Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of tables and figures
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- One Transnational social work: opportunities and challenges of a global profession
- Part One Setting the transnational context
- Part Two Practitioner perspectives
- Part Three Employer/stakeholder views
- Part Four Policy challenges, professional responses
- Index
Part Three - Employer/stakeholder views
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of tables and figures
- List of abbreviations
- Notes on contributors
- One Transnational social work: opportunities and challenges of a global profession
- Part One Setting the transnational context
- Part Two Practitioner perspectives
- Part Three Employer/stakeholder views
- Part Four Policy challenges, professional responses
- Index
Summary
The stakeholders with an interest in transnational social worker mobility include professional bodies, employers and others, along with the social workers themselves and their colleagues. The chapters in Part Three were designed to capture examples of how social work employers and other key stakeholders encounter social work as a transnational professional space. The main idea for these chapters was to provide country-specific examples of the challenges and opportunities that are presented by the employment of transnational social workers in particular contexts. In doing so, we asked that authors would remain sensitive to opportunities to highlight the social work profession's commitment to human rights, the ongoing politics of ‘race’ and class in the communities we serve, and the ways in which these are played out in particular national contexts, with an examination of issues relating to access, equity and distribution of resources – including employment opportunities. Although these chapters are very different, each meets our brief well, illustrating how an understanding of the political and cultural dimensions of practice are crucial in the relocation of social workers to new employment contexts across the world. In ‘In search of better opportunity: transnational social workers in the United Kingdom navigating the maze of global and social mobility’, Shereen Hussein explores the transnational movements of social workers against a background of social policy and significant change in UK social work. She notes that there is a set of impact factors operating at different stages for migrating social workers, from the initial application, to qualifications recognition, to securing jobs and practising in a new environment. These factors involve the participation of multiple stakeholders, arising from the institutional dynamics of how social work practice connects to wider policies and national priorities. Others may relate to international agreements and processes of qualifications and experience recognition, issues that are explored further in Part Four of this collection. Hussein depicts these many aspects of the transnational space as ‘layered challenges’ impacting on transnational social workers themselves, both at individual and professional levels, as well as in relation to stakeholders in their destination countries. In England, in particular, an intense period of ‘reform’ of social work has meant many changes to the professional bodies who are stakeholders in social worker mobility.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Transnational Social WorkOpportunities and Challenges of a Global Profession, pp. 121 - 124Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018