UNIT 3 GLOBAL SCENARIO OF SOCIAL

WORK EDUCATION
By Joselyn Lobo*

Introduction
Social Work education developed at the end of the 19th century out of social agencies
concerns about improving the quality of services for poor and dependent people. Human
problems were perceived as being more complex than what had been previously believed.
By the end of the century, conviction was growing that educational programmes were
necessary to ensure the continuity of services and supply a cadre of trained agents.
(Frumking & Lloyd, 1995).
The thrust of this paper is to provide an overview of social work education around the
world by tracing its historical roots and its emergence as a professional discipline. It
also focuses on the current trends, such as the role of continuing education programme
and the use of electronic technology in social work education. Before going into social
work education, let us get a glimpse of how social work emerged as a profession.
Social Work as a Profession
Social work is a professional discipline today. Social work in its various forms addresses
the complex transactions between people and their environments. Its mission is to enable
people to enrich their lives and develop their full potential. Social work is an interrelated
system of values, theories and practices.
Education for the profession requires a fundamental understanding of human needs,
social problems, social welfare responses, and professional interventions. It is a field of
study that has uniquely blended perspectives from other disciplines, particularly the
biological and social sciences, with its own knowledge and skills.
Emergence of Social Work as a Profession
Social work as a profession emerged from the charity orientation of the Church to the
States role in public welfare. The decreasing authority of the Church and the increasing
tendency to shift responsibility to governmental authorities gave rise in England to a
series of measures, which culminated in the famous Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601.
The movements and organisations, which originated in Great Britain, were replicated in
the United States when the English colonizers settled in the New World. The early
movements, which ushered in the social work profession, were the Charity Organisation
Society (COS), the Settlement House Movement and the Child Welfare Movement.
The beginning of professional approach to the problems of human need can be seen in
the philosophy of COS movement. The scientific charity attitude adopted by the
COS enabled them to understand and cure poverty and family disorganisation rather
than merely assisting the poor. Many of the basic principles and methods upon which
social work rests today are a direct offshoot from the Societies and movements.
In the 1890s, there was a felt need and a strong desire among COS personnel for
granting professional status to social work. Among the many reasons, which contributed
towards professionalism, are:
___________________________
* Roshini Nilaya, Mangalore.

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1)

First, professionalisation was a major trend during that era. Medicine and
engineering had demonstrated the wonders that could occur when science was
applied to practical problems through the vehicle of a profession.

2)

Second, most COS workers were individuals who needed to earn a living; they
were interested in establishing their work as deserving a decent wage. This goal
could be achieved by gaining recognition as professionals.

3)

Third, a new class of women, who were well educated and wanted careers outside
the home, was emerging. Developing charity work into a full-fledged profession,
in which they would not be blocked because of their sex, was a good strategy.

4)

Fourth, paid charity workers as well as volunteers were discovering the immense
complexity of the task they were facing. Helping people deal with social problems
like family breakdown and poverty was as complicated as those performed by
physicians or lawyers. Poorly educated persons were failures as charity workers.

It is on account of the above mentioned reasons that by the late 1890s, a powerful
movement to develop training and research centers as well as to train and equip people
doing charity work gained momentum.
Flexners Remarks on Professional Status
The question of whether social work is in fact a profession has challenged social workers
for nearly a century. Social works professional status was evaluated by Abraham Flexner
in 1915, and his conclusion has reverberated among social workers ever since.
Flexners speech, Is Social Work a Profession?, delivered at the 1915 meeting of the
Baltimore Conference on Charities and Correction, was an event of utmost significance.
Flexner, a noted expert on professional education, delineated six attributes that he
called earmarks of a profession. According to Flexner,
Professions involve essentially intellectual operations with large individual responsibility,
derive their raw material from science and learning, this material they work up to a
practical and definite end, possess an educationally communicable technique, tend to
self-organisation, and are becoming increasingly altruistic in motivation.
Flexner concluded that as of 1915, social work was not yet a profession on account of
the following:
a)

Because social work mediated between other professions, it did not have the
responsibility or power of a true profession.

b)

While social work drew its body of knowledge, facts, and ideas from both the
laboratory and seminars, it was not founded on a purposefully organised educational
discipline.

c)

It did not possess the high degree of specialised competency required by a

profession, because of the broad scope that characterised social work practice at
that time.

