Developing professional identity is essential to social work education. This course traces social work’s shift from a volunteer activity into the professional realm. The course offers the historical, philosophical, and theoretical foundations for supporting social work students to develop their professional identities. It includes a brief examination of the emergence of social work practices across time and context through periods of industrialization, the post-war expansion of human services, and into our present neoliberal era. The course attempts to situate the profession within influencing discourses (ethos, virtues, risk, and identity) and theoretical perspectives (critical theories, de-coloniality and resurgence) and invites students to situate themselves with the competing and emerging ideas of the profession’s future. The course introduces students to current regulatory frameworks for social work professionals across jurisdictional contexts. May not be held with SWRK 3141 or the former SWRK 3140.
