Educating social workers without boundaries through the Intercultural Social Intervention Model (ISIM)

Abstract

Some innovative and replicable aspects about the main contents of one educational program for social workers in Spanish are presented. The program is based on the critical analysis of implicit models and the development of intercultural competences. Our Intercultural Social Intervention Model (ISIM) is the central axis (theoretical and practical) of the educational program, which is used and inspired by other practice theoretical models and perspectives from the south and the north: concientización or consciousness raising model, anti-oppressive model, empowerment and advocacy model, and the transformative mediation model; though adapted to multicultural realities with more complexity and diversity than those in which the mentioned models developed. It is an international postgraduate program which is open to final-year bachelor students of social work. The program combines remote instruction (off-line and online activities) and on-campus activities (face-to-face online classes and workshops, practices in the field, collaborative groups, etc.).