Flexner, however, acknowledged the rapid evolution of a professional selfconsciousness, recognised that social work was in the beginning stages of
professionalisation, and praised the altruistic motivation of social workers and their
devotion to well-doing.

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Since the time Flexner publicly proclaimed the non-professional status of social work,
there has been an earnest quest for professional status. The subsequent flurry of activity

included expanding the number of schools of social work, forming a professional

accreditation body, standardizing educational curricula and advocating training for all
social workers.

Global Scenario of
Social Work Education

Greenwoods Model
Ernest Greenwoods (1957) classic article, Attributes of a Profession, provides another
landmark in the evolution of the professional status of social work. Greenwood canvassed
the sociological literature on occupations and came to the conclusion that there are five
distinguishing attributes of a profession: (1) systematic theory, (2) authority, (3) community
sanction, (4) ethical codes, and (5) a culture. Using his model, Greenwood contended
that social work is already a profession. He noted,
Social work is already a profession; it has too many points of congruence with the
model to be classifiable otherwise. Social work is, however, seeking to rise within the
professional hierarchy, so that it, too, might enjoy maximum prestige, authority, and
monopoly, which presently belong to a few top professions.
Present Status
Establishing or expanding social service to raise standards of living and improve wellbeing of the people has been the concern of most countries in every part of the world
since the World Wars. A United Nations study (by Kendall, 1950) on social work
training in the world noted that social welfare, social service or social work is a dynamic
activity (Desai, 1993).
Today Social work has established itself as a profession across the globe and social
work education has many faces across the six continents. While some consider social
work as an emerging profession, many stress that it is a recognized profession. The
United States Census Bureau considers the social worker as a professional along with
18 other professionals, which include the attorney, clergyman, engineer, physician and
the teacher.
International Definition of Social Work
Before going into the history and nature of social work education, let us note the
international definition of social work, jointly agreed by the International Association
of Schools of Social Work and the International Federation of Social Workers at
Copenhagen.
The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human
relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being.
Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the
points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and
social justice are fundamental to social work. (IASSW & IFSW, 2001).
Let us now look at the emergence of social work education right from its origins in
Europe to its spread throughout the globe.
Social Work Education: Historical Perspective
Social work education is a phenomenon of the 20th century. Society expects that the
work of helping people with personal and social problems must be handled with
professional competence and accountability.
The roots of social work education can be traced to their international beginnings in
Britain and some countries in Europe towards the end of the 19th century. From Europe,
the profession spread to United States, Africa, Asia and South America.

