Newsletter n.2
Summer 2012
EASSW Newsletter n. 2/2012page 1
This is the second of the new series of EASSW newsletters, published to regularly update all the members on its activities and disseminate information of common interest on social work education in Europe.
In this issue you will find a message from the President, Susan Lawrence; a reminder on how to subscribe or renew your EASSW membership; and how to be constantly updated on social work education in Europe and EASSW through its website and Facebook group.
In the section "News" you can read about the Global Agenda and the 2012 World Social Work Day events in Europe.
In the section "Conferences, seminars and other study meetings" you will find some information on the 2013 ENSACT conference in Istanbul.
Suggestions and contributions (in Word format, please) for the newsletter should be sent to:
Thanks in advance and have a good read!
The Editors
EASSW Newsletter n. 2/2012page 1
Life of the Association
EASSW Newsletter n. 2/2012page 1
Letter from the President
The impact of the global financial crisis and the responses of the various international banking, monetary and governmental bodies have no doubt been occupying many of our thoughts and actions during the first half of 2012. As we see the impact of the public service cuts and shrinking of the independent care sector, we witness that the most vulnerable in our communities are being particularly adversely affected. Mass unemployment has become a reality in many countries and a generation of young people is being disadvantaged and de-skilled. As social workers we understand only too well the impact that these factors will have on those least able to cope with the harsh environment we find ourselves in today. We also witness the resulting rise in popularity of extremist right wing political groupings and forces and the threat to liberty that they represent.
Social workers and social work academics are responding in many ways to this hostile environment– from direct work with affected communities to demonstrations and civil action, social workers are mobilizing in the face of this new ruthless financial and political landscape. Some social workers and academics have seen their jobs cut or their salaries reduced but are still working with their colleagues to support and assist others. Higher education has not escaped the cuts in government spending and many courses are under threat of reduction or closure and some students are facing ever-higher fees.
We send our message of support to all our members and assure you that EASSW will do its utmost to bring pressure to bear in pursuit of positive change and to provide solidarity. I would urge all members to inform us of their news – so as an Association we can share and update each other about the events and responses in their region and bring collective support where it is required. Send news of events for our website or write a short article for our newsletter. If we share, we can support, and our collective voice will be even more effective.
Perhaps in light of the many pressures we are feeling, over the past few months, members of EASSW have been involved in a great deal of collective activity. EASSW members contributed towards making the worldwide week of social work between 20 and 26 March a great success. We were very encouraged to see the high profile of social work schools in these events and their level of engagement with the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development ( ). A selection of the many events that took place is profiled in this newsletter and on our website. EASSW produced a presentation for members and friends to use to introduce the Global Agenda. The Powerpoint is on our website and has a link to a film made by members from many different European countries, explaining what was happening to celebrate World Social Work Week.
EASSW are busy planning for our next ENSACT biennial conference in Istanbul from 17-19 April 2013 ( ). EASSW are working with four other social work and social development organizations to create a forum for our members to share innovation, research and practice along with service users and students. The title of the conference will be “Social Action in Europe: towards inclusive policies and practice” and details of the sub-themes can be seen on the website. We hope that the title and themes will provide a vibrant and exciting platform where participants can network with existing and new colleagues and friends and produce new ideas and ways to help shape social work and social work education into an ever-greater force for positive change in Europe.
Susan Lawrence
President European Association of Schools of Social Work - EASSW
May 2012
Eassw 2012 Membership
You will find all information about membership on our website: This includes information about categories and fee structure, application forms in English, French and Spanish and a list of member schools. For registration and payments follow the instructions under “application form”. Any question about membership registration may be directed to the EASSW Secretariat (mail: ).
EASSW on the internet: website and group on Facebook
Our new and improved website is available at . We invite you to visit the website regularly and with your help we will keep it updated
Follow us also on Facebook and share your networks. You will find us by searching for: "European Association for Schools of Social Work" or by link from our webpage.
With these two media facilities we hope to contribute to the promotion of excellence in social work education and the engagement of a community of social work educators in an international exchange of information and expertise.
