Guest Editorial—Introduction to the Special Issue

Social workers often encounter situations in which they are required to function in systems where competing philosophies coexist. One example is the divergent philosophies of social work and the military. Throughout its history, social work has advocated peace as an essential means to achieving social and economic justice. At the same time, professional social workers have been an integral part of the military system dating back to World War I, when social workers joined forces with the Red Cross to treat victims of “shell shock” (Council on Social Work Education [CSWE], 2010). Currently, the Veterans Administration is the nations' largest employer of professional social workers and provider of graduate internships (NASW, 2012). Defining an ethical dilemma as “a predicament in which the decision-maker must choose between two options of near or equal value,” Tallant and Ryberg (2000, para. 9) posited that military social workers may be forced to choose between the military mission and their client. This dilemma exemplifies the paradox of the social worker within the military system. In recent years, CSWE has called for enhancing content on military practice in social work curricula. Although cautioning that it is not endorsing “war or aggression,” CSWE has argued that increasing students' capacity to work with veterans will establish social workers as leaders in military care and secure future employment opportunities (CSWE, 2010, p. 2). However, discrepancies between the culture and philosophy of the military system and the social work profession warrant further discussion. The juxtaposition between the profession's advocacy for peace and the call for greater military content in social work education presents an ethical dilemma regarding how these disparate positions can be reconciled within social work pedagogy.

The article analyzes the specifics of the issues of military social work during the war in Ukraine. Military social work in Slovakia is an important aspect of the support system for people affected by military conflicts in Ukraine. This area of ​​social work is actively developing, since Slovakia is a neighbor of Ukraine, which is experiencing a complex military conflict. The main tasks of military social work are to provide psychological, social and material assistance to military personnel, refugees, internally displaced persons and their families. One of the key aspects of this work is the integration of victims into society after returning from the front or fleeing from the war. Social workers in Slovakia work at the level of national and international programs aimed at providing assistance and support to people who have become victims of war. This includes counseling, therapy, integration into the labor market, legal assistance and temporary housing. The escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine has significantly increased the number of refugees and displaced persons, which affects the activities of military social work in Slovakia. Increased attention to ensuring the safety and well-being of these persons requires coordination between government, non-governmental organizations and international institutions. Military social work becomes necessary to assist war victims, taking into account the psychosocial needs and difficult conditions in which they find themselves. Thus, military social work in Slovakia is an important component of supporting the civilian population and military personnel facing the consequences of war. The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine poses new challenges for social work, where it is necessary to take into account global and local factors, in particular humanitarian, economic and political aspects.

