Contribution of the Social Work Study of the Institute of Sociology the University of Silesia in the process of professionalisation of the social worker profession – historical outline

The main goal of the article is to present the achievements of the Social Work Unit at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Silesia, accumulated during the 25 years of its functioning. Aside from the rich experience in terms of educating towards the position of a social employee, the unit is characterized by scientific research activity and is engaged in numerous cooperative endeavours locally, nationally and internationally. The entirety of the activity contributes to the pursuit of processes that strengthen the professionalism and prestige of the job of a social employee. The activity results from the belief in the significance of combining theory and practice, which is evidenced in the various forms of the realized tasks. The text was created for the 25th anniversary of the existence of the Social Work Unit and is a summary of the most important achievements.