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Unlike qualifying education, forensic social work education is heterogeneous. This review provides a cross-national comparison of 10 countries: the United States, Brazil, England, the Netherlands, Hungary, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, India and Australia. It aims to understand education models across diverse contexts and encourage further reflection on forensic social work pedagogy. Findings revealed that there is little mandating of educational standards or curriculum requirements in forensic social work. Moreover, current modelling is drawn from Eurocentric epistemologies and has a duty to incorporate and celebrate First Nations, non-Western and culturally inclusive paradigms. Opportunities exist to develop international standards for forensic social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-standing concerns about the sustainability of social work field education requirements were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) implemented revised Education and Accreditation Standards (ASWEAS) during the pandemic as existing standards had become unworkable. The revised ASWEAS (during 2020 and 2021) allowed greater flexibility regarding how placements could be delivered, enabling students, educators, and practitioners to trial modified placements normally considered non-compliant. This article reports the findings of a national qualitative and quantitative survey that used Appreciative Inquiry to examine key stakeholders' experiences of the modified field placements. The findings demonstrated strong support for the modifications. The findings are discussed in the context of international standards and hold implications for the future development of ASWEAS. A trial of modified field placements under revised ASWEAS due to the COVID-19 pandemic represented a timely opportunity to conduct a nation-wide, empirical study to explore experiences of different field placement models. Emerging empirical evidence confirmed enduring field education problems, and highlighted experiences that could inform more flexible, sustainable field placements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, pressure is mounting from multiple stakeholders for a full review of the national social work education standards for field education as evidence grows about compulsory, unpaid placements exacerbating student poverty and the related adverse consequences for students' learning and well-being. This article reports on the findings of an Australian nation-wide qualitative and quantitative survey that explored social work students', educators' and practitioners' perceptions of proposed strategies to address the challenges identified with existing field education requirements. Descriptive statistics were calculated using Excel. Qualitative data were coded for thematic analysis. The main finding of the survey involving 1,191 participants was a call for a reimagined model of field education with flexibility in all aspects of how future placements are conceptualised, structured and delivered. The findings provide important and previously unavailable empirical evidence about field education strategies to inform and support the reimagining of existing Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards. Recommendations for change, which have implications for both the Australian Association of Social Workers and the Australian Government, are discussed in the context of international standards for social work education and the social justice goals of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and its commitment to promoting excellence in social work education worldwide. Topics include the recent activities related to the Global Standard of social work education, partnerships and projects such as the development of an E-learning platform and workshops in various countries, and the importance of incorporating an international dimension into social work curricula to address global challenges.

This article analyses regulations and standards that frame social work education and practice across a set of English-speaking countries including the UK, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, as well as the Global Standards for the Education and Training of the Social Work Profession. All documents were keyword searched and also read in their entirety. Religion and belief appear briefly and incoherently and are often deprioritised, unless particularly problematic. There is a common elision of religion, belief and spirituality, often expressed in the designation 'religion/spirituality'. References to religion and belief, and their inclusion and removal, are recognisably subject to debates between policymakers who frame the guidelines. This makes them issues of agency which might themselves benefit from analysis. Religion and belief may frequently be addressed by the use of overarching frameworks such as 'anti-oppressive' or 'anti-discriminatory' practice. Yet, such proxies may prove merely apologetic and result in standards that aim only to establish what is the minimum required. It is hard to argue that religious literacy has been a priority in the English-speaking social work countries, though new law and emerging best practice may make it so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student learning abroad experiences are encouraged to develop students' intercultural understanding and global citizenship. This article reports internationally collaborative research exploring social work student short-term mobility programmes and international field education placements. Findings from interviews with staff from Australian schools of social work are presented. Themes developed from the data explore the establishment and ongoing resourcing and sustainability of international exchange programmes, including implications for risk and safety, relationships and partnerships, and reciprocity. The complex landscape of student international experiences is discussed, and it is proposed that the lack of adequate resourcing of learning abroad opportunities threatens their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underpinned by the Global Standards published for the promotion of quality social work education, and as a benchmark for social work education at national levels, a qualitative content analysis is conducted to explore the alignment of national standards of the Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia regulatory bodies with the Global Standards. A number of equity issues are identified: service users and student participation, student representativeness, indigenous rights and political action, gender and cultural equity, and equitable access. The implications for social work education internationally are considered, including a possibility of the role of the Global Standards in democratizing social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the importance of education as a change agent has not be underestimated. Topics include International Association of Schools of Social Work for regional associations and in collaboration with current and new partners; and the Agenda includes a set of 17 ‘Sustainable Development Goals' to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice.

