Teaching human rights-based social work in Australia – drawing from practice experiences in diverse environments

Abstract

ABSTRACT This reflective piece considers the author’s formative professional experiences including working in the criminal justice system in Central Australia, and conducting humanitarian monitoring of immigration detention centers across Australia, both environments where the human rights of those impacted were constrained through the domestic legal frameworks. By utilizing these experiences to illustrate the strength of embracing a human rights-based approach within social work in Australia, the author emphasizes that this approach is broader than the construct of domestic legality alone. Having recently completed her doctoral thesis exploring the lived experiences of youth detention in New South Wales, the author describes how she frames her emerging social work teaching practice through using her professional background, incorporating case studies, and facilitating discussions in a dynamic, flipped classroom. The author emphasizes in her teaching that social workers are positioned as human rights-focused practitioners, noting that the law, not infrequently, contravenes basic human rights standards, or is not enforced with an overarching human rights-based ethos or approach. Ethical and reflective human rights-focused social work practice in Australia is vital within this country marred by deepening inequalities and the on-going destructive processes of colonization.