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Origins in Europe
Social work education evolved from the work of the Victorians in London who
attempted to develop models of charity work and the first two-year full-time teaching
in social work as early as 1899 in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Institute of Social
Work Training is credited to be the first two-year training programme with theory
and practice.
Though the very first school of social work was in Netherlands, the real beginnings of
social work education can be found in Octavia Hills training of volunteers in housing
management and friendly visiting in the 1970s. She worked in the slum neighbourhoods
of London and initially trained volunteers and later full-time workers. John Ruskin, an
art critic, encouraged Octavia Hill in her work and financed her activities.
The Barnetts, who founded Tonybee Hall for men, were not interested in training. Hence,
the initiative for training activities was taken by the womens settlements, foremost among
them being the Womens University Settlement established in 1887 in London by women
graduates of Oxford and Cambridge. The training pioneered by this group evolved into
organised courses, and ultimately, into professional education for social work.
Another noteworthy beginning in Europe was the one-year training course in social
work for young women, initiated in Germany by Alice Salomon in 1899. Salomon, one
of the founders of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, was an
outstanding leader in social work education and womens rights. Her course in 1903
became the Alice Salomon School of Social Work, which was, for many years, the
accepted model for social work education in Germany.
The beginning, thus, made in Britain at the close of the 19th century, developed into
organised education for social work in Continental Europe and North America early in
the 1900s and somewhat later in other continents.
North America
The first step in the effort to establish charity work as a profession was the establishment
of training schools. Many writers, notably Anna Dawes (1893) and Mary Richmond
(1897), argued in their published articles the need for education and training of personnel
and the development and systemization of the accumulated knowledge and expertise
gained by social workers.
The Summer School of Philanthropy, a six week long program, the sponsorship of the
New York Charity Organization Society, which began in 1989, was a pioneering effort
at formal professional education. The program consisted of lectures, visits to public and
private charitable agencies, and supervised fieldwork. In 1903, the program was
expanded to include a six-month winter course in 1904; it was extended to one full year
as the New York School of Philanthropy. Later, it became the New York School of
Social Work and since 1962, the Columbia University School of Social Work.
Other cities, namely, Chicago (Chicago Institute of Social Service, 1903), Boston (School
of Social Workers, 1904), Missouri and Philadelphia, quickly followed New Yorks
lead and established professional schools for the training of charity workers.

34

It must be mentioned that there were many African American pioneers in social work
whose work is generally not recognized in social work education. With many predating the formal establishment of social work as a profession, these pioneers in social
welfare include: Harriet Ross Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ellen Craft and Catherine
(Kathy) Ferguson, all of whom were born into slavery.

Ferguson (1774-1854) started the first Sunday school in New York City, and her
home became a school for poor African American and white children in 1793. She
operated the Murray Street Sabbath School for 40 years. (Leashore, 2001)

Global Scenario of
Social Work Education

Other Continents
In later years, the pioneering efforts of Europe and US spread to South America,
Africa, Asia and Australia.
a) South America
In South America, two remarkable men, Dr. Rene Sand of Belgium and Dr. Alejandro
del Rio of Chile, launched the first school in 1925. Both were physicians, pioneers in
social medicine and social welfare. The School, later renamed the Alejandro del Rio
School of Social Work, offered a two-year programme. The curriculum was heavily
weighted with subjects and field placements related to health. As the School flourished,
many of its graduates became the pioneers of social work education throughout Latin
America.
b) Africa
In South Africa, schools patterned on the British model were established since 1924.
The first institution was a three-year diploma at the Cape Town and Transvaal University
College. The first degree course was established at the University of Stellenbosch in
1932.
The early South Africa schools, with a few exceptions, were admitting only white
students. The first school to qualify non-white students as social workers is the Jan H.
Hofmeyr School of Social Work, established by the YMCA in Johannesburg in 1947.
Hofmeyr, a philanthropist and a member of Parliament, and Dr. Ray Phillips, a missionary,
were responsible for establishing the school. Many graduates of the school, of whom
Winnie Mandela is one, work in government, political and social welfare agencies.
c) Asia
The first institution to be established in Asia was the Department of Sociology and
Social Work, Yenching University in 1922. It was a four-year course with a Bachelor
of Arts degree. However, it did not survive the Communist revolution and, therefore,
was suspended.
Hence, the credit for starting the first school of social work in Asia goes to the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, which was established in 1936 and became a university in
1964. Clifford Manshardt, an American missionary from Chicago, established the
Nagpada Neighborhood House in Bombay and later collaborated with the Sir Dorabji
Tata Trust in housing the school in his institution and becoming its first Director. His
collaborator, Dr. J.M. Kumarappa, a well-known educator with MA and PhD degrees
from Columbia University, later followed as the first Indian Director of the Institute.
The one difference, on account of historical reasons, from the American and British
pattern, is that Indian schools of social work include Labour Welfare and Personnel
Management courses as well.
Schools of social work in the Asian Region, by and large, operate at graduate level,
function within university frameworks, which are, in turn, part of the larger governmental
and related bureaucracies (Rao, 1993.)
d) Australia
Australia initially developed a social work tradition, largely derivative of UK and USA
models, and has only lately developed more indigenous theory, practice and publication.

