Global Mindedness in International Social Work Practice

Janet Carter Anand, Chaitali Das

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781137362087
• eBook ISBN: 9781350313361
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

International' social work is too often used as a bolt on subject which considers 'others' outside the 'national' framework. Instead this book encourages readers to embrace the concept of 'globally minded social work practice'. This means paying closer attention to globalisation and broader issues of social justice, mirroring the kind of changing professional context social workers practice in today. Drawing on a Local-Global-Local framework, the authors promote critical reflection and dialogue across diverse contexts of practice. They outline why global mindedness is a priority for the future of social work practice before considering how it is defined and applied in practice. Examples are drawn from a wide range of contexts including working with children, young people, adults and communities across different countries.

Chapter 1

International Social Work – the Vision and the Reality

Introduction

The reality that people’s lives increasingly transcend national boundaries, and that global events shape local lives, has led to the recognition that the scope of social work is international in scale. Social work problems and solutions are no longer located and contained within local or national boundaries. International social work, in this context, has increasingly gained importance in response to developments that go beyond national confines. The concept of international social work and its relevance for human rights has therefore gained currency.

Despite the number of publications and courses on ‘International social work’ the concept itself remains difficult to define. The confusion relates to the different ideas, approaches and orientations attributed to the term. Midgley (1990) suggested that international social work is a ‘broad umbrella term referring to any aspect of social work involving two or more nations’ and emphasised the idea of nations working in partnership. Healy (2001) defines international social work as all social work that may require international knowledge. Dominelli (2004a), Ife (2010) and Akimoto (2008), however, highlight the importance of processes and consequences that globalisation has on social work and takes into account the need to consider the dialectical relationship between the local and the global. In this book, we also argue that international social work is a way of thinking about social work based on a critical understanding of the interplay between local problems and global issues that pervades practice.

This book acknowledges the importance of a global approach to the profession and attempts to develop this further by presenting global mindedness as an approach for transformative practice. The notion of global mindedness in social work refers to the recognition and building upon the relationship between global and local contexts in day-to-day practice. The nature of this relationship, though acknowledged in academic circles, remains understated in social work education and practice. The relevance of global issues to local practice and the influence of local practice on global issues are not always apparent to students and practitioners.

In the following chapters, we outline our approach to global mindedness, its conceptualisation and operationalisation in practice. This exploration is undertaken by critically deconstructing and reconstructing how social issues are perceived and understood by social workers. We highlight the importance of going beyond one’s own context to explore the diversities of human experience around the world, as the basis for transformative practice. Case studies are used extensively in the following chapters to encourage students, academics and practitioners to apply the values, knowledge and skills required for global mindedness to their own practice. We hope the case studies will also serve as useful pedagogical recources for educators that will enable them to bring both human rights and international social work issues into the classroom and foster discussion to unravel the relationship between the global and the local. This book adds a new perspective on international social work that is relevant and applicable to the day-to-day experiences of social work students, educators and practitioners. Since the concept of global mindedness builds on the literature on international social work, this chapter outlines the key debates of international social work. This chapter also highlights issues within globalisation that have a profound impact on international social work.

Defining International Social Work

There are many definitions of international social work. In 2014, the International Federation of Social Workers and the International Association of Social Workers further developed the definition of social work to represent the diverse traditions and cultures inherent in the profession. The following is the current definition internationally accepted by most schools of social work:

❝

Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion , and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional levels.” (IFAW/IASSW, 2014)

Underlying this definition is an assumption that social workers share a common understanding as to the aims and vision for their professional practice. Hare (2004), Lorenz (2001) and Gray et al. (2012) have questioned whether a common international social work is achievable or desirable. The current definition incorporates diverse, if not contradictory, theoretical traditions ranging from conservative ambitions, such as the social cohesion of society, to radical aims, namely the liberation of people. In addition, a commitment to the humanities, social sciences and indigenous knowledge also implies tensions as to how knowledge production is prioritised. For example, how evidence-based social work as promoted in professional literature and pedagogy across the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe is reconciled with the development of forms of social work grounded in indigenous knowledge in countries such as New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the United States of America (USA), as well as in Latin American countries. Incorporating such different traditions of social work has made the current definition and perhaps all attempts at defining international social work problematic. Nevertheless, professional social work continues to seek a global definition, identity and status in recognition of its overarching commitment to support vulnerable too patronising people.

