A Social Work Education Grounded in Human Rights

Abstract

In response to a mandate to advance human rights through social work education, this article focuses on the curricular redesign and program evaluation of one MSW Program. The program's specialization focused on advanced social work practice with individuals, families, and communities grounded in social justice and human rights. A pre-experimental one-group posttest-only program evaluation design was implemented. Multiple assessment instruments were used to measure human rights exposure in social work education, as well as a human rights lens and engagement in social work practice among 93 graduating MSW students from a public university with suburban and urban campus locations. How the program applied a human rights-based approach to social work field education will also be discussed. Findings suggest that a human rights exposure in course work and practicum is related to students' practice lens and engagement. The imperative is now to train social work students to address complex social issues through human rights exposure, engagement, and lens as we prepare for a post-pandemic world. Recommendations are provided to strengthen academic leadership and research in this area and empower students to drive a paradigm shift in the profession.

Psychologists for Human Right

“…Rare studies in higher education reveal that even short-time human rights education during seminars can improve the knowledge about human rights and increase positive attitudes and commitment related to human rights (Stellmacher & Sommer, 2008). Evaluation of an educational programme that applied a human rights-based approach in the field of social work showed better insight into human rights violations as well as readiness to engage in human rights issues (Quzack et al, 2021). The two recent books on both practice and education Rubin & Flores, 2020) provide extensive materials that can be used in psychology education and developing curricula for psychology programmes at all levels.…”

Trabajo Social y Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS): cuestión de Derechos Humanos

“…El sistema universitario posee un papel relevante en el desarrollo de una sociedad más justa por medio de la potenciación de la formación y la generación de competencias en derechos humanos, algo que resulta especialmente destacable en los y las profesionales de la intervención social (Becker, 2021;Cubillos-Vega, 2020;Dijkstra et al, 2021, Quzack et al, 2021. No cabe duda de que los derechos humanos están estrechamente vinculados a diversos ámbitos de especial relevancia para la ciudadanía a nivel global, tales como, la pobreza, la desigualdad, la paz, entre otros.…”

The Specifics of Teaching Social Work at Universities in Arab Countries

“…The integration of human rights into the social work curriculum, which often remains controversial and fragmented and based on the interests of individual professors, shows the importance of attention to human rights in social work (Brantley et al, 2020) and gives a new impetus to action in the field of social justice as the basis of social work (Chiarelli-Helminiak et al, 2018). Rooting the concept of human rights is also particularly important for the social work curriculum in Arab countries in parallel with increasing social competencies for avoiding and resolving conflict situations (Quzack et al, 2021;Sarhan & Tedam, 2020).…”

“…The Islamic progress of societies (Michalos, 2017) is manifested in the desire of states to improve the well-being and satisfaction of their citizens, which has a corresponding impact on both cultural structures (D'raven & Pasha-Zaidi, 2016) and vectors of social work development. The focus of the social work training program on best practices in social work with individuals, families, and communities based on social justice and human rights shows that the coverage of human rights in coursework and hands-on learning is linked to students' perspectives and engagement (Quzack et al, 2021). Social work students need to be taught how to tackle complex social problems through human rights education, participation, and objectivity.…”

“…Social work students need to be taught how to tackle complex social problems through human rights education, participation, and objectivity. Given the trends in the development of the post-pandemic society, it is necessary to promote the expansion of students' opportunities to change the paradigm in the profession (Quzack et al, 2021).…”