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The first social work training institutes, numbering five, were established outside
universities prior to World War II (between 1929 and 1937), in the cities of Sydney,
Melbourne and Adelaide. These first schools offered general social work training via a
two-year undergraduate course and a one-year medical social work specialization,
which could be taken after the general training. The early leaders of these programs
were largely British women trained in medical and psychiatric social work.
In Australia, the practice of social work is largely carried out under government auspice
and to a lesser degree under non-government (voluntary) and religious auspice.
Approximately two thirds of social workers are employed by federal and state
government social service agencies, while the remaining one third is employed in a
variety of non-government and religious organisations.
After glancing through the origins of social work education in the different continents, it
is essential to get a fair idea of the situation of social work education as it appears
today.
Social Work Education: Present Scenario
Social Work Education in the United States, frequently referred to as the HollisTaylor report (1951), was a landmark study of social work education. The report
influenced the social work curriculum throughout the following decade and inspired the
creation of the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) in 1952. CSWE is the only
national organisation that represents both baccalaureate and masters level social work
education.
Curriculum concerns were explored by CSWEs extensive Social Work Curriculum
Study (1959), also referred to as the Boehm study. The Boehm study was instrumental
in refocusing attention on group work, community organisation, administration, and
research.
Curriculum Policy Statement (CPS)
The 1984 Curriculum Policy Statement (CPS) maintained a traditional stance on the
discretion of programs to design courses, while requiring that five areas be covered
and designated as the professional foundation:
l

Human behavior and the social environment,

Social welfare policy and services,

Social work practice,

Research, and

Field practicum.

The CPS specified that social work education at the masters level, which prepares
students for advanced practice, should include the professional foundation and one or
more concentrations.
The recent versions of the baccalaureate and masters level CPSs (1994 CPS) strongly
emphasize social work educations commitment to prepare competent and effective
social work professionals, who are committed to practice that includes services to the
poor and oppressed, and who work to alleviate, poverty, oppression, and
discrimination. (CSWE 1994).
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In his book, the Essential Social Worker: A Guide to Positive Practice, Martin
Davies (1985) notes that social work education is now strengthening its syllabus in the

teaching of practice skills, and there are already signs that the emphasis on some aspects
of the social sciences will have to be reduced. He notes the four spheres of knowledge
that are more relevant and that are essential for a social worker.
1)

Skills in social work practice,

2)

A knowledge of relevant law,

3)

A sound and up-to-date knowledge of welfare rights, and

4)

A sensitivity to and knowledge of the local conditions within which the agency
operates.

Global Scenario of
Social Work Education

If these sphere are covered, and if they are combined with good sense, strength of
personality, intelligence, flexibility and experience of human relations in general, the
good social work will be guaranteed, whether or not the practitioner is able to lay claim
to being a social scientist as well (Davies, 1985).
Levels of Social Work Education
Social work education mainly encompasses undergraduate, masters and doctoral degree
programs.
Baccalaureate Programms
The major objective of baccalaureate programs is to prepare students for professional
practice. These programs may also prepare students for advanced study in social work
and provide service courses on social work concerns and methods.
Programs vary in format, but a program of two years of liberal arts study, followed by
two years of study in the social work major, is typical. In addition to study in the
foundation curriculum, each student must complete a field practicum of at least 400
clock hours.
Masters Degree Programs
The chief objective of masters level education is to prepare students for advanced
practice. Masters degree programs provide the professional foundation courses needed
by students who enter them without baccalaureate degrees in social work and avoid
the duplication of foundation content for graduates of baccalaureate social work
programs.
The two-year format for graduate education is typical, although there are variations.
The first year is usually given over to the foundation curriculum and a field practicum,
and the second year includes an advanced concentration and field practicum. The CPS
requires at least 900 hours of field practicum.
Doctoral Programs
Doctoral programs in social work are not accredited by CSWE, but are reviewed by
their respective educational institutions. They usually present a central objective of
advanced preparation for research or teaching.
The doctoral program in social work has as its primary objective the preparation and
development of selected professional social workers for leadership positions. The aims
of the doctoral program are to enable students to:
1)

