Introduction

The International Social Work Programme is designed to qualify students to work with social problems in Danish as well as international contexts. The International Programme focuses on social work at the individual, group and community level. Students are trained in following the global development critically, in communicating their knowledge of human consequences and in participating in social processes of change.

The students of the International Social Work Programme acquire a broad research-based understanding of the human consequences of the global development at the local as well as the international level, in relation to e.g. migration, unemployment, poverty and exclusion.

The people that social workers meet find it difficult to secure the safety of themselves and their families, and they therefore often live in insecurity and fear.

The curriculum of the International Social Work Programme includes all the fields of competence that a social worker needs to acquire – with particular emphasis on international contexts.

The programme is developed within the legal framework that is communal for all social work bachelor programmes in Denmark. The overall design and the learning objectives of the international programme are therefore identical with the domestic social work programme.

Focus

Within the common framework the special international aspects of the International Social Work Programme are reflected in the below focus areas.

The International Programme attaches more weight to:

• social work in other countries

• social work in connection with development aid

• social work in or organised by international organisations

• social work in non governmental settings and / or organisations

• international relief work

• social work with transnational problems.

Other aspects that may be studied are:

• international conditions and internationalisation

• conditions in other countries and other welfare systems / welfare regimes

• the global development and the consequences hereof

• demographic studies

• environmental and climatic problems

• absolute poverty

• massive social exclusion and segregation

• child labour

• HIV/AIDS

• human trafficking

• migration

• ethnicity, culture and minority ethnic groups

• international conventions

• collective methods as a supplement to individual methods.

Competence areas

Within the common framework of the Social Work Programmes at Aarhus School of Social Work the special international aspects of the International Programme are reflected in the below competences:

• knowledge of methods and approaches to social work, social work with groups, project-orientated social work, community work and social change at organisational levels

• skills in developing new methods and applying these with a view to supporting social change and problem solving at both national and international level

• skills in analysing and reflecting critically on the choice of approach and method in social work at the same time utilising the knowledge that the importance of the context varies from setting to setting

• knowledge of social and psychological consequences of the global development for individuals and groups in relation to identity, life style and living conditions

• knowledge of cultural concepts and of the importance of various cultures for the development, identity formation and self-perception of the individual

• knowledge of international conditions and the global development and the consequences hereof in Denmark and in other countries

• knowledge of social and psychological consequences of the global development, for example in the form of flight, loss, alienation, prejudice and racism

• proficiency in communicating and working with diversity in relation to identity, life style, living conditions and culture

• skills in working with people who are exposed to oppression, prejudice and racism

• knowledge of international conventions and their influence on Danish legislation

• knowledge of the influence of international conventions on the development of other countries

• knowledge of the legal systems in other countries and their influence on citizens' legal rights

• knowledge of different welfare regime types, on how they affect individuals, groups and local communities, and how they influence the development of intervention strategies

• knowledge of economic, social and cultural trends in the international and global development and skills in describing, analysing and discussing social problems, social work and social policies in the light of these trends.