Internationalising Social Work Education: Insights from Leading Figures across the Globe, Gurid Aga Askeland and Malcolm Payne

Extract

This revealing text has, at its heart, the stories and perspectives of thirteen figures in the development of social work education internationally over the past fifty years. These academics and educators, from Comoros, the Caribbean, India, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and the UK, are included because they have received the Katherine Kendall Award for distinguished service from the International Association of Schools of Social Work.

Section 1 of the book tells us much about the development of social work education and social work itself, both geographically and over time. Chapter 1 is commended, in particular, to students, practitioners or academics seeking an inspiring and informative contextual overview of the place of social work internationally. Issues and drivers explored include critiques of globalisation, neo-liberalism and professionalisation, and the varied impacts of major events and developments and of the preoccupations of those holding political power. The introductory section goes on to draw some key themes from the interviews with and appraisals of individual award-winners that follow in Section 2.