Henry Parada

Going home: Social work across and about borders

This article explores the idea of returning home to the South to practise social work. Through our experiences as members of diasporic communities living in the North, we examine how we are implicated in the tensions that surround social work practice and research as efforts to internationalize continue to grow. Specifically, we explore the following themes: the neo-managerial underpinnings of the internationalization of social work; neocolonialism embedded in occupying the role of the reluctant expert; and what we carry with us to help us negotiate the tensions that we experience in navigating our practices across borders.

The changing status and growth of social work education worldwide: Process, findings and implications of the IASSW 2010 census

The dramatic growth in social work education is documented in the International Association of Schools of Social Work’s 2010 census of institutions offering at least one degree program in social work. The census gathered data on program structure, personnel, student enrollment and curriculum from 473 respondents in the five IASSW regions. Half of the respondents reported requiring course content in social work history, values or ethics, and 20 percent of required courses are taught by non-social work educators. The expansion of social work programs is indicative of social work’s untapped potential for delivering social justice content on the international stage.

“Essential cogs in the innovation machine”: The discourse of innovation in Ontario educational reform

In this article we explore a Canadian example of how the language of innovation reproduces discourses of neoliberalism in postsecondary education policy documents. How innovation is defined and used in postsecondary education is explored through the analysis of international and regional policy documents. Through our research we ask how has the global discourse of innovation been incorporated into the transformation of postsecondary education in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. Further we ask the question, what does innovation signify in the policies and directives of postsecondary institutions in Ontario? As well, does innovation reproduce neoliberal discourses of profitability, uncertainty and the knowledge economy when it is situated in policies that affect postsecondary governance? We argue that innovation is a discursive practice with specific and profound impacts on the language of higher education. By focusing on the province of Ontario, we were able to explore how documents produced by the government and its related agencies about higher education encourage innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in an attempt to increase productivity. Although this discourse of innovation is rooted in historic processes of liberalism, specific policy initiatives, such as the Strategic Mandate Agreements discussed in this article, bring the discourse of innovation into sharp focus and underline a preoccupation with the priorities of neoliberal governance. We call for a broader discussion about the meaning and purpose of the discourses of innovation, creativity, productivity, and entrepreneurship in higher education. Without this type of interrogation these discourses function as an episteme that is assumed to have a widespread, a priori value, which may obscure the dramatic transformations, such as the move to tailor education solely to the market economy, the rise of reductive outcome measures for student and faculty evaluation, the commercialization of knowledge, the pursuit of efficiencies in the postsecondary sector, and the corporatization of governance that are occurring within higher education.

Emerging practices of social work in the Dominican Republic The protection of women's and children's safety

English This study is based on consultation with governmental institutions working with women and children in the Dominican Republic and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, which is part of a six-year project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. We report on some of the preliminary findings and the conceptualization of social work interventions within the Dominican Republic. French Cette étude s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un projet de six ans financé par l’Agence canadienne de développement international (ACDI) et elle s’appuie sur des consultations auprès d’institutions gouvernementales oeuvrant auprès des femmes et des enfants de la République dominicaine et de la Université Autonome de Santo Domingo. Elle fait état de quelques constats préliminaires et elle conceptualise l’intervention en travail social en République dominicaine. Spanish Este estudio se basa en la consulta de instituciones gubernamentales que trbajan con niños y mujeres en la República Dominicana y la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, la cual forma parte de un proyecto de seis años fundado por la IDA Canadiense. Nuestro reporte se basa en los hallazgos preliminares y la conceptualización de la intervención del trabajo social dentro de la República Dominicana.

A social work re-reading of students as consumers

Abstract The concept of student as consumer highlights significant shifts in what Canadian students pay for their education and how this transition has shaped their relationship with learning as well as their overall expectations for, and participation in, the project of higher learning. Consumerism in social work education reflects broader trends towards academic capitalism in Canadian universities and is a result of neoliberal ideology reshaping higher education. In this paper, we explore student and faculty participants’ reflections on the impact of consumerism on progressive social work education, exploring how participants use the term to make sense of their experiences and how doing so reshapes progressive social work education itself.