Conclusions and Commencements

2019 ◽  
pp. 231-238
Author(s):  
Jeane Anastas ◽  
John Brekke
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Explicit Description ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Made In

As Brekke (2012) has noted from the beginning, the nature, aims and domains of social work science need more explicit description in order to stake out intellectual, institutional, and identity spaces for social work’s scientific activities and the support of them. This final chapter summarizes some key points about a science of social work made in the preceeding chapters. The topics include epistemology, ontology, values, theory, doctoral education in social work, and possibilities for social work practice research. There is further discussion of the implications of this work for social work education and social work practice. It ends with a plea for crafting additional opportunities to think and talk in a sustained way about issues that are key to the profession and its future like the ones the IslandWood group has enjoyed for the purpose of framing a science of social work.

Looking back to look forward: a collaborative autoethnographic study of the effects of neoliberalism on social work practice, education and research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine S. Kramer ◽  
Darren Cosgrove ◽  
Jonah DeChants
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Academic Experiences ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Use Of Self ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Practice Education

Neoliberalism emerged as a powerful force across the globe, adding market-based pressures to social work practice, education and research. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we reflected on neoliberalism’s impact on our professional and academic experiences in US-based social work. Disconnection characterised our collective experiences of neoliberal social work across practice, research and education. The effects of this collective disconnecting emerged in three themes: (1) commodification; (2) compliance; and (3) disillusionment. We offer recommendations on how the field of social work can resist neoliberalism’s effects and encourage: (1) recentring social work practice, education and research around social work values; (2) a strategic use of self to form connections between the personal and the professional; and (3) the adoption of collective impact as the model for social work education and research.

Political Social Work

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Pritzker ◽  
Shannon Lane
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Work Education

Political social work is social work practice, research, and theory involving explicit attention to power dynamics in policymaking and political mechanisms for eliciting social change. It is an ethical responsibility for social workers. Political social work takes place in a variety of fields and settings and includes influencing candidates and their agendas, working on campaigns, expanding political participation, working in full-time political positions, and holding elected office. Political participation among social workers is higher than in the general public, although much variety exists within groups of social workers, and the activities that social workers engage in tend to be more passive than active. This article discusses the role of social work education in preparing generalist and specialist political social workers, and the presence of both challenges and opportunities for political social work in the context of current practice.

scholarly journals The Information Behaviour of Social Workers: Needs, Seeking, Acquiring and Using Information in Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1588-1610
Author(s):  
Niamh Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Information Behaviour ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Search For Information ◽  
Information Landscape

Abstract In the debate about what informs social work practice, research remains the dominant discourse. However, the relationship between research and social work practice has always been an uneasy one, arguably passed from other clinical disciplines without resizing to fit social work. Even as social work research matures as a discipline it represents one element in a much broader composite which informs practice. This article takes a unique step back from the traditional research-practice discourse and examines the broader information landscape of social work practice, asking how practitioners inform their practice, rather than how research informs practice. This study explores the information needs that prompt practitioners to search for information, the strategies they employ, their acquisition of information and the uses to which the information is put. This study aims to elucidate the information behaviour with a view to improving dissemination and use. Findings demonstrate that the social work information base is substantially broader than has been suggested. Practitioners employ a pragmatic palette of strategies to navigate the breadth of information that supports practice, from research through to knowledge sharing. This article proposes that a pragmatic framework of information behaviour is required to accurately reflect the information behaviour of social workers.

Visions of community

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Pauline Jivanjee ◽  
Susan Tebb
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Work Education

Experiences traveling in Kenya provide a backdrop to an examination of the principles and practices of the Harambee and women’s movements in Kenya as they compare with feminist social work practice in the United States. Concluding remarks address the implications of our learning for our work in social work education.

Competence units or holistic assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1a) ◽  
pp. 79-91
Author(s):  
Clare Stone
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Competency Frameworks ◽  
Holistic Assessment ◽  
Work Education

When public attention is focused upon the profession of social work, a typical response has been to change initial training and the learning outcomes by which students are assessed. Although social work education has employed competency frameworks for two decades the incompetence discourse and the concern about graduates’ ability to undertake competent social work practice continues. Empirical research problematized the competence phenomenon to explore practice educators’ experiences of using competency units and their perspectives of competence for social work. This paper draws upon findings from that research to explore the concept of holistic assessment and to suggest that educators need to reconsider the epistemological principles of assessment for social work practice.

scholarly journals Editorial

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sulina Green
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Curriculum Renewal ◽  
Work Education

The articles in this issue of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk cover topics related to the innovative utilisation of approaches and methodologies for teaching and learning in social work education and for intervention in social work practice. The first two articles examine the incorporation of technology-enhanced teaching and learning in social work education in the digital era. The first article provides insights into the emerging developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, especially for curriculum renewal to prepare prospective practitioners to operate in both online and offline environments. The second article describes how an authentic e-learning framework can provide a pedagogically improved method of course design for groupwork education.

scholarly journals Incorporating community development into social work practice within the neoliberal environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Peter Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Community Work ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Work Education

Community development is a core subject in social work education, yet social work discourse often places community development at its margins (Mendes, 2009). This article considers the location of community development and community work within the current neoliberal environment in New Zealand and how such practice can be sustained by social workers in the community and voluntary sector. Community development is a way of working with communities that has a ‘bottom up’ approach as an alternative to State (top down) development. Over recent years, however, successive New Zealand governments have embraced neoliberal social policies that have marginalised community development. In addition the term ‘community work’ has been used to describe activities that have little to do with a bottom up approach thereby making it difficult to define both community development and community work. By applying a ‘knowledge intersections’ schema to two New Zealand community and voluntary organi- sations we identify where community development and social work intersect. From this basis we challenge social workers to consider ways in which community development can be embedded within their practice. 

scholarly journals Critical Language Awareness: A beckoning frontier in social work education?

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-68
Author(s):  
Clement Mapfumo Chihota
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Critical Language Awareness ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Responsive Communication

INTRODUCTION: Effective social work practice is predicated on empowering, inclusive and culturally responsive communication, and yet, there appears to be very limited focus on language awareness, let alone critical language awareness, in contemporary social work education—both within and beyond the Australasia context. This gap is more worrying against a background where neoliberal and instrumental discourses (Habermas, 1969; O’Regan, 2001) have freely proliferated, and now threaten to colonise virtually all areas of private and public life (Chouliaraki Fairclough, 1999). In response, this article advocates the inclusion of Critical Language Awareness (CLA) in contemporary social work education.APPROACH: This article initially maps the broad scope and historical emergence of CLA, before surveying its key political and theoretical influences.FINDINGS: The key outcome is that CLA—as delineated—clearly shares significant overlaps with social work co-values, particularly: justice, equality and a commitment to anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice (Dominelli, 2002; Payne, 1997). More importantly, CLA provides conceptual and analytical resources that promise to significantly sharpen students’ abilities to recognise, question and ultimately challenge, oppressive discourses (Fairclough, 2011; Manjarres, 2011; Wodak, 2006).CONCLUSION: It is recommended that CLA strands be woven into existing social work themes and topics. The final part of the article offers some practical suggestions on how this could be done.

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