Sarah Cemlyn

Asylum seeker young people: Social work value conflicts in negotiating age assessment in the UK

This article examines social work with separated young asylum seekers following armed conflict, and focuses on ethical issues arising from contradictions between core social work values and immigration control. It considers problems facing these young people and policy responses internationally, in Europe and the UK. The tension between child welfare and immigration control permeates these responses, with the latter usually trumping the former. Age assessment is a particularly contentious issue involving UK social workers. Drawing on findings from a study of age assessment practice, the study concludes with the centrality of maintaining social work values and links with wider campaigning.

Education for Citizenship and Social Justice: The Case of Gypsies, Travellers and Roma

Cemlyn and Ryder provide a cogent, multi-layered analysis of the barriers and potential of education for active and participatory citizenship and social justice for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma across Europe. In the context of widespread and entrenched structural inequalities and injustice for these minorities, they review developments in citizenship theories for their relevance, including multicultural, post-national, feminist and radical democratic citizenship, and the inclusive values of justice, recognition, self-determination and solidarity. Drawing on examples from the UK, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, they explore the challenges of unequal access, bullying and curricular non-inclusivity in Western Europe; persistent segregation and exclusion in Eastern European countries; and highlight the value of community empowerment and critical engagement with education, and alliances between communities, professionals and policy advocates.