Social work education in the post-socialist and post-modern era: the case of Ukraine

Abstract

During the last decade there have been significant changes in social work observed in many post-socialist and post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania, Georgia etc.). The aim of this chapter is to introduce the international social work community to the context of social work developments in transition countries. The specific focus will be on Ukraine as a post-socialist country where social work as a professional project as well as social work education have been established quite recently. Specific consideration is given to the existing post-socialist society’s body of social work knowledge as the key feature of the social work professional project (Weiss-Gal & Welbourne 2008) and social work education. The interplay between political context, public values, social work teacher professionalism and professional practice development is considered.