What then are the unifying elements within our understanding of international social work? To start with, social work involves the application of the definition of social work across ‘international’ fields. Healy (2001) provides a pragmatic conceptualisation of these fields to include four broad dimensions: impact of globalisation on social work practice, comparative enquiry, professional collaboration and exchange. Increasingly, these dimensions span across all aspects of social work where global trends intersect with local concerns. All social work, for example, is affected by the processes of globalisation (directly or indirectly) and social work increasingly deals with people who have transnational identities or cross borders. Ife (2008) suggests that the human rights framework can offer the profession a common perspective that is universally applicable. The centrality of human rights is convincing and appeals to social workers’ desires to share a common aim. However, even the universality of human rights is not free from different interpretations; for example, the USA places emphasis on civil and political rights while Nordic countries such as Finland and Sweden place stress on collective, social and economic rights (Esping-Anderson, 1999). Most indigenous communities perceive environmental and land rights issues as a central component of their lives and livelihoods. It is clear that diverse orientations to human rights are shaped by the material, social, economic and political histories of these societies. The history of professional social work also highlights the different orientations of social work. An historical perspective is valuable in understanding the troubled relationships between internationalisation in general and the internationalisation of the profession including the opportunities and mistakes experienced. We explore this history briefly to uncover some of the key opportunities and limitations in international social work.

An Historical Understanding of International Social Work

The internationalisation of the social work profession is often talked about as if it were an entirely new concept, having little or no historical precedence. This is not the case. Social work began to assume a professional form in the late 19th century with the development of social work methods and practices which involved extensive international exchanges between the professionals in Europe (including the UK) and the USA (Gray et al., 2012). Social work ideology, practice and education were exported to other countries through colonial legal systems and welfare policies. A brief look at the history of social work highlights that it developed within an international space: through exchange of ideas between people in different places, influenced by events that were occurring across geographical areas beyond the confines of one single nation (Gray et al., 2012). The profession’s development was both progressive and oppressive at the same time.

Western professional social work traces its development back to the 1800s in Europe and the USA. This was a period of social and economic upheaval and expansion involving mass migration from Europe to the new world countries, such as the Americas, Canada and Australia. Social issues, such as poor social and living conditions for large numbers of the population and the exclusion of the most vulnerable, were accentuated as the result of rapid industrialisation. Much of the work of social work pioneers, at the time, focussed on issues such as improvements in housing and neighbourhood conditions for poor and migrant groups (settlement houses), and better conditions for prisoners and women’s rights (see the Dutch initiative¹). Early social reformists such as Elizabeth Fry (UK), Arnold Toynbee and Jane Addams² (USA), Mary Richmond (UK) and Alice Solomon (Germany), advocated for the provision of services for convicts, migrants, the disadvantaged and displaced groups. They based their interventions on newly emerging sociological, psychological and economic theories that focussed on the social and physical environments of people, the psychological aspects of human beings, and the arrangements of economic and welfare systems. These theories continue to shape social work practice today. Furthermore, most of these pioneers were active in promoting international exchange and strategically fixed their attention to specific structural issues such as child welfare, migration, healthcare and poverty which remain as relevant today as in the past. However, the dimensions and the scale of these problems have clearly changed over the years as a consequence of the impact of globalisation, climate change and technology on human welfare and development.

The spread of professional social work to other parts of the world is also associated with the power of northern European colonial administrations to govern, control and influence social development in other parts of the world from the 1800s onward. Professional social work played a role in the delivery of social welfare as a form of colonisation and suppression of indigenous peoples and culture by actively exporting particular Christian beliefs into a non-Christian cultural context. The imperialistic ambitions of European countries such as Britain, Spain and France during the 19^th and 20^th centuries shaped professional social work in the colonised regions of Australia, India, Latin America and Africa. For example, euro-centric ideas and racism often shaped ideas of childhood, childcare and welfare in countries of the global south. The practice of separation of children from indigenous families in Australia and in the USA are prime examples of how such ideologies discriminated against particular types of families (Tamburro, 2013). Even today, racist beliefs appear to underpin the differential and inequitable treatment of minority families and children compared with white families in the USA, and the UK (Roberts, 2002; Statham, 2009). Social work academics (Haug, 2005: 127; Midgley, 1981) have criticised the imperialism of social work, in which a European model of social work has been disseminated around the world and transposed to non-western contexts, ignoring fundamental cultural and power differences and perpetuating an ethos of paternalism.

