Social Work Education Research Articles

A Common Purpose? Social Work Students’ Social Justice Related Views in Finland and the island of Ireland

Abstract Exploring social work students’ views to understand how equipped they are to pursue the social justice mission of the profession should be of central academic and practical interest. There are, however, surprisingly few empirical studies focussing on social work students’ views on social justice-related issues from a comparative viewpoint. Such knowledge is thought to be of a wider international interest from a number of perspectives, including social work education and student exchange and, in a wider context, for the development of social work as a profession and for discussing the prerequisites for shared international notions of social work. This article explores the views of social work students studying in different socio-economic contexts and welfare regimes in relation to some key aspects assumed to be vital for the profession. The results based on survey data from student cohorts in Finland (N = 608) and the island of Ireland (N = 279) support the general conclusion that there are important, similar patterns of motivations and understandings amongst the students, despite substantial differences in histories, welfare state developments, current policies and social conditions in various jurisdictions. The results are of interest to educators across countries internationally and provide an important basis for future similar studies.

Book Review: Social work education and the grand challenges: Approaches to curricula and field education by R. Paul Maiden and Eugenia L. Weiss

Book Review: <i>Social work education and the grand challenges: Approaches to curricula and field education</i> by R. Paul Maiden and Eugenia L. Weiss

Teaching Note—Innovating the Curriculum: Bringing History Back Into Social Work Education

ABSTRACT History, the major storehouse of information, informs us about the important relationship between people and society and increases our understanding of basic societal values and institutional arrangements. A recent New York Times op-ed described “The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession.” Likewise for historical content in social work education, exacerbated by the 1970s‘ rise of neoliberalism and the profession’s long marginalization of historical research and teaching. The Social Welfare History Group renews its call to bring historical content back into social work education and to correct its deep-seated race, class, gender, and colonizing distortions. To ensure that all social work courses include history, we can revive the value historical knowledge; prepare a cadre of historical researchers and instructors; financially support emerging scholars and develop a pipeline of history-informed faculty to teach the next generation of social workers.

From food security to food sovereignty: preparing social workers to effectively intervene in food systems

ABSTRACT Globally, conventional food systems are failing to produce enough high quality, nutritious food for the world’s population. For those in the helping professions, the most typical entry point into this crisis is emergency food assistance services. However, current food systems are also threaded through with legacies of racialized violence, ongoing exploitation of land and labor, the effects of pollution and climate change, the crisis of hunger, and the desire of peoples across the globe to choose how to nourish their communities. As such, social work education must pay greater attention to the complexity of food systems to prepare future practitioners to effectively intervene in this arena. This paper introduces a conceptual model that distinguishes between food security, food justice, and food sovereignty—examining the model’s utility to social work education and practice. To explore opportunities to integrate course content and practice in food systems, we offer a case study of a community-engaged project to advance food sovereignty efforts in Oregon, tracing contributions to student learning as well as to the community partner. We conclude with implications for social work education so that future practitioners can intervene more effectively and intentionally in food systems.

Using the concept of epistemic injustice and cultural humility for understanding why and how social work curricular might be decolonized

ABSTRACT The notion of decolonizing the curriculum is currently gaining momentum in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) across the world and in the United Kingdom (UK). Fuelled by the movements #RhodesMustFall, ‘Why is my curriculum White?’, and critical incidents such as the killing of George Floyd and the #BlackLivesMatter protests, campaigners for decolonizing the curriculum have all questioned the omission of other perspectives from dominant Eurocentric White curricula at universities around the world, including social work education. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that involved 20 in-depth interviews with social work academics, social work students and practice educators (field instructors) in an English HEI social work department about their perspective on decolonizing the curriculum in social work education. The concepts of epistemic injustice and cultural humility were used to examine the data. Findings suggest that social work education is not immune to the centering of a Eurocentric curriculum and White middle-class values and needs to change to embrace other epistemology. The paper concludes by arguing that the concepts of epistemic injustices and cultural humility are especially relevant for understanding why and how social work curricula might be decolonized.

