Coverage of environmental issues in undergraduate curricula in social work in four European countries

The UK, Switzerland, Germany and Greece

Bibliographic Data

ID21496089
AuthorsEvripidis Papadimitriou (Democritus University of Thrace, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume42
Issue7
Pages1038-1056
Publication date2023-10-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Work Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-5479 • E-ISSN: 1470-1227
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02615479.2022.2028763
OpenAlexW4205255776
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited68

The inclusion of the natural environment in the theory, education and practice of social work has increasingly become a matter of interest amongst scholars and social work educators. There is a large and increasing amount of literature on this topic. However, the inclusion of environmental issues in the curricula seems to be evolving very slowly to date. This paper examines 94 social work curricula in four European countries, and notes the presence of environmental issues in their content, by using term categories. Findings show that the natural environment is extremely under-represented in the education of social workers. The paper argues that social work curiccula need to undergo immediate reform on an international level. The discussion section includes suggestions on how the natural environment could be integrated into social work curricula. The first suggestion is to create new subjects with a direct reference to environmental issues and green social work. The second one is to include in existing subjects topics that will draw on environmental sociology and focus on the interconnections between social and environmental problems

Curriculum · Engineering ethics · Environmental education · Geography · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Social Pedagogy · Social science · Sociology · Engineering · Homelessness and Social Issues · Law · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work