Today we are going to take a look at different perspectives on social work from around the globe. You will be working in your study group. Choose one person to make notes in the language you prefer. As a group, watch the videos, stop after each video discuss, and make notes on your impressions. Lastly do the study questions at the bottom of the page, and turn in your notes.

Learning outcomes:

Emphasis on the underlined part:

Be able to identify the most common models for the organization and management of welfare services, and the role of the social worker as a health, social policy, and service provider professional.

Introduction, and social work in Norway - University of South-Eastern Norway

In this introduction to social work from an international perspective, you will meet Steinar Vikholt, assistant professor and SocNet98 coordinator from USN, Norway.

Listen to his episode on The Socialpod:

Is social work different from country to country, and do we see any trends in how social work is changing? In this episode, we explore this with perspectives from Austria, Norway, and the USA.

In the studio, we are:

FH-Prof. Mag. Dr. Christian Stark. Head of Studies Social Work Program - University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
Prof. Phu Phan, MSW, PhD. Department Chair - California State University - Dominguez Hills
Assistant Professor Steinar Vikholt International Coordinator - University of South Eastern Norway

Social work in the USA - California State University, Dominguez Hills:

In the USA the education of social workers is both at the bachelor level and at the master's level. In addition to that, there is also an education called human services.

Meka Brown, MA, MS from CSUDH, from the Department of Human Services explains:

Where should the social worker work? In the frontline and "in the trenches" or working with "the worried well"? Listen to Professor Phan from CSUDH:

In addition to this, you can also listen to interviews with social workers working in child welfare services in the US and a social worker who works in the US prison system:

Social work in the US prison system (click to reveal)

Some social workers work more with therapeutic treatment. Listen to Rocío d. Garcías introduction to being a social worker in the US prison system:

Social work in the US Child welfare services (click to reveal)

Some countries have child protection as a special education for social workers, others have it as something you train as after education. Here you can hear Yaneli Díaz from Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles County tell about her work as a Children's Social Worker in the US.

Social work in Spain

Dr. Came Montserrat and Dr. Josan Langarita, both lecturers and researchers of Social Work Education in the Faculty of Education and Psychology at the University of Girona give examples on social work from the Spanish perspective:

Social work in Belgium

Ivette Leten is the international coordinator of social work from PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Belgium:

Study questions:

What examples of social work did you identify most with?
What examples were new for you?
Were there any examples that you thought could be argued not to be social work? Why?
Do you find any common role of being a social worker, regardless of what country you are from?

Note: Turn in your notes from your group work here for the SoWGloW students, and here for the emne 5 students. (Mark them with group number)

Powerpoint for the seminar:

Different perspectives on social work.pdf