Course Description
This course is designed for undergraduate students to introduce international social work and the theories and strategies of social work and social development in both industrial and developing countries. The course aims to explore how socio-cultural, historical, economic and political factors impact on country’s choice for unique social work/welfare and development strategy in an era of globalization. Students will engage in critical thinking and analysis of global social welfare issues including United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to post 2015 development agenda, poverty, inequality, child welfare, preventable diseases especially HIV/AIDS, women’s issues, population migration, and climate change. This course is relevant for social work students seeking to practice international social work and/or to apply international social work principles to practice in South Korea or elsewhere around the world.
Course Objectives
Knowledge
1) To acquire an analytic frame for understanding central problems addressed by international social workers
2) To understand the most pressing global social problems such as global poverty, human trafficking, climate change, international child welfare, HIV/AIDS, educational inequalities, and issues related to refugees and immigrant rights
3) To acquire knowledge in the areas of social policy, direct practice, research, cross-cultural collaboration, and human development in the context of international social development
4) To formulate one’s model of international social work practice based on the knowledge, values, and skills of the profession.
Values
1) To acquire a human rights and empowerment orientation to use as a base for making decisions about values and planning of practice interventions
2) To understand the difficulties in conceptualizing ethics on a global scale, especially the tension when local cultural values conflict with universal values based on internationally-accepted human rights doctrines
Skills
1) To become able to critically evaluate social problems and potential social work responses to international social work and development context
2) To be able to comprehend the international social work discourse and then be able to implement it