Social Work Education in Europe

Marion Laging, PhD is a qualified social worker with a specialization in education and many years of experience in several social work fields like the care for the elderly and for persons with disabilities, adult education and addiction care. After completing her PhD in 2005, she obtained the post of professor for social work at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Since 2008, she has been director of the Bachelor's degree course in social work and is especially committed to the internationalization of the degree. Since 2019, she has been the Vice President for Education and Advanced Studies at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. As a board member of the German Association of Schools of Social Work and of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Schools of Social Work (EASSW), she is engaged in the further development of social work qualifications at the national and European levels. 
Nino Zganec, PhDwas born in Croatia, where he finished the study of Social Work at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. Since the beginning of his career he has worked as the faculty teacher in different positions - assistant professor, associate professor and full professor. The fields of his practical and scientific interest include community social work, ethics and human rights, organization of social services and international social work. He has published in different domestic and international journals and books, participated in several domestic and international scientific research projects in the fields of his interest, and presented many keynote speeches at domestic and international social work conferences. He has experience in political engagement as assistant minister and state secretary in Croatian Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. During his term in the office comprehensive reform of the social care sector was launched. Since 2011 he participates in the executive committee of the European Association of Schools of Social Work (EASSW), and in 2015 he was elected as the president of this association for the mandate 2015-2019. In the same period he performed the duty of vice president of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). He was also elected as a member of the executive committee of the European Anti-Poverty Network as well as the president of the Croatian Anti-Poverty Network for the mandate 2014-2020. His teaching activities include graduate and postgraduate programmes including PhD programmes in different European countries.

This contributed volume provides an in-depth overview of current social and socio-political transformations in Europe and their effects on social work and its educational structures. It elucidates these transformations and structures at the individual level of ten different countries and goes on to elaborate a European perspective in this field. Readers gain insight into the variety in social work and its educational structures in Europe and, at the same time, readers receive starting points for the exchange of ideas, collaboration and further development in the individual countries and in Europe. 
The introduction outlines the current developments and challenges facing social work education in Europe, contextualizing the topics to be covered in the volume. Each chapter offers an individual country profile of social work, including an analysis of typical examples of different traditions of educational models for social work that, collectively, provideinsight into an overall "European model of education for social work". The countries selected represent all parts of Europe:

• Finland
• Latvia
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• The Netherlands
• France
• Italy
• Croatia
• Romania
• Cyprus

European Social Work Education: Traditions and Transformations is an essential resource - an up-to-date and differentiated inventory of social work education in Europe from a horizontal and vertical perspective - which describes fields of work and approaches that prepare students to practice social work, examines the degree of academization of the discipline and investigates its structures and conditions. Social workers and social work educators, researchers and practitioners will find this an engaging and useful text.

Presents comprehensive analyses of current social and socio-political transformations and their effects on social work and its educational structures

1. Introduction: Current Developments and Challenges Facing Social Work Education in Europe; Walter A. Lorenz.- 2. Development of Social Work Practice and Education in Cyprus; Christos Panagiotopoulos and Agamemnonas Zachariades.- 3. Research-based Social Work Profession in the Finnish Welfare State; Sanna Lähteinen and Aila-Leena Matthies.- 4. Social Work Education and Training in France: A Long History to Be Energised by an Academic Discipline and International Social Work; Robert Bergougnan and Florence Fondeville.- Chapter 5. Social Work and Social Work Education in Germany: Development and Challenges in a Scientific and Practice-based Profession and Its Education; Marion Laging, Peter Schäfer and Miriam Lorenz.- 6. Social Work Education in Italy: Backwards and Forwards in the Establishment of the Social Work Discipline; Teresa Bertotti.- Chapter 7. Challenges for Social Work Education in Croatia: Lessons from a Post-Socialist Context; Ana Opacic and Nino Zganec.- 8. Social Work Education in Latvia: Post-Crisis Impact and Development Perspectives; Lolita Vilka and Marika Lotko.- 9. Reconstruction of Social Work Education in the Netherlands; Raymond Kloppenburg and Peter Hendriks.- 10. The Revival of Romanian Social Work Education and Its Prospects; Florin Lazar.- 11. Social Work Education in the United Kingdom; Steven Lucas and Hakan Acar.
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