Global Perspectives in Social Work

Objective

Learning objectives/outcomes: The aim of the course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the impact of global perspectives for local social work practice, which is a basic competency in international social work professional education.
On completion of the course students will gain:
•knowledge of the theoretical concepts essential for the analysis of the local global context of practice
•a critical understanding of a shared profession and the structures and standards of international social work
•knowledge of sustainable development goals (SDG) and opportunities for transnational practice
•knowledge of human rights, inequality, and power relations as a basis of structural social work
•understanding of mass migration and superdiversity and the implications for critical intercultural practice and policy.

Content

Finnish social work education seeks to prepare students for employment within communities and human and welfare services across Finland, Europe and internationally. Essential knowledge for achieving this aim involves an understanding of the global context of professional practice (Sosnet 2006; IFSW & IASSW, 2020). The reality is that people’s lives increasingly transcend national boundaries and global events shape local realities. Social work structures, problems and interventions are no longer located and contained within local and national boundaries. Theorist such as Dominelli (2004), Ife (2010) and Akimoto (2008) have outlined the consequences of globalization on local contexts, including mass migration, superdiversity, universal human rights, growing poverty and inequality, issues of environmental sustainability, digital transformation, disaster and crisis preparedness, indigenous rights, and transnationalism, on the profession of social work. These issues are explored through emerging global perspectives in social work (i.e. structuralism, post humanism, transnationalism, multiculturalism, decolonisation, and comparative analysis).