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International Social Work Practice Essay

Decent Essays

This paper will explore the practice of international social work, the history of how it came about and will examine the context of how we understand the roles and responsibilities of social workers practicing at a regional level and a global level. It will analyze the implications of globalization and internationalization for social workers, their profession and the importance of education and practice from a global perspective. From a critical lens, it will analyze and question Western models of social work practice and applications of universal knowledge.
. The practice of social work began as early as the 20th century, with roots in religious and humanitarian work on a volunteer level with the motives of charity and poor relief and taking care of the needy. Some of the first social work schools date back to 1899 throughout the UK and the United States. From 1920 and onwards the spread of social work schools began to spread internationally. The emergence of three of the major organizations of social work were founded at a conference in 1928, founding International Associations of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), and International Council for Social Welfare (ICSW) (Devadass, Subramanian, Gonsalvez, 2014). Although the profession dates back long before, George Bwarren, first coined the term ‘international social work’, in 1943. Bwarren used this term to describe social work practice in agencies that engaged in organized

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