develop and demonstrate their capacities as social work scholars and to acquire
the requisite knowledge, background, and skill to teach, conduct research, write
and speak with authority about social work; and

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2)

achieve an advanced understanding of the methods employed in social work

practice and of the broad range of social welfare services, and to study the social
and behavioral sciences and to assess their relevance to social work practice.

Field Practicum
Social work education has developed within the context of agencies and agency practice.
The application of classroom learning in agency or field practicum settings has been a
characteristic of social work education throughout its history.
Most graduate schools operate on the concurrent plan, wherein they offer academic
classes and field work training simultaneously. Several schools use the block plan, which
provides for academic training at the beginning of the total program, followed by intensive
five-day-a-week field instruction for several months, and finally culminates in additional
academic seminars and other integrative instructional activities. Nearly all of the health
and welfare agencies are utilized for field instruction, including psychiatric, medical,
school, correctional, settlement, public welfare, child welfare, and group work agencies.
Accreditation
Establishing standards and monitoring the performance of programs has been an
important aspect of social work education since 1972. Accreditation is the core function
of CSWE. The CSWE president appoints the Commission on Accreditation (COA), a
semiautonomous unit of CSWE that succeeded AASSW in this capacity. It is
empowered to accredit both baccalaureate and masters programs by the Council on
Regulating Postsecondary Accreditation (COPRA).
Continuing Education
The 1960s and early 1970s saw a growth in the scope of continuing education efforts
in social work. Continuing education workshops, short courses, and seminars are offered
by many social work programs to help practitioners refresh or refine skills or learn
about developing practice methods and problem areas.
The bachelors degree practitioner looks ahead to movement along the continuum.
Continuing education fulfils the need of developing skills and meeting new challenges.
The masers degree holder, who understands the knowledge explosion, insures against
obsolescence by continuing education.
Continuing education programs are offered directly through social work programs or
schools or in conjunction with university divisions of continuing education. Content
from either baccalaureate or graduate curricula may be offered in a continuing education
format to paraprofessionals or people who are preparing to enter professional education.
In some states, participation in continuing education on a regular basis is tied to job
promotions and salary increases.
Social work is an open and ever-changing system. Continuing education makes it possible
for workers to update their knowledge and skill, acquire new knowledge, advance on
the job, and to prepare for new roles and responsibilities.
Social Work Education and Information Technology
The present era has been variously described as the Information age Telecommunications revolution and computer revolution in view of the rapid and radical
developments in information technology. The technological developments have had a
significant impact on higher education, including social work education.

38

The basic function of higher education is the transmission of knowledge. Todays teachers
have at their disposal, along with traditional tools of chalkboard, books and paper, a

wide variety of electronic tools to assist them in the transmission of knowledge. Higher
education in general and social work education in particular have been slow to take
advantage of the technological developments that have occurred during the information
revolution. In recent years, however, most schools of social work have responded to
these technological developments in two main ways:
1)

First, schools have responded by including in their curricula content related to

information technology, such as the use of computers for research purposes, in
agency administration, and in client assessment.

2)

Secondly schools of social work have responded to the information revolution is

by using new technologies to facilitate and enhance teaching.

