Social Work Faculty Engagement in Social Policy Practice: A Quantitative Study of the Canadian Experience

Abstract

AbstractThis article reports on a quantitative study of how Canadian social work educators engage in social policy practice. The first part of the article contextualises social policy in Canada, explains how social policy has been incorporated into Canadian social work education and concludes by posing the research question. The second part presents the study’s findings of how and to what extent Canadian social work academics engage with social policy including its development, analysis and implementation. Thirty-one educators representing seventeen of Canada’s forty schools of social work responded to a standard questionnaire used in a collection of cross-national studies. The Canadian responses were analysed to determine (1) the level and type of engagement in policy including the perceived impact on social policy and (2) the institutional and individual factors associated with their engagement. Some comparisons are made with other countries studies. The third part of the article provides overall concluding comments linking the first part with the findings of the second, speculates on the reasons for some of the findings and poses some ideas for future research. Finally, it laments the increased focus of Canadian social work on individual pathology.