The European community has gradually taken on a more human face, but although its leaders promote a vision of a social community with improved standards for all it is clear that some people will be excluded or marginalized. This book takes a timely look at the implications for social work in Europe of rapid changes in the EC social agendas. It is increasingly possible to identify common themes and concerns within European countries, such as child protection, the number of people in residential care, and youth unemployment. New issues are also emerging: greater mobility across national boundaries and the need for increased contact and agreed social work responses between European welfare agencies. The book examines the concepts of citizenship, participation and marginalization, at EC and national levels, and discusses their relevance to social work policy and practice. It blends description and explanation with analysis, and clarifies terminology commonly used in European social work but less familiar to a British readership. At a time of change in British social work, and in a climate of increased emphasis on consumer rights, the book examines the different conceptions of social work, particularly in France and Germany, and revives notions of the relevance of prevention and social action. Finally, the authors suggest that the political and social changes in Europe provide a positive opportunity for British social workers to re-examine their aims and methods, and to contribute to shaping a new European social work.

Über zwanzig AutorInnen aus elf Ländern stellen in dem englischsprachigen Band Beiträge zu Biografien von Pionierinnen der Sozialen Arbeit und zu ihrem Einfluss auf die Entwicklung von Organisationen und Strukturen der Wohlfahrtspflege vor.

This contributed volume provides an in-depth overview of current social and socio-political transformations in Europe and their effects on social work and its educational structures. It elucidates these transformations and structures at the individual level of ten different countries and goes on to elaborate a European perspective in this field. Readers gain insight into the variety in social work and its educational structures in Europe and, at the same time, readers receive starting points for the exchange of ideas, collaboration and further development in the individual countries and in Europe. The introduction outlines the current developments and challenges facing social work education in Europe, contextualizing the topics to be covered in the volume. Each chapter offers an individual country profile of social work, including an analysis of typical examples of different traditions of educational models for social work that, collectively, provide insight into an overall "European model of education for social work". The countries selected represent all parts of Europe: Finland Latvia Germany United Kingdom The Netherlands France Italy Croatia Romania Cyprus European Social Work Education: Traditions and Transformations is an essential resource – an up‐to‐date and differentiated inventory of social work education in Europe from a horizontal and vertical perspective – which describes fields of work and approaches that prepare students to practice social work, examines the degree of academization of the discipline and investigates its structures and conditions. Social workers and social work educators, researchers and practitioners will find this an engaging and useful text.

This book explores shifts in international social policies, looking at how they affect national trends and the context for social work practice. It investigates the responsibilities for social welfare held by the state, the market and civil society, elaborating a concept of citizenship-based social work.

How does social work keep its balance between the requirements of its clients and its role as agency of state and society? In the historical analyses from various countries international experts show, how social work has succeeded in keeping those conflicting demands at bay. The contributions look at the historical situations in Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Russia, the former Soviet Union, Switzerland, and former Yugoslavia.

This volume is the first of its kind to discuss social welfare issues using case studies from a broad range of Southern European countries, both large and small, a decade after the financial crisis. It identifies similarities and differences in the ways in which Southern European countries engage with specific welfare issues and examines whether Southern European welfare is distinct from that of the rest of the continent. The book also engages with the impact of COVID-19 on the social welfare issues under investigation. The volume is divided into four sections, each examining in detail issues including employment, education, health, sexuality, globalization, social movements and migration. With its contributions from experts in the field, the volume is recommended for academics, researchers and students of sociology, social policy, economics, education, politics and social movements.

Global social work: crossing borders, blurring boundaries is a collection of ideas, debates and reflections on key issues concerning social work as a global profession, such as its theory, its curricula, its practice, its professional identity; its concern with human rights and social activism, and its future directions. Apart from emphasising the complexities of working and talking about social work across borders and cultures, the volume focuses on the curricula of social work programs from as many regions as possible to showcase what is being taught in various cultural, sociopolitical and regional contexts. Exploring the similarities and differences in social work education across many countries of the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Pacific, the book provides a reference point for moving the current social work discourse towards understanding the local and global context in its broader significance.

This book presents information and ideas about the role and organisation of social workers in selected EC countries particularly, but not exclusively, France and Germany. Comparisons are made of national policies and practice in relation to specific client groups; and new concerns requiring common responses are identified. This discussion is put in the context of an emerging social agenda of the European Community. The authors argue that EC social policies in relation to citizenship, participation and marginalisation are consistent with the aims and concerns of social workers, and relevant to its future development at national and European level.

This contributed volume offers a holistic understanding of social work practice in deprived communities through its thematization of understanding deprived communities globally, the development of competencies for social work practice in and with deprived communities, social work education as a community development tool, and the empowerment of social workers in deprived communities. Inequality as a globally recognized challenge is extensively elaborated within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Agenda program for social work, making this a timely and important contribution to the literature. Deprived communities, used in this book to mean slums, ghettos, favelas, and low-income, remote, underserved, vulnerable, impoverished, underdeveloped, disadvantaged, or less-favoured communities, exist worldwide and are conceptualized under different terms and concepts. For that reason, social work, specifically in deprived areas, is not sufficiently recognized as a specific field of practice within community work. As a result, this volume features contributions that: provide a conceptual clarification of many different terms that are used for describing deprived communities and offer a systematic literature review on community processes and effects on well-being in underdeveloped communities; map different fields of social work involvement in deprived communities with concrete practice examples; and, stress why social work as a profession needs support and how it can be empowered to improve its capacities in deprived communities. With international authorship and perspectives on social work approaches for deprived communities from India, Sub-Saharan Africa, North and Central Europe, and North America, Practicing Social Work in Deprived Communities is an essential resource for social workers, social work educators, and community development practitioners. The text also should be of interest to students of social work, as well as other professionals and researchers working within community development and deprived communities.

Across Europe, there is an intense search for new and sustainable approaches to providing welfare. Demographic change, new social risks and other factors call for new ideas to maintain and enhance the performance and quality of social services and to enable the participation of all citizens in an inclusive society. Against this background, and based on the findings of the EU research platform INNOSERV and empirically obtained research results from text and video material, this book provides insights into current approaches and practices to improve and transform social services.