Moving beyond the metaphor, reaching beyond the rhetoric: Social work education in a changing environment. (1st December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Papadopoulos, Angelika; Hegarty, Kathryn
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 168(2017)
• Page Start: 357
• Page End: 365
• Publication Date: 2017-12-01
• Subjects: Sustainability -- Social work -- Higher education -- Scenario-based learning -- Diffusion; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.204
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores Australian social work's engagement with environmental concerns through a review of scholarly literature and professional documentation, and suggests the professional imagination and espoused professional identity of social work practice as expressed in Australian social work education share significant common ground with the concerns of sustainability education. This raises the question of why it is that social work has yet to infuse, embed, or otherwise engage with the adoption of the principles of education for sustainability. The review found that social work has developed some momentum in negotiating challenges emerging as a consequence of climate change and other forms of complexity, but remains educationally challenged by the imperatives that follow commitment to sustainability in practice. To move beyond the metaphorical sense in which social work has previously used the term 'environment' requires re-framing of social work education's purview, and rethinking of the approaches used to incorporate sustainability concerns into professional practice qualifications. Principles of inquiry based learning and sustainability education are suggested, as the next step towards integrating and embedding the concerns of the future with revised social work praxis. Highlights: Identification of common ground between sustainability and social work. The use of inquiry based learning to generate embedded curriculum. Review of social work scholarly literature on 'greening', environment and sustainability. Content analysis of social work peak bodies' ethical standards for sustainability principles.