本文目的在於以英國為例，嘗試著說明社會政策治理邏輯的改變如何影響其福利服務輸送體系，進而影響社會工作專業發展，藉此說明社會工作專業發展是如何鑲嵌於特定的國家文化、歷史脈絡和政治經濟脈絡中。在方法上，我們採取歷史追蹤分析方法。本文研究結果發現如下，在戰後福利國家的黃金年代，在以社會行政為基礎的科層治理形塑社會工作的專業主義上，社會工作者對於社會服務使用者的需求評估和處遇擬定都受限於科層體系的規範，也就是那些進入社會工作和社會服務體系的公民的社會權是被專業科層體系和法律所規範。在1980年代之後，西方福利國家立基於新自由主義，而使其治理模式轉往以管理主義以強調效率和選擇等價值，也影響社會工作轉向以管理主義為基礎，在論述上，強調透過個案管理、賦權和使能等概念以強化和正當化對於效率和個人責任的重視。但是，同時，新管理主義在過度強調效率和個人責任的情況下，反而削弱了社會工作者和接受服務者的自主性。2000年之後，社會投資政策理念興起，使得社會政策治理邏輯改以新公共治理為主，不再強調最佳模式，而必須反映了治理客體的現實，因此強調共同生產和網絡治理，且社會工作者可在其中扮演服務協調與創新的角色，而使得未來社會工作教育可能會進一步強調夥伴關係和社會創新等等價值與概念。我們認為本文也提出一些未來研究的可能性，認為未來可以更進一步強化社會政策與社會工作之間的連結，並將台灣的社會工作專業體系置於國際比較的脈絡中。This article aims to identify linkages between social policy and social work. Over the past few decades in Taiwan, social workers and social work educators have emerged as formal professions. However, the relationship between social policy and social work is often ignored, particularly how social work (education) is developed and shaped by social policy. This is because in the process of professionalization and specialization, social policy and social work are treated independently, and the linkage between them goes unacknowledged. Social work studies often focus on micro-level social work practices and methods, and social work is rarely seen as a type of policy model or regime at the institutional level. As a result, social work is often regarded as single undifferentiated policy model, with social work systems and education presented as identical across the world. However, a growing number of comparative studies have identified significant cross-national variations in national social work systems due to idiosyncratic historical, cultural and political economic contexts. This raises the need for additional research on comparative social work systems. In this study, we argue that the key to studying the linkage between social policy and social work is using models of governance to analyze and understand how social work systems are developed and understood. Models of social policy governance influence how social work is practiced and how social work curricula are designed. The remainder of this study is structured as follows: Section two focuses on how hierarchical governance and new public management shapes social policy and social work systems. Section three examines the impact of new public governance on social investment for social work systems. Finally, section four summarises the influence of various models of social policy governance on the development of social work systems, and propose issues for future research. We identify three stages of welfare state development. In the Golden Age of the welfare state, the logic of social administration underpins the model of social policy governance and broader hierarchical governance. The rights and obligations of welfare benefits as well as social work practices were legislatively regulated, along with the relationship between social workers and their clients, resulting in the professionalization of social work. In this stage, client assessments and treatments were be regulated to discipline client behavior and attitudes. However, with the neoliberalism of the Thatcher and Reagan governments, respectively in the UK and the USA, the welfare state shifted towards a workfare state, and the models of social policy governance shifted to a new public management paradigm. The welfare state discursively began to emphasize the role of the market in welfare provision, stressing values such as efficiency and choice, and embedding a managerialist approach in social policy governance. Social work practices and education were therefore transformed, and social workers were/are often regarded and trained as case managers, emphasizing concepts such as case management, choice, empowerment and enablement. Moreover, the relationship between social workers and clients was also transformed into a “manager-consumer” duality, in which the rights and obligations of welfare benefits are regulated by contracts and market mechanisms. This transformed the role of the client into that of the consumer. Third, after 2000, the emergence of social investment concepts has driven the emergence of a new approach to public governance in response to new social risks and the complexities of social problems, raising multiple obstacles to clients accessing welfare benefits. This new public governance pushes concepts of co-production and network governance to cope with social complexities and the emergence of new social risks. This has naturally changed the role of social workers in the provision of welfare provisions from case managers into coordinators of resources and services and policy innovators. The role of welfare beneficiaries is neither client nor consumer, but rather a stakeholder in the coordination and innovation of welfare provisions. In this study, we show that social work practices and education are not identical but are rather shaped by social policy governance and political economic contexts. We compare three models of social policy governance in terms of how social work practices and education are shaped, and propose issues for future research. First, additional attention should focus on the linkage between social policy and social work to provide a better understanding of the development of social work and social work education. Second, the development of social work in Taiwan should be examined in comparison to international practices.

Meaning in life is an important topic for professional training and social work education. This article aims to illustrate how Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy could be applied as the framework in teaching meaning in life to social work students and helping professionals. It critically examines the experience of teaching meaning in life and integrating it with various training and education components, such as human behaviours, end-of-life and bereavement care, and self-care of helping professionals. Reflections on these teaching experiences suggest that the significance of teaching meaning in life is recognised by helping professionals and students, especially its dual influence on both personal and professional aspects. Lack of systematic and continuous training and education of meaning in life may be a hindrance for more in-depth understanding and learning. More case examples and discussion may help advance helping professionals’ practice to facilitate service users’ meaning searching. Reflecting on meaning in life may also facilitate helping professionals’ coping with existential challenges in work, but such self-care training should be offered regularly to provide continuous support. This article suggests that teaching meaning in life may have great implications for the psychological health of helping professionals and the service users who receive their professional services.

The application of a rights-based approach to social work practice is integral to ridding society of social injustice and human rights infringements. As the next generation of social work practitioners in Africa (a continent at the top of the pyramid in human rights violations), what social work students know about the rights-based approach could prove pivotal in preparing them towards entrenching social justice and human rights tenets in their professional practice, as is consistent with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. This study aims to share the reflections of Nigerian social work students regarding their knowledge of and preparedness to utilize the rights-based approach to social work practice. In employing a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews was conducted among graduating social work students in a large-sized university in Nigeria. Data were subjected to thematic analysis and following the analytical procedure, findings reveal inadequacies in professional social work education and training in the context of equipping students with this practice approach. Although this inquiry involved a cohort of student social workers in their final academic year, the findings may have broader implications for social work education in Nigeria and indeed Africa given the rapidly standardized move in social work education. To offset this trend by means of competency-building, pragmatic suggestions are offered to social work educators with a view to ensuring that social work students are not only equipped in the knowledge of this practice approach but also ready to employ such knowledge to practice.

