Transcending disciplinary, professional and national borders in social work education

Abstract

The following contribution addresses the questions: Is social work education prepared to promote the goals of the ‘Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development – Commitment to Action’ presented to the United Nations in Geneva in 2012 by the three international associations (International Association of Schools of Social Work [IASSW], International Federation of Social Workers [IFSW] and International Council on Social Welfare [ICSW])? What changes in education and practice are needed, when social work and social policy are focused on a transnational frame? The starting hypothesis is that the influences of globalisation and world society on social problems cannot be ignored anymore. What does this mean for the organisation of the disciplinary knowledge, the professional mandate and its ethical base in human rights, social justice and democracy? Are they ‘globalisable’? And, as a consequence, how could we overcome the deep dividing line between micro and macro practice? How this could be done is illustrated with two examples: first, the development of social care-chains for the problem of deportation of migrants or asylum-seekers; and second, world-poverty, which requires influencing social cause chains.