Promoting international issues in social work education: a German case analyzed^*

* This article is based on a paper presented by Marion Laging and Jutta Spilgies at the EASSW Milan conference ‘Social work education in Europe: Towards 2025’ (29 June 2015–2 July 2015) under the title Motivating social work students to deal with international expertise. We thank Dr Susan Bach for language assistance.

ABSTRACT

International dimensions in social work have until now been relatively poorly represented in social work education in Germany. This contribution starts with a description of historical developments in social work education in Germany with respect to international dimensions. Following this, current discourses in international social work are briefly sketched, partly to point out the significance and range of international dimensions for the development of the discipline and the profession of social work, and partly to give an outline of the relevant discourses which need to be addressed in social work education. Against this background, this contribution describes the programme ‘Study Path INTERNATIONAL’ carried out at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany, which had the aim of driving forward internationalization in social work education by means of a specific incentive system. The concept and experiences gained are analyzed with the help of Midgley’s definition of international social work education and Healy’s model of the ‘Continuums of Internationalization’, to ascertain in which dimensions and to what extent these aims could be realized. Recommendations for further developments are made.

ABSTRAKT

Die internationalen Dimensionen der Sozialen Arbeit sind in der Ausbildung Sozialer Arbeit in Deutschland bislang relativ schwach ausgeprägt. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt zunächst einführend die historischen Entwicklungslinien der Ausbildung Sozialer Arbeit in Deutschland in Hinblick auf deren internationale Dimensionen. Im Anschluss daran werden die aktuellen Diskurse internationaler Sozialer Arbeit knapp skizziert; zum einen, um die Bedeutsamkeit und Reichweite internationaler Dimensionen für die Disziplin- und Professionsentwicklung der Sozialen Arbeit zu verdeutlichen, zum anderen, um die hier relevanten Diskurse zu umreißen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird ein Projekt an einer Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften in Deutschland vorgestellt, das sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, durch ein spezifisches Anreizsystem die Internationalisierung in der Ausbildung Sozialer Arbeit voranzutreiben. Das Konzept und die Erfahrungen werden mit Hilfe der Definition von Midgley zur International Social Work Education und des Modells von Healy des ‘Continuums of Internationalization’ daraufhin analysiert ob, in welchen Dimensionen und in welchem Ausmaß dieses Ziel erreicht werden konnte. Hinweise für die weitere Entwicklung werden abgeleitet.

KEYWORDS:

• International social work education
• curriculum development
• globalization
• Study Path INTERNATIONAL

SCHLÜSSELWORTE:

• Internationalisierung
• Hochschulausbildung in der Sozialen Arbeit
• Curriculumsentwicklung
• Schwerpunkt INTERNATIONAL

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Prof. Dr Marion Laging is Academic Leader of the bachelor’s degree programme in social work and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, Health Care and Nursing Sciences at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. The Study Path INTERNATIONAL was developed under her direction. In June 2015, she was elected to the board of executive committee members of the European Association of Schools of Social Work (EASSW).

Jutta Spilgies holds a diploma in Social Work and a Master’s in Social Management and works as a research assistant in the administration at the Faculty of Social Work, Health Care and Nursing Sciences at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany. She was involved in the development of the Study Path INTERNATIONAL.

Prof. Dr Beatrix Waldenhof is a political scientist with many years’ international experience in the fields of development cooperation and developmental policy, global social policy, anti-discrimination and gender policy. She lectures on the Study Path INTERNATIONAL and is able to draw on her experience from numerous periods of research, teaching and practice in southern and western African countries such as Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Notes

* This article is based on a paper presented by Marion Laging and Jutta Spilgies at the EASSW Milan conference ‘Social work education in Europe: Towards 2025’ (29 June 2015–2 July 2015) under the title Motivating social work students to deal with international expertise. We thank Dr Susan Bach for language assistance.