Community resilience building in disadvantaged neighbourhoods (DN): action learning and political work

ABSTRACT Old, often neglected downtown neighborhoods are usually the salt of the city, the center of its original culture, and the area of an authentic community anchored in traditional values as: an ethos of work, loyalty, multi-generational family, independence. In the process of city regeneration, instead of making urban space more attractive, such neighborhoods are treated as an obstacle and therefore subjected to various forms of oppression (spatial, political, discursive). On the basis of those negative diagnoses, a project of participatory action and learning has been constructed, the goal of which is individual and structural empowerment of disadvantaged neighborhoods (communities) as well as action learning opportunities for social work/social pedagogy students. The locality development makes communities more effective in resisting the oppression of large municipal investments. The plan assumed a joint action (academics, practitioners, students, city officers, inhabitants) of rebuilding the historical and social pride of the communities and then including them as active and important elements of the city also in terms of the labor market and political power. Other important goals were a participatory model of social work education (field-based research learning) and an increase in social recognition of disadvantaged neighborhoods (political result).

Transformational learning and agency for professional identity development: first-year social work student retention and wellbeing

ABSTRACT Challenges relating to first-year student retention and learning outcomes are recognized as a multi-faceted issue in the tertiary education sector across many professional programs, including social work. Graduating students can find it difficult to establish themselves in the workplace. The researchers wanted to understand if fostering a sense of professional identity for social work students as part of the research experience might in and of itself enable retention because of improved opportunities for transformational learning, agency, and wellbeing as a student. The participatory action research project was designed around a community of practice of social work students facilitated by two recent graduates to undertake the collaborative design and creation of supportive educational resources. Student empowerment, connectedness, and wellbeing were improved by involvement in the collaborative professional task of doing research, with students reporting increased connection with the university and engagement in their learning. Implications for fostering professional identity development during social work education are explored.

Developing social work education in Vietnam: the student field practicum during the pandemic

ABSTRACT Vietnam’s education provision faced challenges during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first wave in early 2020, the majority of university classes had already converted to online mode. However, because the field practicum is an essential course requirement in the social work curriculum, doing it online posed a challenge for both students and instructors. This research describes the field practice experiences of social work students in Vietnam under the influence of COVID-19. A national online survey was conducted among all Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students who completed a field practicum course between August 2020 and August 2021. The findings indicated students’ opinions on overcoming obstacles during field practice, their conflicted feelings, and some lessons learned. These findings show that social work educators may be able to identify important insights for preparing students for online social work practice and assist students and teachers to adapt to the unprecedented crisis.

Training Master of Social Work Students in Brief Intervention for Unhealthy Alcohol Use: Results of a Validated Adherence Assessment.

Many social workers receive limited training in working with clients engaged in unhealthy substance use. As a result, national organizations and agencies such as the Council on Social Work Education and individual social work programs are beginning to address this need by incorporating training into higher education social work programs. The purpose of this study was to examine Master of Social Work (MSW) students' adherence to a brief intervention protocol for unhealthy alcohol use. A total of 91 MSW students consented to the assessment of their digital, audio-recorded class assignment by independent raters. Although 90% of MSW student participants were found to be overall adherent to the protocol, gaps in training quality were also identified. Lessons learned for addressing the gaps are discussed, along with future directions for teaching and learning in social work related to substance use.

Integrating anthropology and social work education to address contemporary social issues

Integrating anthropology and social work education to address contemporary social issues

Unveiling the Dynamic Social Work Education Landscape in Albania

Social work has little tradition as an academic or professional path in most post-communist countries. The need for well-trained social workers is grave in all of these societies, with Albania being no exception. The aim of this paper is to review the current plans of study of the major three departments of social work in Albania using as benchmarks the Global Standards of Quality of Social Work Education and the Albanian Credit Framework. For the purposes of this paper a content analysis of the curriculum and the detailed syllabi was employed. This analysis revealed the following themes: (1) the nature of the curriculum in relation to global social work education quality standards (2) possible bottlenecks of the three curricula related to the Albanian Credit Framework and (3) compatibility level among the three curricula in the framework of the Bologna process. Results showed a satisfying level of adaptation of social work curricula with Global Standards of Quality of Social Work Education, with a reasonable division among theoretical courses of different orientations in the core theoretical curriculum. However, field practice hours were much less than the required ones, but the current Albanian Credit Framework created a bottleneck in relation to it, because it sets limits and hampers the universities in adapting and implementing the international best practices of 170-200 field placement days. It is suggested to systematically benchmark all three curricula to the Global Standards of Quality of Social Work Education and to create space for the field practice for professions like social work.

