The Effect of Participation in a Extra-curricula Activity Program on the Core Competencies of Social Welfare Majors: with a Focus on the Respect for Life Education Instructor Training Program

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in core competencies of social work majors after they participated in a life respect education instructor training program as a extracurricular activity in addition to the regular curriculum. A pretest-posttest experimental design was used with 20 undergraduate social work majors at a community college, and the results of the study were as follows. First, the core competencies of university students who participated in the life-respect education instructor training program increased from before to after the program, indicating that the program was effective in enhancing the core competencies of university students. Second, the mean scores of the core competencies were higher in both the overall mean and sub-scores of the core competencies when theoretical training and on-site lecture practice were combined than when only theoretical training was provided in the comparison activity. Based on these findings, suggestions were made for the development, implementation, and methods of various co-curricular programs for social work students.