Global Scenario of
Social Work Education

Technologies may be classified into three groups:

l

Computer applications,

Computer networks, and

Distance education technologies.

i) Computer Applications
Computer applications are an integral feature of the information revolution of the 20th
century and have had a significant impact on the delivery of social work education.
Object-oriented programs enable users to accomplish a wide variety of tasks relevant
to social work education, such as word processing, statistical analysis, budge writing,
and database development.
Interactive computer applications provide extremely useful tools to facilitate the
teaching and learning process in social work education. Types of interactive computer
applications include hypertext, hypermedia, multimedia, and interactive video discs. All
of the types of interactive computer applications can be used to teach social work
students course-specific knowledge, skills, and values content.
ii) Computer Networks
Computer networks are a collection of computers that are electronically linked and
allow free flow of information. They have revolutionized the way information is delivered
in government, business, and educational institutions, including schools of social work.
Computers can be linked in a small work environment as peer-to-peer networks or
as local area networks (LANs). A LAN can include an academic department, a college,
or an entire university. A Wide Area Network (WAN) is an extension of a LAN and
connects computers within large geographical areas. A WAN can include several cities,
countries and states in a large regional network.
The Internet is the largest computer network in the world. This mammoth network
connects many of the worlds LANs and WANs. The beauty of the Internet is its ability
to accommodate a wide variety of different operating systems used by LANs. The
connectivity of the Internet means that a multitude of divers communications systems
can transfer information flawlessly within the internet environment.
Database and Other Information Resources
Information from databases and other sources can be accessed from the home or
office. University card catalogues have been placed on-line, so that students and faculty
can use computer networks to access the library.

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The WWW provides a multitude of databases and information resources and includes
a variety of indexes, reference lists, governments resources, on-line journals, and
searching capabilities (called search engines).
The Social Work Access Network (SWAN) is owned and maintained by the University
of South Carolina College of Social Work. The resource, located on the WWW, functions
as a sort of electronic yellow pages for social work and contains a wide variety of
resources that are catalogued by topic area (University of South Carolina, 1996).
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail, popularly known as e-mail, provides another means of using computer
networks in teaching social work education. E-mail involves the use of computer
networks to write and forward messages, papers, reports, assignments, or other textbased information.
E-mail can enhance teaching and learning in a variety of ways. Although e-mail is a
generic tool, it can be used for course-specific exercises. For example, course exercises
can be submitted to the teacher via e-mail, and the teacher can provide feedback to the
students via this medium.
Listserv Servers
Listserv servers (commonly called listserv) provide a means of transferring ongoing
information among people with a common interest. E-mail is used to send and receive
messages from other people who are members of the listserv.
A wide variety of listservs are useful in social work education. The best-known listserv
for social work is SOCWORK. This listserv was developed to provide social workers
a forum through which to effectively communicate professional concerns and share
information across wide geographic boundaries.
iii) Distance Education Technologies
Whereas the traditional mode of education in social work involves the teacher and the
learner interacting within the same classroom, recent developments in telecommunication
technology have made it possible for the two to be miles apart.
Distance education refers to any formal approach to learning in which a majority of the
instruction occurs while educator and learner are at a distance form one another (Verduin
& Clark, 1991).
Computer-Assisted and Computer-Mediated Distance Education
The advent of computer assisted distance education has enhanced the interactivity of
learning process. There are six modes of computer-assisted instruction that can be
used effectively for distance education purposes: drill and practice, tutorial, gaming,
simulation, discovery, and problem solving.
Distance education can also be delivered through computer-mediated education
technologies that facilitate learning like the use of facsimile, networks, electronic mail,
computer conferencing, and other electronic delivery systems.
Audio and Video Communication Systems

40

Recent developments in audio and video communications (AVC) technology have also
made it possible for students at remote locations to engage in live interaction with the
teacher and other students in real time.

This interaction can be achieved through several ways: (1) two-way audio system with
no video, (72) two-way audio and one-way video, and (3) two-way audio and twoway video interaction. The technologies used to deliver these interactions include
telephone lines satellite, cable television, and interactive compressed video (ICV)
systems.

