Social workers of the world converge
by Charlotte Knottenbelt
Hundreds
of UniSA students, staff and practicing social workers had a chance to
broaden their international outlook on October 6, with a day of seminars and
panel discussions featuring many of the world‘s leading social work
scholars.
Speakers hailing from 15 countries from Jamaica to South Africa came together as part of the Reclaiming Civil Society @ Magill International Day organised by staff and students from UniSA‘s School of Social Work and Social Policy.
The program was an offshoot to the Global Social Work conference, and by all accounts was a great success, with professional links and friendships formed that look set to produce lasting benefits for both the individuals involved and the practice of social work the world over.
With a program too extensive to detail fully, some of the topics explored included a Tongan model of social work where a key element is love (discussed by Massey University‘s Tracie Malfile‘o), globalism‘s effect on social work (Ngoh Tiong Tan, National University of Singapore), psychosocial care for disaster survivors (Kasi Seker, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India), and using students‘ accounts of the impact of racism to produce a more relevant social work curriculum in South Africa (Vivienne Bozalek, University of the Western Cape).
Dr Bozalek drew links with a comparable study being undertaken into Indigenous Australian‘s experience by UniSA lecturer Sharon Gollan – just one of many associations formed on the day, according to social work program director, Peter Lumb.
“Our students grabbed the opportunity to talk social and social welfare issues with such a diverse range of social workers and academics,“ he said. “A number of students have been invited to visit their guests overseas for field placements, and many are continuing conversations via email … textbooks rarely create this kind of engagement.“
For Bec Cawley – one of 25 social work students who acted as minders for the international guests – the experience was inspirational.
“I learnt so much in the 10 hours I spent with Professor Sanjay Bhatt, and am now planning to spend some time volunteering at the NGO that he established in Jaipur when I travel to India next year,“ she said. “We‘re also discussing developing a program together for Australian volunteers in Delhi and Jaipur.“
Lumb said another positive outcome was that some of the guests had been inspired to adopt the idea of running a spin-off conference for students from an international conference in the same city – “so the ‘UniSA International Day student conference model‘ is set to be replicated around the world,“ he said.