EASSW Newsletter n. 2/2012page 1
News
EASSW Newsletter n. 2/2012page 1
The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development
Commitment to Action
EASSW continues to urge all members to become engaged and active in participating in dialogue and action with other social work organizations as outlined in the Global Agenda on Social Work and Social Development ( ).
The Gobal Agenda for Social Work and Social Development was presented to the Council of Europe
On Thursday, 22nd March 2012 the Vice President of EASSW, Günter J. Friesenhahn along with Thomas Goldberg from the European Region of the Council on Social Welfare presented the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social development at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
On behalf of the Secretary General, the President of the Conference of INGOs, Jean-Marie Heydt, received the Global Agenda .
Together with Thorsten Afflerbach (Head of Division; Social Cohesion and Diversity Department), Jutta Gützkow (Head of Division; Civil Society), Annelise Oeschger ( Chair of the Human Rights Committee) and Ralf-René Weingärtner (Director: Human Rights and Antidiscrimination) they discussed the main points of the Global Agenda and the role and functions of social work for a cohesive society.
Jean Marie Heydt welcomed the idea of strengthening the cooperation between social work organizations and the Council of Europe and expressed his willingness to support this process. The participants in this meeting identified a range of issues which are of high importance for permanent cooperation, e.g. anti-discrimination, social cohesion, human rights and the Social Charter.
They agreed to bring together academic expertise and professional experience in order to enhance the well-being of all Europeans. As a further step, it was suggested that we organize regularly common conferences around World Social Work Day and to implement the “New Strategy and Council of Europe Action Plan for Social Cohesion” in social work education and social work practice.
EASSW and ICSW have participatory status in the conference of INGOs and can use the next conferences and meetings to promote the Global Agenda.
Günter J. Friesenhahn
World Social Work Day – 20 March 2012 – and Social Work Action Week
Many events happened throughout Europe during the 2012 World Social Work Day and the Social Work Action Week.
Cyprus
The EASSW-affiliated social work programmes in Cyprus organised a multi-level intervention and campaign as part of the international social work week.
This campaign included:
- A presentation of the global agenda on national radio (CyBC). Vasilios Ioakimidis was invited by CyBC to discuss the main points of the agenda. He also highlighted the importance of the formation of grassroots alliances able to challenge the orthodoxy of neo-liberalism and austerity. (15/3/2012).
- The global agenda was sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, the EU office in Nicosia and the UN mission in Cyprus. Moreover, a press release was circulated among national media.
- The European University of Cyprus organised several activities within campus that aimed at informing the university community about the role of social work. This included discussions, relevant seminars and a photo competition.
- Social Work staff and students from the University of Nicosia attended lectures and discussions related to the social work action week.
Vasilios Ioakimidis
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Social Work Department of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo joined global social work community in celebrating the World Social Work Day on March 20. Being aware that ageing population will soon become high priority at socio-political agenda, it was decided to link this celebration with the topic of the European year 2012, which has been inaugurated as the year of active ageing and intergenerational solidarity. Therefore we gather social work academics, professionals and relevant decision-makers to mark the World Social Work Day and to discuss challenges of an ageing society in a round table discussion entitled “Social work in promoting active ageing and intergenerational solidarity“, as well . Our social work community - social work teachers and researchers, social work practitioners, social work students, service users and NGO activists - have been enriched by insightful presentations and fruitful discussions which highlighted immense but often not acknowledged contribution of the social work profession in developing more justice, more prosperous and more inclusive society.
We hope that many motivated social work actions and activities will follow out of the discussions that were presented.
