Social Work in Italy

1
Social Work in Italy

• Prof.Annamaria Campanini
• Coordinator of EUSW Thematic Network
• President of EASSW

2
Contents

• Social Work in Italy challenges and problems
  in education and profession
• Europeanization Process
• What we can learn from Europe ?

3
Social Work Education

• First schools in 40s
• Private schools vs. University
• Process of academization lights and shadows

4
Social Work Education in Italy according with
Bologna process

• 3 Years Bachelor Degree
• 2 Years Master Degree
• 3 Years PhD

5
Profession

• From 50s to 1985
• Social workers mainly employed in public sector
• No status, no juridical recognition

6
Profession

• After the decision that social work education
  had to be offered only by the University (1985)
• Law 23rd March 1993, n. 84, Definition and
  regulation of the social worker profession and
  approval of a National Register
• Ethical code

7
Europeanization process

• Erasmus / Socrates projects (teachers and
  students exchange, Intensive Programs, Curriculum
  Developments)
• 2002 EUSW- European Social Work Commonalities and
  differences Thematic Network

8

• What
• Italian social work
• can learn
• from Europe?

9
In education

• Curricula more oriented to professionalization
• Teachers embedded within educational
  institutions
• Teachers in social work coming from profession
• Pedagogical tools and a more active education

10
In research

• more researches in social work both theory and
  practice oriented
• more focus on evaluation of professional
  behaviours, activities and results

11
Profession

• Need to rethink the relation between different
  professions (eg. social pedagogue) under the
  same umbrella of social workers
• Specialization Vs generalist approach
• Therapeutic focus
• Anti-oppressive practice
• Advocacy
• Users participation

12
SOCIAL WORK IN EUROPE

• In July 2001, both the IASSW and the IFSW reached
  an agreement on adopting an international
  definition of social work and this is the
  starting point for the European social work

13
COMMONALITIES

• the social work profession promotes change,
  problem solving in human relationships and the
  empowerment and liberation of people to enhance
  well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour
  and social systems, social work intervenes at the
  points where people interact with their
  environments. Principles of human rights and
  social justice are fundamental to social work.

14
COMMONALITIES

• PRINCIPLES AND VALUES
• MISSION
• CHALLENGES
• STRATEGIES

15
BUT ALSO.

• the feminin gender prevalence in social work
  profession
• a not yet acknowledgment of an equal status to
  the one attributed to other professions
• the involvement in Europe
• the importance of research
• the need to link social work with other
  disciplines

16
Differencies in the education

• in the kind of institution which provides this
  education
• in the duration of the training/education period
• in the structure of the curricula.

17
Differencies in the intervention connected with

• the historical and cultural background,
• the social policy trends
• the different national and regional structures in
  which social work is operating

18
New efforts.

• Document on Global qualifying standards for
  social work education and training, that
  identifies certain universals, to be used as
  guidelines to develop national standards with
  regard to social work education and training.
• European Network for Quality Assurance for Social
  Professions (ENQASP)

19

• Discussions and changes following the Bologna
  process (two cycles,ECTS,mobility, co-operation
  in quality assurance, competences and learning
  outcomes)
• Tuning project

20
Concluding thoughts

• We are facing in Europe the same challenges
  ageing, migrations, poverty globalization, social
  cohesion
• If we open our minds and develop an attitude to
  dialogue in social work
• We can learn from each other