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Il termine “integrazione” nell’ambito degli studi sulle migrazioni, conosce una pluralità di accezioni, che deriva sia dalla molteplicità di variabili oggettive e soggettive che concorrono alla sua definizione, sia dalla sua interconnessione con i mutamenti politici e culturali costantemente in atto (partecipazione [3], inclusione giuridica, intervento civile e politico, cittadinanza, politiche sociali, convivenza democratica, diritti sociali ecc.). The term "integration" in the field of migration studies has a plurality of meanings, which derives both from the multiplicity of objective and subjective variables that contribute to its definition, and from its interconnection with the political and cultural changes constantly underway (participation [3], legal inclusion, civil and political intervention, citizenship, social policies, democratic coexistence, social rights, etc.).

Due to a significant increase in migration flows to Italy over the last four decades, professional social work in Italy has been confronted with the ‘internationalization of social problems’ (Dominelli 2010) over these forty years. This fast and prolific process of immigration has forced institutions to deal with issues for which our society, policies, and service system, have not been properly prepared. This highlights the need to provide updated training to social workers regarding the ‘trans‐cultural approach’, to facilitate understanding of the meanings and the cultural models and the processes of care and assistance. Despite a substantial and well‐established commitment in the area of reception and integration of migrants, the social work remains characterized by a certain ‘localism’ ‐ i.e., anchorage to a certain delimited territorial context. Breaking away from the local sphere as the one and only sphere of intervention, and encouraging an international practice aimed at stimulating cooperation and the dissemination of respect for human rights, seems to be an experience still reserved for those professionals who are not part of the territorial/local services, this being an enterprising and pioneering choice aimed at experimenting with new practices. Moreover, analysis of national literature on the subject shows that little interest is devoted to the phenomenon of internationalization of social work and the study of this field of intervention in Italy. it is in the field of migration that Italian social work is facing the challenge of an intervention that takes it out of the local dimension of services, and the actual person or local communities, and projects it towards methodological, ethical, and political challenges of a global dimension.

The current landscape of Social Work has certainly changed since the 1980s: the profession enjoys general recognition, an established professional status and a university career that goes as far as a doctorate. The question raised by the profession no longer refers to the search for theoretical models of reference: the current challenges refer to the professional identity of the social worker in a postmodern social and labor context (Folgheriter, 2004) and to the climate of deprivation due to the redefinition of Well-being. In addition, social workers have to reckon with the transformations of social services and the drastic cutback in planning and innovation, due to the reduction in public spending in the social sector (Fazzi, 2010). Above all, as professionals hired in an ever more flexible way, they also experience the negative effects of the precariousness and monetization of social services, despite the fact that, however, they constitute the first point of contact with a public. co increasingly in need of assistance. The liberalization of public goods and the managerial implementation of services, the erosion of universal rights and contractual arrangements of social policy are some of the ongoing transformations involving Italian Welfare. The change is not limited to the alteration of working conditions, to which the services have to adapt; but, above all, it is necessary to examine the fundamental principles that once constituted Well-being, and that are now increasingly uncertain (Nothdufter, 2011). The service system is constantly evolving, especially in recent years, in which events such as earthquakes, pandemics and wars have added to the spread of new forms of poverty and new social and health vulnerabilities, to which Social Work Italian has started to respond and is developing updated roles and functions. El panorama actual del Trabajo Social ha cambiado ciertamente desde los años 80: la profesión goza de un reconocimiento general, de un estatus profesional establecido y de una carrera universitaria que llega hasta al doctorado. La cuestión que se plantea por la profesión ya no se refiere a la búsqueda de modelos teóricos de referencia: los desafíos actuales se refieren a la identidad profesional del trabajador social en un contexto social y laboral postmoderno (Folgheraiter, 2004) y al clima de privación económica debido a la redefinición del Bienestar. Además, los trabajadores sociales tienen que contar con las transformaciones de los servicios sociales y al drástico recorte de la planificación y la innovación, debido a la reducción del gasto público en el sector social (Fazzi, 2010). Sobre todo, como profesionales contratados de forma siempre más flexibles, viven tam- bién los efectos negativos de la precarización y la monetización de los servicios socia- les, a pesar de que, sin embargo, constituyan el primer punto de contacto con un públi- co cada vez más necesitado de asistencia. La liberalización de los bienes públicos y la implementación gerencial de los servicios, la erosión de los derechos universales y los arreglos contractuales de la política social son algunas de las transformaciones en curso que involucran al Bienestar italiano. El cambio no se limita a la alteración de las con- diciones de trabajo, a las que los servicios tienen que adaptarse; sino que, sobre todo, hay que examinar los principios fundamentales que antaño constituían el Bienestar, y que ahora son cada vez más inciertos (Nothdufter, 2011). El sistema de servicios está en constante evolución, sobre todo en los últimos años, en los que sucesos como terremo- tos, pandemias y guerras se han sumado a la propagación de nuevas pobrezas y nuevas vulnerabilidades sociales y sanitarias, a las que el Trabajo Social italiano ha empezado a responder y está desarrollando papeles y funciones actualizados.