This research examines the changing climate in UK universities since the introduction of fees-based funding and government-backed student loans. In what is now a highly marketised sector, the study considers what influence this neo-liberal environment may be having on the nature and quality of social work education. The study, which was carried out in 2015–16, has sought the views and experiences of a sample of social work academics. Methods employed involved a combination of survey and unstructured interviews, with both data streams having a largely qualitative focus. Questionnaire data was gathered from seventy-eight UK-based academics alongside eighteen interviews. The study has representation from all four countries in the UK with academics including professors, researchers and lecturers from both new and more established universities. Findings indicate a level of concern among participants regarding the influence of market forces on the academic–student relationship, on processes of student admissions, assessment and specifically academic decision making with regard to failing students. Interview participants describe feeling caught in the middle of competing priorities and agendas. Discussion seeks to employ a transformatory critically reflective model of analysis placing emphasis on those researched and the wider social work community to collectively take forward issues which this study has given voice to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study highlights social work's response to socio-cultural diversity by investigating the reality of multiculturalism in social work curricula vis-a-vis the Global Standards debates. Content analysis technique is used from a transcendental perspective to explore the attributes of multiculturalism in social work curricula via the online directory of the International Association of Schools of Social Work. Each curriculum reflects relative attributes of multiculturalism, identifiable as tenets of the Global Standards - a tool for modeling social work education across cultures. A new theory and a practice model for international social work also emerged from the study, and are proposed for testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an estimated 21.3% of persons aged 15 and older experiencing disability in the USA, social workers will see clients present with disabilities across all practice settings and stages of human development. Yet, the training and terminology of social workers—which often closely aligns with medical professionals—may seem to occur in isolating silos or disciplinary theories. Social work education often views the needs of older adults and people with disabilities as two distinct populations, despite the fact that many of these individuals share similar needs for access, resources, and support. Furthermore, when discussing human development, the focus may skew to individual affective, behavioral, and cognitive processes and indicators of abnormal development and frailty. Thus, by clarifying terminology and applying a social model of disability across the life span, we identify how educational efforts related to human behavior and the social environment can promote intersectional and inclusive social work related to aging and disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Use of self’ was a central concept in social work in the middle of the twentieth century. Since then its emphasis in social work education has declined as more managerial, procedural and task-focused approaches have prevailed. A review of the degree and postgraduate diploma in social work in Scotland, initiated in 2014, incorporated a comparative content analysis of past and present UK National Occupational Standards (NOS) for social work. The analysis revealed many shifts in thinking and practice, including increased emphasis on ‘use of self’ in the 2013 Standards. This paper reports on this finding in the context of the fluctuating positioning of use of self in social work education, and the potential impact of these changes on qualified practice. It concludes that the changing standards reflect increasing interest in social workers’ ability to draw reflectively on ‘self’ in their day to day practice. Some of the drivers and challenges for a renewed focus on relationship-based practice and use of self are identified, as well as the opportunities presented by this review of the degree for evaluating the impact of changing educational policy on day to day social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses the methodology and findings of a qualitative study on the impact of an international social work course in Germany on four American undergraduate social work students. These students participated in a 2-week study abroad experience at a host university located near Berlin in what was formerly East Germany. The authors examined how the 10 core Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) competencies and their associated professional behaviors of the Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards were exhibited in the students’ journals. This was done by having two independent coders review the journals and code the professional behaviors exhibited. Summative data were tabulated on the basis of frequencies of each respective professional behavior included in the study. Results were reported and implications discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dramatic growth in social work education is documented in the International Association of Schools of Social Work’s 2010 census of institutions offering at least one degree program in social work. The census gathered data on program structure, personnel, student enrollment and curriculum from 473 respondents in the five IASSW regions. Half of the respondents reported requiring course content in social work history, values or ethics, and 20 percent of required courses are taught by non-social work educators. The expansion of social work programs is indicative of social work’s untapped potential for delivering social justice content on the international stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The logistics of field practicum in social work education, specifically the number of hours that students are able to