Acting locally, thinking globally in social work education

Abstract

The problems and challenges of Social work relate to both local and global contexts, and Social Work Education needs to be characterized by this, although how to fully realize it is complex. The purpose of this article is to problematize and detail how Social Work Education can be seen in higher education from the perspective of internationalization out of a swedish context. The article should be seen as a contribution to Educational Science where internationalization can add to the understanding of social education. Research data has been collected from two groups of respondents: Social work students and lecturers in Social Work Education. The theoretical frame of reference is provided by a modified social-ecological model called the Entrecology model, a connector in education between the individual in relation to her or his surrounding context on different levels. The main conclusion is that the concept of ‘acting locally, thinking globally, should be viewed as a major input for developing Social Work Education—A Glocal approach.

Keywords

• Higher education,Educational science,Internationalization,Social work,Social ecology

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