is a need for these jobs, and the following educational profiles are recognized in their performance: a lawyer, a sociologist or a psychologist.  In the Institute of Public Health, the job “Evaluation of the effects of social policies and laws and the proposal of new policies“ is not performed, nor is the need for it recognized, whereas all the jobs are performed in the Centre for Education Policy. The presence of these jobs in various institutes shows that the institutes are the places where a social policy analyst would have their field of expertise, but also that this type of profession does not have a recognized professional space in the labor market. PROFILES OF EXPERTS WHO PERFORM THE JOBS  A large number of jobs which we have identified as jobs from the expertise of a social policy analyst are performed in institutes by lawyers, economists, sociologists, psychologists and political scientists.

15.  Collection, processing and analysis of data in order to determine the state at the level of the local self-government in the area:  Comparative analysis of measures for achieving social goals and recommendations of effective measures at the level of self-government in the area:  Creation of strategic documents at the level of self- government in the area:  Creation of concrete measure implementation plans at the level of self-government in the area:  Monitoring the realization of measures at the level of self- government in the area:  Evaluation of the effects of implemented measures at the level of self-government in the area:

16. REPRESENTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS FOR JOBS  The jobs of collecting, processing and analysis of collected data in order to determine the state at the local level are the most represented: over 70% of local self-governments collect and analyze these data. The following best-represented jobs are related to the creation of strategic documents and implementation of concrete plans, as well as the monitoring of their realization, except that this is the most represented in the area of employment and social protection. The comparative analysis of measures and the evaluation of the effects of implemented measures are significantly less represented, and thereby there seems to be a need for these jobs to be performed, mostly in the area of healthcare and social protection PROFILES OF EXPERTS WHO PERFORM THE JOBS  The persons who perform social analyst jobs in the surveyed LSGs are usually the experts in the area of law and economics: depending on the job type, this percentage ranges between 43 (monitoring of the realization of measures) to 57 (comparative analysis of measures,…). All the other professional profiles are significantly less represented, whereas, among them, the most common are the experts in the area of social sciences and humanities (psychologist, pedagogue, andragogue, defectologist, sociologist). THE NECESSARY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTION  What can be noticed from the previous table is that the local self-governments themselves recognize the need for these positions (that currently do not exist) from the scope of work of a social policy analyst: analysis, monitoring, evaluation, strategy creation.

17.  Jobs and services that the centers for social work provide for their users are covered by different educational profiles, and there is an insufficient number of staff for the expansion and establishment of new necessary services Certain jobs significant for the analysis and activity planning in the social protection system are performed occasionally, usually once a year and with available staff. There is a need for these activities to be systematically and professionally performed by the qualified personnel. The educational system should recognize these needs in the social protection system and to adequately train the professionals who would perform these jobs in a competent way.  In the institutions for social protection and resocialization, all the offered jobs are being detected based on the pre-defined duties in the scope of work of social policy analysts, social workers and social pedagogues. By analyzing the existing educational profiles who perform the work from the scope of work of social policy analysts, social workers and social pedagogues, it was noticed that: social workers (together with psychologists, social pedagogues and sociologists) in most instances perform the work of social policy analysts as well as duties form the defined scope of work of social workers; social workers also perform the tasks from the scope of work of social pedagogues, whereby, in the analyzed institutions, sociologists and psychologists are more represented in the performance of these jobs that social workers. The question is whether social workers are trained to perform all these different tasks.

18.  At all surveys of national employment bureaus, ministries and institutes, the jobs from the scope of work of a social policy analyst are being detected, but these jobs are performed by IT engineers and persons from other incompetent professions. An important finding is that the offered jobs are considered to be necessary, and also that the surveyed institutions listed them as necessary concrete jobs in the area of measurement monitoring, evaluation and strategic planning – and that is the expertise of social policy analysts.  Regarding the units of the local self-governments, the jobs from the scope of work of a social policy analyst and usually being performed, but they should be a foundation for the planning of social protection programs. An important finding is the data that the professional of other educational profiles, which are not related to the area of social work, are in charge of these jobs. In some cases, these are even the persons with elementary or high school education. It has been observed that there is a need for the provision of complex types of services related to the comparative analysis of measures, creation of strategic documents and evaluation of the effects of implemented measures at the local level, which is the area of expertise of social policy analysts. Since these jobs are not performed at all surveyed local self-governments, or they are performed by persons without proper education, one of the main findings of this research is that we lack professionals that can competently and professionally perform the jobs of social policy creation, monitoring and evaluation of measures and improvement of strategies for the social protection of the population.  It is undisputable that, among the profiles of interest, the occupation of a social worker is the most established in Serbia. The job description of that profile in the Niš Study is defined in the framework of “micro and meso practice” (based on the listed sources) and in that we can see the basis for the differentiation of qualifications that are gained in the study of social work and the qualifications necessary in order to perform the jobs for which it is necessary to be familiar with the comparative structural characteristics of the society as a context in which social issues appear to which the measures of social policy respond, as well as to have the knowledge of the research techniques and analytical instruments. The analysis of syllabi from the study programs of social sciences and humanities will show whether the creators, analysts and evaluators of policies, have the necessary qualifications in the existing programs or whether we need to make programs with the competences that are needed.