‘Off topic in some places (global warming)’: a critical and radical response to connecting social work teaching to a global climate emergency

In 2012, Lena Dominelli brought us a timely and essential warning that it was time for the social work profession to recognise its role in examining how the environmental crisis will cause hardship and suffering to communities with whom the profession has traditionally worked. It is fair to say that progress has been slow; a search of published module descriptors for social work programmes delivered across Scotland indicates that there remain barriers to engagement with the climate crisis. This article will focus on the importance of incorporating a critical and radical perspective into social work teaching. This will be achieved by reflecting on, first, learning and teaching theory, and, second, psychological theory, such as the theory of normative conduct. Insight into the reasons for resistance to participation in discourse about the impact of the environmental crisis will be explored through reflecting on climate change theory, teaching theory and the curriculum, along with psychological barriers. This article argues that the critical and radical approach to social work teaching is ideally situated to lead on the inclusion of environmental challenges in social work education and practice.

Creating Social Work Civic Citizens: A Professional and Educational Responsibility?

All levels of education have been tasked with creating empowered, civic-minded citizens. It is often assumed that students come into college having received a robust civics education in high school, leaving a potential gap between education and abilities of graduates to become ethical and effective social workers and civic citizens. When broached in higher education, disagreement often lies in what civic competency means, how it is addressed in the classroom, and - for higher education - if it is appropriate to support a particular “agenda” or ideology in creating pedagogical goals. For social work, the disconnect between historical professional goals, the current political and professional climate, and academic barriers and freedoms can be further impacted by disparate views on whether it is appropriate for social work to support education aimed at increasing civic competency and engagement. This conceptual paper will review the historical roots of the profession, explore current issues related to civic competency and political education, and discuss the future of civics education in social work.

Anti-Ableist and Disability Justice Pedagogies in Social Work Education

Anti-Ableist and Disability Justice Pedagogies in Social Work Education

POLICE SOCIAL WORK CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Police social work is back to revitalization as there has been a growing demand for collaboration between police departments and social workers to intervene in mental and behavioral health crisis calls. Police departments usually deal with social control strategies and social workers primarily work on the social rehabilitation of individuals. This article describes the challenges and opportunities of police social work and offers models for strategic partnerships and collaborations. The paper also describes the significance of teaching police social work courses in programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and encouraging social work students to do their practical education in police departments or work with police officers in crisis response teams.

Action Steps Toward Dismantling Ableism in Social Work Education

Action Steps Toward Dismantling Ableism in Social Work Education

Re-imagining Neoliberal Ideologies in Social Work Education Using Critical Feminist and Disability Theories: A Phenomenological Autoethnographic Account

Re-imagining Neoliberal Ideologies in Social Work Education Using Critical Feminist and Disability Theories: A Phenomenological Autoethnographic Account

Positioning Field Action Projects as Tools for Sustainable Development (With Special Reference to BSSS, Bhopal)

Field action projects are a distinguishing feature in social work education and practice and can serve as a live lab for social work students. Many renowned social work educational institutions began with the field action projects and developed them to a significant level. The state of Madhya Pradesh, India has several problems, and field action projects can serve as an excellent tool to alleviate these problems. The article is an attempt to appraise field action projects of Bhopal School of Social Sciences—one of the well-recognized social work institution in the Central India. Statistical software Jamovi 2.3.21 was used for analysis. Mode, median and Functional Narrative Analysis is used for analysing data. The suggestions can be used by the practitioners and policy makers for an optimal usage of field action projects as tools for sustainable development. It also discusses the presence of outreach activities as a mandate in New National Education Policy of Madhya Pradesh and the relevance of such initiatives in accomplishing the requirements of the policy. The study is limited to the field action projects of BSSS and should not be generalized.

Exploring the Effectiveness of Online Learning in Social Work Education from the Student Perspective

Exploring the Effectiveness of Online Learning in Social Work Education from the Student Perspective

Denmark covered in international social work

Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences organized an event titled "International Social Work: Social Work Education and Child Protection System in Denmark".