Global Scenario of
Social Work Education

Role of Social Work Educators in the Era of Information Technology

The biggest challenge facing social work educators will be defining their roles in terms
of a new pedagogy. The role of the instructor imparting information to students in a
traditional classroom setting will no longer suffice. The educator and the student may
be apart from each other in both time and space during the teaching-learning process.
In the new education era, the role of the social work teacher will include:
1)

acting as a facilitator to suggest actions and research implications;

2)

updating information to make current research findings and literature available to

the students;

3)

identifying and discussing with the students new technological possibilities and
obstacles;

4)

serving as an information navigator to help students in their search for information

through computer applications and networks ( Resnick, 1996).

Towards International Social Work Education

Social work has a distinguished history of professional involvement in the international
community. Since inception, for example, the profession assisted in the resettlement of
refugees and other persons displaced by war, operated emergency field relief services
for victims of disasters; and actively advocated for the rights and protection of
disadvantaged population groups.
The social work professionbecause of its unique history, knowledge, value, and
skill baseis particularly qualified to provide leadership on critical international issues.
Certainly, social workers of the future will continue to occupy significant national and
international leadership positions (Estes,1992).
Moreover, global problems, such as poverty, international debt, massive migrant and
refugee movement and environmental damage require multi-dimensional and
comprehensive approaches (Rao,1993).
Internationalizing Social Work Education
Within social work, the need to internationalize programs of professional education is
being increasingly recognized. In other words, there is a need to prepare graduate and
undergraduate students for the complexities of practice in an increasingly interdependent
world. The source of the professions renewed commitment to the international
dimensions of its practice are rooted in two parallel developments.
1)

profound social, political, and economic changes that are occurring throughout
the world, and

2)

the fundamental changes that are occurring within social work, concerning the
nature and scope of its practice within an international perspective.
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The Framework for International Social Work Education

Within the profession, the desire for increased attention to the international dimensions
of social work practice is being reinforced by:
l

The increasingly more international nature of social work practice in the United
States (eg., with clients of diverse national, ethnic, religious, social and cultural
backgrounds) with the persons from other countries;

The professions recognition that social work knowledge, values, and skills have
much to offer in finding sustainable solutions to worldwide social problems;

The existence of an expanding international social welfare infrastructure; and

The increasing numbers of professional social workers engaged in international

practice.

The late Daniel Sanders also clearly articulated the importance of international education.
Sanders remarked that an international/cross-cultural social welfare education has the
potential of broadening students horizons to an awareness of other cultures, socioeconomic and political systems, and diverse approaches in dealing with social problems.
Besides, an international/cross-cultural emphasis helps not only to understand and
appreciate divers cultures from other countries, but also to understand and gain added
insights into ones own countrys ideologies, values, cultural groups, and pattern. In
addition, programs of education for international social welfare stimulates possible
collaboration between countries in social work education, practice, and research.
Conclusion
Social work knowledge has proliferated in the US as part of efforts to attain
professionalisation in social work. Since Flexners statement in 1915 that social work
failed to meet this test of professionalism, a great impetus was given to knowledge
building in social work in the United States. Further, there is heavy dependence on
American social work knowledge all through the world.
Social work education in developing countries is based on the Western model. In other
words, the American urban models of education are adapted to countries that are
primarily rural in character. The liberal values and beliefs of American society that have
shaped the professions orientation of self reliance and self determination may not fit
into the cultural ethos of many countries and, therefore, not acceptable to them.
The problem is of adapting knowledge developed in one context and fitting it or using
it in another context/country. Indigenous social work knowledge is a must for indigenous
social work education and professional practice. Hence, there is the need for countryspecific strategies by social work profession.
The challenge to social work and social education, today, is to hold on to its beliefs and
values, remain flexible to changing times and to stand up for social justice and human
rights.
REFERENCES
Deveis, Martin (1985), The Essential Social Worker: A Guide to Positive Practice
2nd ed. Liverpool Wildwood House Limited.

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