Standards for social work education in the North American and Caribbean region: current realities, future issues

Abstract

The promulgation of standards for the curriculum and administration of social work educational programs and the application of standards through accreditation processes have been major functions of the associations of educators in both the United States and Canada. In the English‐speaking Caribbean, standards for social work education are developed and maintained by the host universities with use of external quality‐control mechanisms as needed. In this article, a brief description of the region and its social work education programs will be presented. After a very cursory outline of the history and evolution of standards in the region, current mechanisms for developing standards in the region will be described, followed by a brief discussion of the standards themselves. The article will conclude with a discussion of issues in educational standards and accreditation facing the region. Selected aspects of standards will be highlighted to illustrate some of the issues and dilemmas.