Sanela Basic
Croatia
Social Work in Croatia has a centuries-long tradition in practice and 60 years of formal education. During this period different social work fields have been significantly advanced. A special contribution to society was given by social workers during the period of the war in Croatia. The last ten years has been a very dynamic period for social work education. During this period social work was included on the list of scientific disciplines and some new master degree courses and one new doctoral programme have been launched. Currently two new master programmes are in the process of accreditation: ‘Family mediation and social work’ and ‘Community development.’ Also the first summer school program on community development is being prepared and will be organized from the beginning of July this year. Social work action week this year was a good opportunity for social workers to show their broad range of activities to the public. They used this chance very successfully. The Croatian Association of Social Workers, which is composed of a federation of 16 regional associations stimulated the organization of different events (round tables, public campaigns, social actions etc.) that have been held in different Croatian regions. The Faculty of Social Work in Zagreb, as the only institution for the education of social workers in Croatia, has also strongly supported implementation of these activities. Faculty members were very active in communicating with the representatives of the Ministry responsible for social policy, informing them about the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. This contact resulted inthe joint organization of a social forum in Zagreb whose aim was informing the public about the Global Agenda. Through all these activities we are building partnerships and cooperation among practitioners, educators and politicians. This will be very important in the next period when the Ministry plans to create new laws important for the development of the social work profession as well as for further development of social care and the overall social policy in Croatia. This new legislation will be prepared as an attempt to answer the new challenges connected with the current economic and social situation in Europe and the challenges of Croatian accession to the EU that will occur on July 1st 2013.
Nino Zganec
Greece
The on-going financial crisis has definitely affected the content and direction of the activities included in the Social Work Action Week in Greece. For the first time in several years all social work schools in the country joined forces in order to organise a national conference, responding to the challenges that social work practice and education currently faces.
This event took place in Athens on the 27th of March and it was very well attended. Practitioners, academics and students discussed the current state of social work, the impact of austerity and suggested ways for social work intervention and activism.
Moreover, in Komotini, the social work programme of Democritus University of Thrace organised a very diverse set of activities that aimed at informing the public about social work. These activities included an open event in the main square of Komotini as well as the projection of the film "Oranges and Sunshine". At the same time most social work schools organised seminars and lectures regarding the character of the social work action week, the Global Agenda and the future challenges of the profession.
Vasilios Ioakimidis
Italy
In Italy meetings, seminars and other forms of event occurred. In the two biggest cities, that is Milan and Rome, the universities decided to have joint celebrations involving students, scholars, practitioners and policy makers. Between the many Italian universities celebrating the 2012 WSWD can be mentioned Torino, Piemonte Orientale, Siena, Sassari, Trieste, Trento, Salerno and Calabria. This latest, University of Calabria, organized a seminar focused on the “dignity and worth of the person” and dedicated the event to the social workers active in territories under the control of mafia and other criminal organizations. The national board of the social workers register, AIDOSS (the national association of the social work educators) and other professional associations sent a joint document to the Italian Government expressing their deep worries for the dramatic cuts of the welfare state and the worsening in the quality of the social work education.
Alessandro Sicora
Lithuania
On the eve of World Social Work Day an article in daily newspapers “From our own courtyard to the world concerns: are we able to solve Lithuanian and global social problems?” which pointed out difficulties of Lithuanian social workers and social work itself was published. On the March 20th social work students of Vilnius University organized a festival in which by using creative and playful methods told the academic community about the social work profession and spotlighted issues important for social work education and practice. The document closely related to the challenges social workers face - “Global Agenda” - was introduced at the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and handed to the executives and the Head of Social Work Council in Lithuania B. Švedaitė-Sakalauskė.
Violeta Gevorgianiene
Spain
Spanish universities have joined the celebration of the 2012-World Social Work Day: Universities of Alicante, Barcelona, Ramón Llull, Castilla-La Mancha en Talavera de la Reina, Complutense (Madrid), Deusto en Bilbao y San Sebastían, Granada, Málaga, Murcia, País Vasco, Valencia, Valladolid and Vic. The diverse activities realized have two common characteristics. On the one hand, the difficult economic, social and political context we are in. On the other hand, the joint work between universities and the General Council of Social Work (Professional Social Workers). In the activities students, teachers, professional social workers, politicians and experts from diverse areas of politics and social sciences have taken part. At the forefront was the serious current crisis in which we are not passive. Universities and social professional workers are denouncing the decrease of the human rights and the increase of the social problems that are causedby the cuts in social provision. And they are proposing alternative actions. An example is the Alianza para la Defensa del Sistema Público de Servicios Sociales (Alliance for the defense of the Social Services Public System). This is a plural group of experts supported by the professional General Council of Social Work with the participation of the Confederations of Social Entities, employers, and unions, as well as universities. Can you please support the Alliance Manifesto and sign it?