complete, have yet to be reported in the literature. Survey results of 199 BSW and 507 MSW students from U.S. and Canadian Schools of Social Work shed light on the extent to which students are meeting hourly field education requirements. Findings indicate that one quarter of students do not anticipate being able to complete the required number of field hours by the end of the semester, and another quarter report not accurately logging their hours. These findings raise important questions about ethical standards and current models of field practicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of social work in any country around the globe has its own context that is significantly different from one environment to another. For example, Walton (Williams, 1975) has identified the role of British women and their contributions as one main factor affecting social work development in the British context along with three other factors: the influence of U.S. trends, international events, and patterns in British social work. The current article has identified a set of different factors affecting the development of social work education in Egypt. These factors are the influence of nongovernmental and private education of social workers, the efforts of the early Egyptian social reformers, political factors, and efforts of social work educators. It is concluded that private social work education, the strong practitioners-established and -led professional organizations, the contributions of indigenous social reformers and the Egyptian people, and the institutional and collective efforts of social work educators are cornerstones of the development of social work education in Egypt. As Watts (1995) said: when social work education in a specific country has been examined, a great deal about social work education elsewhere will be learned. Through comparisons, some fresh ideas on social work education have been gleaned. For example, an idea or program in this specific country could be adapted for use in another country. Other countries could learn from the social work education experiences of Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents an overview of how social work leadership skills can assist field coordinators to implement the signature pedagogy in their schools. Although this call has been made before, no other article has described specific planning steps to implement this initiative. This work fills a distinct void in the literature about this subject. The main assumptions are that (1) schools must adopt and clearly operationalize field education as their signature pedagogy and (2) field coordinators need to lead this initiative. We provide field coordinators and schools with recommendations about how to lead this important and necessary organizational paradigm shift. The article addresses social work leadership, developing a more field-centric curriculum to operationalize the signature pedagogy, shaping a school’s culture to embrace this important and required initiative, and offers suggestions to proactively plan this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping and evaluating a student's progress on placement is a core element of social work education but there has been scant attention to indicate how to effectively create and assess student learning and performance. This paper outlines a project undertaken by the Combined Schools of Social Work to develop a common learning and assessment tool that is being used by all social work schools in Victoria. The paper describes how the Common Assessment Tool (CAT) was developed, drawing on the Australian Association of Social Work Practice Standards, leading to seven key learning areas that form the basis of the assessment of a student's readiness for practice. An evaluation of the usefulness of the CAT was completed by field educators, liaison staff, and students, which confirmed that the CAT was a useful framework for evaluating students' learning goals. The feedback also identified a number of problematic features that were addressed in a revised CAT and rating scale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports the results of a scoping review into the content of the social work qualifying curriculum in England exploring whether recommendations made by the Social Work Task Force and the Social Work Reform Board for an ‘overhaul of the content and the delivery of the qualifying curriculum’ were grounded in published research. The review found that rigorous research-based published evidence about the qualifying social work curriculum was lacking. In particular, most material dated from the early years of the social work degree and did not appear to have been replicated more recently to see if the original findings held true. Other subjects, such as how students are taught about older people's human development, had been considered by researchers but were not addressed by the Task Force and the Reform Board. The implications of this are that, while the content of the social work qualifying curriculum needs to adapt to reflect changing professional contexts, there is a need for greater consensus and clarity about what should be taught and how. The development of an evidence-based curriculum in terms of course content and delivery remains a priority for social work education in England. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Similar trends are occurring in Australian and US social work education, as universities increasingly adopt a rigid market orientation to tertiary education. This marketisation shapes social work education in manifold ways, including the pressure to increase revenues (and effect greater efficiencies) by expanding the size of social work programs. The unregulated growth in social work programs leads to lowered admission standards, as programs are forced to compete for students. An oversupply of social workers will also drive salaries downwards as supply eclipses demand. These issues are examined in the context of a “big” versus a “small” (fewer but more highly trained social workers) model of social work. Emphasis is placed on the lessons that Australian social work educators can learn from the challenges facing US social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]