Initiating change is one of the important aspects of the social work profession, what was the reason for conducting this research which will examine the experience of proactive behavior and motivation to organize and participate in social actions of future social workers or students, before they enter the world of work. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the experience of social work students on proactive behavior and motivation for starting, organizing and participating in social actions. Participants are students of different years of the study Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. The method of data collection are focus groups, and the thematic analysis is used for data analysis. The results showed how participants explain their motives to be proactive and to engage in social action. Participants believe that social work students are not proactive enough considering the type of the selected studies. It has been shown that students are more oriented to social actions in which users are the focus, not on changing and improving students position. The results showed that participants considered the curriculum insufficiently aimed at encouraging social action and proactive behavior. It has been shown that regular courses do not pay attention to or lack attention paid to issues related to the launch of change and activism. Elective courses are those that participants perceived as useful as those that offer contents and activities important for the development of activist aproach in social work, but the negative side is that only a small number of students can enter and listen to these courses. Participants recommendations for increasing proactivity of students include : improving the curriculum (some elective courses should be regular), improving the relations between professor and students (focusing on a collaborative relationship) and improving professors approach and methods of work (as including students in the planning and implementation of social actions).