The article presents research on challenges and problems of social work profession and education in Bulgaria. The purpose is to establish the impact of policies and legislation on their current condition and the opportunities for changes and development. The methodology includes content analysis and online interview for the study of respondents’ opinion on reforms in social work profession and education. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of content and empirical data confirm the accepted purpose. They reveal that the challenges and problems in the current situation are the result of deficits in legislation, policies, and practices in the management and provision of social services and neglect by the authorities of the need to introduce regulations and standards in the social work profession and social work education. This leads to the formation and dynamism of a tendency to blur the boundaries of social work and its gradual deprofessionalization. The analysis of results presents need for reforms in areas regulations of social work profession and education, quality of professional resources, comparability of social work qualification with European Union countries, and integration of neoliberal, market and humanistic concepts in social services.

Social work is a anthropocentric science and works for the overall development of individuals, groups and society. In today's era of globalization, technology and changing social values, social work education is facing new challenges. The quality of education, realistic experience in training, availability of teachers, employment opportunities, and changes in social values in the society are all having an impact on social work education. This research article has analyzed in depth all these aspects of the current status of professional social work education, the challenges it faces and the reflections on it. The study shows that values-based education, research-oriented approaches, and real-world experiences in practice are needed to sustain professionalism in social work education.

The demand for social workers with military-related practice and research experience exceeds the current supply. To advance military social work education, we developed an interlevel master’s of science in social work (MSSW) field practicum and doctoral research practicum that provides military social work field experiences and contributes to doctoral education on military intervention research. Tasked with the primary responsibility of teaching complex resilience concepts to youth participants, the project challenges MSSW students to develop deep knowledge of the material. Assigned the role of project manager of an ongoing intervention study and responsible for performing multiple hands-on research tasks, the project promotes doctoral student research proficiency. Feedback from students suggests that the project supports learning outcomes and enhances motivation to engage in present and future intervention research.

Social Work Practice in the Military provides military social workers, military scholars, and civilian social workers with an overview of diverse practice settings as well as the history and future of military social work practice to give you an understanding of the military persona as an ethnic identity. This unique book provides in-depth coverage of issues such as family violence, substance abuse, medical social work, combat settings, ethical dilemmas, managed care's impact on the military, and much more. Social Work Practice in the Military is an essential guide for anyone working with military clients, families of military personnel, or near a military installation. This valuable book contains input from top current and past leaders within the ranks of military social workers to bring you a wide spectrum of firsthand ideas and input to help you better assist your military clients.Social Work Practice in the Military will help you better understand the diversity of social work practice within the military and the many unique situations a military social worker must face. This informative book will provide you with specific ways of improving the lives of your military clients and their families, such as: understanding how the most rapidly expanding arena of practice, family advocacy, which includes a broad array of family violence prevention and intervention services, can help military clients learning how TRICARE, the military managed health care program, impacts military families and social workers in order to provide your clients with the best care while working within the limited budget of a managed care program analyzing the historical discussions of the changing view of substance abuse treatment within the military and how you can best provide effective, multilevel services to your clients examining the extensive involvement of military social workers in a myriad of medical social work programs serving patients and families to help you offer the best patient care in situations involving domestic violence and drug abuse discovering essential skills for military social workers, such as, effective involvement in combat or deployed situations Through Social Work Practice in the Military, you will better understand the importance of your many roles as clinician, advocate, policymaker, resource liaison, and organizational consultant and learn how to successfully accomplish every one of these roles. Containing insight into the future directions of practice, this valuable book will help you effectively assist military clients and their families with the various challenges they face.

There is a dearth of understanding about the international literature on military social work with active service members. This narrative review spans the literature between 1944 and 2019 in an effort to grow the international military social work knowledge base. Of the 92 countries searched, 24 produced at least one publication about military social work with active military service members. Major themes identified among the articles reviewed included: the general scope of practice, practice in mental health and trauma, practice with special populations, practice with families, interdisciplinary practice and collaboration, ethical issues and dilemmas, and education and training.