The internationalisation of the social work profession was further influenced by the social, political and economic conditions in the 1900s and the impact of the two world wars. It was after the atrocities committed during the second world war that the Human Rights Declaration and Convention was established, which provided the impetus for the formation of international organisations such as the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW), the International Association of Social Work (IASW) and the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) to promote social work through international platforms (Payne, 2005). These organisations remain important stakeholders in the internationalisation of the profession and in the promotion of norms, standards and approaches for the development of international social work.

Despite the international history of social work, current social work education and practice continues to be shaped by regional and national histories, culture and welfare structures, which then influence professional programs.

Internationalisation of social work today

Nevertheless, given the global scale of social problems and the need to address issues globally, internationalisation within social work education is increasing and the further development of international social work is gaining ground. Social work schools are encouraging student exchanges, links with social work practitioners and schools in other contexts to further promote internationalisation.

However, there is a lack of consensus as to what is meant by internationalisation, both for social work practice and education (Abram and Cruce, 2007; Kendall, 1979). This has often led to an uncritical engagement with the internationalisation of social work and has further muddied the notion of international social work. While student exchange between countries is promoted in social work education, a lack of critical power analysis can lead to a reiteration of dominant power positions rather than promoting change. Examining social work in different contexts can indeed open up alternative ways of thinking and doing. However, uncritical exchanges that do not examine power differences can lead to problematic assumptions that the state of social work practice and provision in one country is superior or inferior to that in other countries (Pawar et al., 2004). For example, students or practitioners involved in international exchange programs can come back from an overseas fieldwork placement with unrealistic views as to the standard of social work or the effectiveness of the welfare system in their country compared to that of other countries (Anand and Das, 2014). It is often common for students to judge the professional standard of social work to be higher in developed countries (e.g. the UK) than in developing countries (e.g. India). It is less frequent that students consider practices to be better in a developing country (e.g. Ghana) as compared to a developed country (e.g. Germany). Neither position represents the views that we are promoting in this book. Simplistic comparative approaches to social work practice across borders and cultures serve to reinforce unequal power relations, paternalistic perspectives and unrealistic beliefs that should be challenged. Moving beyond these comparisons to be critically reflective and reflexive, is what all professionals should aspire to (Anand and Das, 2014).

Finally, we believe that the term international denotes a separation between what exists ‘out there’ and what exists ‘here ’. International social work often reinforces positions of local and global, citizen and non-citizen, national and non-national positions which are not only simplistic (Moosa-Mitha, 2014) but dangerous in light of growing nationalism and populism. Furthermore, the term international underplays the complexity of people’s lived realities in a globalised world that transcends borders, where such divisions become meaningless or simply obstacles that must be overcome. Furthermore, social work practice in specific countries cannot be understood in isolation from their particular historical, cultural, social and economic contexts.

Opportunities in International Social Work

As argued, though not new, social work and exchange across borders has gained currency in recent times, reflecting the pressures of contemporary global, social, political and economic conditions. For example, the influx of large numbers of asylum seekers into Europe from Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran between 2014 and 2016 reactivated the consciousness of European social workers and promoted a greater appreciation of the transnational nature of social problems and the scope of practice. Likewise, social work in the post-colonial societies of the global south and in the former So...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• 1. International Social Work – the Vision and the Reality
• 2. Defining Global Mindedness in Practice: Values, Knowledge and Skills
• 3. Global Mindedness in Protection Work
• 4. Global Mindedness and Diversity Work
• 5. Global Mindedness and Structural Work
• 6. Global Mindedness and Sustainability Work
• 7. Global Mindedness in Practice
• References
• Index