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Transformations of the labour market and education have led to changes in the national system of professional qualifications, in particular, the search for new institutional mechanisms for public policy on qualifications. Based on the analysis of the relevant legal framework and own reflections, the article considers the activities of sectoral (sectoral-professional) councils that regulate professional qualifications and standards and serve as an institutional basis for reconciling the interests of various stakeholders in qualifications policy.Differences in the regulation of sectoral councils in the EU and Ukraine have been identified. In most European countries, sectoral councils, which develop professional standards and analyze the needs for professional qualifications, operate under a central executive body responsible for education policy or a main body that administers professional qualifications and coordinates sectoral councils. These councils have a clear structure and state funding. In Ukraine, branch councils are created by employers' organizations that do not have clear legal regulations and state funding (they are essentially self-governing and self-regulatory). At the same time, sectoral councils play an essential role in developing professional standards as requirements for the competence of employees (80% of approved professional standards in Ukraine were developed by sectoral councils).Legislative initiatives on sectoral councils to develop professional standards, which are designed to preserve the self-governing nature of councils and give them vast powers in the field of professional qualifications, are assessed. The author's vision of the functioning of sectoral councils for the development of professional qualifications as collegial bodies of the National Qualifications Agency, which are based on the principles of social partnership, includes representatives of various subjects of qualifications policy. This will allow expanding the institutional policy mechanism for professional qualifications. ; Трансформації ринку праці та освіти зумовлюють зміни у національній системі професійних кваліфікацій, зокрема, пошуку нових інституційних механізмів публічної політики щодо кваліфікацій. У статті – на основі аналізу відповідної нормативно-правової бази та власних рефлексій – розглянуто діяльність галузевих (галузево-професійних) рад, які регулюють професійні кваліфікації та професійні стандарти, та слугують інституційною основою узгодження інтересів різних стейкхолдерів політики щодо кваліфікацій.Встановлено відмінності у регулюванні діяльності галузевих рад у країнах ЄС та в Україні. У більшості європейських країн галузеві ради, які займаються розробленням професійних стандартів та аналізом потреб у професійних кваліфікаціях, діють при центральному органі виконавчої влади, який відповідає за освітню політику, або при центральному органі, який адмініструє питання професійних кваліфікацій та координує діяльність галузевих рад. Ці ради мають виразну структуру та державне фінансування. В Україні галузеві ради створюються організаціями роботодавців, не мають виразного правового унормування та державного фінансування (по суті є самоврядними та саморегулівними). Водночас галузеві ради відіграють важливу роль у розробленні професійних стандартів як вимог до компетентностей працівників (80% затверджених професійних стандартів в Україні було розроблено галузевими радами).Надано оцінку законодавчим ініціативам щодо галузевих рад із розроблення професійних стандартів, які покликані зберегти самоврядний характер рад і надати їм надзвичайно широкі повноваження в сфері професійних кваліфікацій. Запропоновано авторське бачення функціонування галузевих рад з питань розвитку професійних кваліфікацій як колегіальних органів при Національному агентстві кваліфікацій, які – на основі принципів соціального партнерства – включають представників різних суб'єктів політики щодо кваліфікацій. Це дасть змогу розширити інституційний механізм політики щодо професійних кваліфікацій.

Transformations of the labour market and education have led to changes in the national system of professional qualifications, in particular, the search for new institutional mechanisms for public policy on qualifications. Based on the analysis of the relevant legal framework and own reflections, the article considers the activities of sectoral (sectoral-professional) councils that regulate professional qualifications and standards and serve as an institutional basis for reconciling the interests of various stakeholders in qualifications policy. Differences in the regulation of sectoral councils in the EU and Ukraine have been identified. In most European countries, sectoral councils, which develop professional standards and analyze the needs for professional qualifications, operate under a central executive body responsible for education policy or a main body that administers professional qualifications and coordinates sectoral councils. These councils have a clear structure and state funding. In Ukraine, branch councils are created by employers' organizations that do not have clear legal regulations and state funding (they are essentially self-governing and self-regulatory). At the same time, sectoral councils play an essential role in developing professional standards as requirements for the competence of employees (80% of approved professional standards in Ukraine were developed by sectoral councils). Legislative initiatives on sectoral councils to develop professional standards, which are designed to preserve the self-governing nature of councils and give them vast powers in the field of professional qualifications, are assessed. The author's vision of the functioning of sectoral councils for the development of professional qualifications as collegial bodies of the National Qualifications Agency, which are based on the principles of social partnership, includes representatives of various subjects of qualifications policy. This will allow expanding the institutional policy mechanism for professional qualifications.

On January 1, 2020, the Law "On Social Services" comes into force in Ukraine. The new legislation sets up the responsibilities for the executive bodies of city councils, councils of cities of regional significance, councils of united territorial communities, it also introduces the new model of community-based social services provision. The paper analyses this new legislation in the context of the Ukrainian municipal reforms and outlines the challenges that territorial communities may face while ensuring the implementation of legislation.The new legal regulation focuses on improving the management of the social services system in the context of decentralization and optimizing expenditures, ensuring uniform approaches in the organization of the system. The benefits of the new legislation include the fact that, in order to optimize and integrate social services, complex social service institutions / institutions can be created. According to the legislation, all local communities are obliged to provide a range of basic social services of voluntary and mandatory nature.The conducted analysis highlights the gaps in the legislation regarding social services provision, including an extensive and not always clear classification of social services to be provided on the local community level; absence of the by-laws necessary to implement the particular norms of the framework Law; unclear financial issues of social services provision; lack of social work professionals able to introduce the full-scale model.

Social work both in Ukraine and globally is currently developing its own research approaches and knowledge. The article - based on the analysis of foreign scientific literature and the experience of implementing the intervention "Workshop of Opportunities", which was accompanied by an implementation of multi-method research - describes the modern paradigms and strategies of research in social work.It is determined that in the scientific literature we often talk about positivist, interpretive and critical paradigms of research in social work, which differ not only in methodology but also in involving various participants in the research process to build knowledge, which is fundamentally important for the activity and development of social work. It is noted that non-positivist paradigms of research are becoming more widespread, within which subject-subject relations are formed and people who are traditionally excluded from this process are involved in the construction of knowledge.Various research strategies (research in action, narrative analysis, ethnographic research, etc.) and a multimodal approach that may represent the integration of practice and theory of social work are considered. Examples of the use of such strategies in foreign research in social work are given.Self-reflection of participation in the development, implementation and evaluation of the results of the experimental intervention "Studio of Opportunities", which aimed to improve the quality of life related to health in HIV-positive women with children under 6 years by integrating medically and economically oriented programs. The methodology of external and internal evaluation is described, which confirmed that such new interventions can be introduced in social work, for which there are no standardized, validated measurement tools. The conformity of the used research strategies to the ethical principles of social work is discussed, the advantages and limitations of the application of different paradigms (positivist and critical) research are determined.