This article reports on the outcome of an exploratory study on a university–agency collaboration in a Chinese context for transferring social work knowledge from academia to the field and beyond. A six-stage process characterised by interactive contributions from the university and the agency in question was identified from the trainees’ narratives of the content, process and their subjective experiences with the three-year collaboration. The two parties co-constructed and adapted knowledge oriented for a specific clientele and agency context, and they implemented the intervention together with underlying theories and ways of thinking. Through interactive practising and coaching, knowledge was indigenised and disseminated into and beyond the agency. The study highlighted the trainees’ active participation, the deep collaboration between the two parties and the trusting relationship within the changing power dynamics, and the comprehensive planning at the organisational level for a fully sustainable transfer of social work knowledge with tacit characteristics. Multiple implications for continuing professional education in social work are drawn.

This article presents a discussion of the concept of emotional intelligence and provides a rationale with reference to the relevant literature on the concept and significance of emotional intelligence in social work education. In this piece I argue that emotions can influence moral decision making in social work and may act as moral markers and motivators for social work practitioners and students. It offers my viewpoint on emotional intelligence based on my practice experience as a registered social worker, a social work educator and a learner completing a PhD in social work. Finally, I explicate some suggestions to further include emotional intelligence in the social workers’ ongoing professional development and social work students’ education.

This article provides a philosophical analysis of military social work, including its organizational forms, components, and main tasks. The factors influencing the effectiveness of military social work are discussed. Military social work is interpreted as an activity aimed at ensuring the rights and privileges of military personnel, creating favorable social conditions for them to effectively fulfill their duties.

This article is a review of Marjorie J. Smith's book, Professional Education for Social Work in Britain: An Historical Account, 2022. We present a comprehensive historical expression of the evolution of vocational education for social workers in the United Kingdom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The focus was on the initial training methods in social workers institutions, the transition to formal training schemes, the establishment and challenges of the School of Sociology, as well as the merger with the London School of Economics (LSE). This paper explores the ongoing tension between academic education and practical professional training in social work. As a valuable resource, this paper outlines the philosophical foundations, pedagogical approaches, and institutional challenges that shape social worker training. Through historical exhibitions, committee reports, and practical work reports, this paper provides a rich narrative that emphasises the importance of comprehensive education that integrates theoretical knowledge with practical skills. The review assesses the content, structure, and contribution of this book to the field of social worker education, exploring the target audience, advantages, and potential constraints as well as their relevance in contemporary discussions on training and preparation of social workers. In conclusion, the merger of the School of Sociology with the London School of Economics is not only a strategic step to maintain the quality and coverage of social worker education but also depicts further reflection on narratives that integrate social thinking and action into a more sustainable institutional framework.

The social work profession is grounded in principles of social justice, emphasizing the recognition and addressing of inequalities. Social work pedagogy has increasingly focused on anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks to confront historical injustices within the field. Despite their value to social work, when these frameworks are applied as singular or fixed ideological constructs, they may limit the inclusion of diverse perspectives in educational settings resulting in failure to address antisemitism. A recent example highlighting these limitations is the October 7, 2023 hamas attack and the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on social work education. The surge in antisemitism following these events reveals a gap in how anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks address the complexities and nuances of global conflicts. These frameworks, while essential, may not fully capture or contextualize issues like antisemitism that arise from international crises, suggesting the need for more adaptable and inclusive approaches to teaching social work. This study examines the experiences of social work educators, focusing on the professional challenges and personal toll of rising antisemitism following the events of October 7. It explores how these educators navigate hardships in their workplaces and classrooms, particularly as they intersect with anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks. By analyzing how they manage such struggles, the study offers valuable insights to enhance support for social work educators. Based on qualitative methods, this study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 23 social work instructors who identify as Jewish or are closely aligned with Jewish communities. The interviews, comprising 22 primarily open-ended questions, covered aspects of teaching, professional life, and personal experiences post-October 7. Thematic analysis was used to identify core themes from the interview responses. The current study sheds light on how participants navigate social work education and their professional identity amid rising antisemitism. Key to managing these challenges are leadership support and strong collegial relationships, which help them discuss sensitive topics and reduce fear. Yet, personal struggles and insufficient institutional support often exacerbate their experiences of antisemitism. This study highlights the critical importance of understanding and addressing the intersections of personal identity, historical trauma, and global conflict within social work education. The experiences shared by Jewish educators and those with affinity to Israel post-October 7 reveal how personal and generational traumas deeply impact professional responsibilities and relationships. The study calls for a shift in focus from political discourse to personal struggles, emphasizing the need for social work curricula to embrace complex understandings of global issues beyond the traditional anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks. Institutions can better support educators and students by fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment while addressing antisemitism with the same rigor as other forms of discrimination.