The pandemic crisis has, on the one hand exacerbated the fragility of many Italian families, but on the other hand it has also reconfirmed the remarkable resilience of family relationships, with families having once again shown that they know how to react to the strong and rapid changes caused by the emergency, with an equally strong and rapid response capacity. As is well known, one of the pillars on which the Italian welfare system is based is family welfare, i.e. the set of caregiving and mutual support practices implemented within family relationships that make it possible to compensate for the shortcomings of public welfare in terms of both cash and in-kind support. Actually, the “familist” model, beyond the “amoral” face painted by Banfield, represents an indispensable resource for Italian welfare: families have been forced to find (and most times they have succeeded) compensatory mediations to the often dissimilar and contradictory requests that the institutions have made to the various categories of citizens. [...], Italian Sociological Review, V. 12 N. 6S (2022)

International social work is a field of professional practice that is widespread in various countries around the world, yet still little explored in the literature and little known as a specific field of action. Exploring its definition and its possible applications in practice, starting from the analysis of a social work case study within an international project, aims to encourage the consolidation of a flexible, inclusive and plural thinking and method, necessary both for social workers working abroad, or in international exchange projects, and for those working with foreign users, offering the opportunity to broaden horizons and at the same time to strengthen the roots of the profession.

The use of mediation as a tool to promote social coexistence remains today a "non-ordinary" social action strategy, which is often activated more to prevent or resolve conflicts than to meet the needs of different communities. However, the experience of social and/or commission mediation services in different parts of the world have proven effective in generating social relationships through the offer of participation spaces; participation which, therefore, goes beyond the assumption of responsibility on the part of the citizen with regard to his own conflicts, and the openness to the search for solutions in relation to conflict, to become space and opportunity for the citizen to know and recognize the Other for himself, to open himself to a relationship that transcends conflict and which can also build sharing of belonging and, therefore, the community. El uso de la mediación como herramienta para promover la convivencia social sigue siendo hoy una estrategia de acción social "no ordinaria", que a menudo se activa más para prevenir o resolver conflictos, que para atender las necesidades de diferentes comunidades. Sin embargo, la experiencia de los servicios de mediación social y/o comuitaria en distintas partes del mundo han demostrado eficacia al generar relaciones sociales a través de la oferta de espacios de participación; participación que, por lo tanto, va más allá de la asunción de responsabilidad por parte del ciudadano con respecto a sus propios conflictos, y la apertura a la búsqueda de soluciones en relación con el conflicto, para convertirse en espacio y oportunidad para que el ciudadano conozca y reconozca al Otro por sí mismo, abrirse a una relación que trasciende el conflicto y que también puede construir compartir la pertenencia y, por lo tanto, la comunidad.

La crisi pandemica ha avuto un impatto diretto e indiretto nella sfera di azione dei servizi sociali. La gestione della emergenza causata dal Covid-19, nelle diverse fasi in cui è articolata, ha coinvolto i professionisti dei servizi sociali in un contesto in cui, per la prima volta, una situazione di trauma e di crisi a livello collettivo (Aydin, 2017) ha investito l’intero territorio nazionale, comportando sfide senza precedenti in Italia dopo la Seconda guerra mondiale. Insieme allo spiazzamento iniziale, la pandemia ha reso ancora più evidenti le disuguaglianze e le ingiustizie sociali, ha investito direttamente i servizi sociosanitari, le relazioni tra i cittadini e tali sistemi, le comunità, il ruolo dei professionisti, in un clima caratterizzato da incertezza, ritardi nella organizzazione di risposte istituzionali adeguate, disinformazione e circolazione di notizie false. In risposta a questo stato di cose, il confronto tra professionisti e studiosi diventa la strada per dare un senso all’emergenza sanitaria e sociale in corso e a pianificare il futuro. The pandemic crisis has had a direct and indirect impact in the sphere of action of social services. The management of the emergency caused by Covid-19, in the different phases in which it is articulated, involved social services professionals in a context in which, for the first time, a situation of trauma and crisis at a collective level (Aydin, 2017) affected the entire national territory, entailing unprecedented challenges in Italy after the Second World War. Together with the initial unseath, the pandemic has made inequalities and social injustices even more evident, it has directly affected social and health services, relations between citizens and such systems, communities, the role of professionals, in a climate characterized by uncertainty, delays in the organisation of adequate institutional responses, disinformation and the circulation of false news. In response to this state of affairs, the comparison between professionals and scholars becomes the way to make sense of the ongoing health and social emergency and to plan for the future.

The number of unaccompanied minors (Uams) arriving in Italy, and in all parts of Europe, has been rising significantly in the last few years, and constitutes a particular phenomenon that has demanded considerable re-organization of the welcoming system and, more generally, the welfare system. The organization of a dedicated welcoming system was established over a certain period of time, through an approach of adaptation and experimentation. The first interventions were characterized by a continuous state of emergency, which prevented effective activation of programmed action. This critical situation still exists in certain Regions up to the present day. Despite the recent development of a national welcoming model, there are still significant differences in their application in local contexts, from which there emerges an overall picture of rather fragmentary and fluctuating interventions that depend on local variations as regards both access to resources and Regional social policies. Ever since this phenomenon started to grow, the functions of protecting and safeguarding minors on the part of the Italian state have been integrated with numerous organizations working in the field of safeguard of minors and immigrants; these have given their contribution to tackling emergency situations and the growing problems of taking charge of the Uams.

Gli alunni stranieri non accompagnati costituiscono un universo eterogeneo che rappresenta una sfida per la governante dei processi formativi. Da qui la scelta di offrire uno spaccato sull'inserimento formativo dei MSNA nei contesti locali, attraverso una ricognizione delle rilevazioni svolte in realtà del Nord, Centro e Sud Italia. Unaccompanied foreign pupils constitute a heterogeneous universe which represents a challenge for the governing of educational processes. Hence the choice to offer an insight into the training insertion of MSNA in local contexts, through a survey of the surveys carried out in reality in Northern, Central and Southern Italy.