The Journal of Adult Protection
Volume 2 Issue 4 • November 2000
© Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Limited
17
S
ince 1996, colleagues from the social work department of
the University of Hull have been working in partnership with
colleagues from similar departments in the Fachhochschule
Frankfurt, the Bundesakademie für Sozialarbeit, Vienna, the
Université of Aix-Marseille II and the Institut Méditeranéen
de Formation in Marseille to develop a European module on
comparative social work. This is a SOCRATES-sponsored
initiative which received funding for three years from 1997 to
2000. Partners are committed to introducing a comparative
European social work perspective to their teaching and to
promoting collaborative teaching and learning. By the end of
the funding period, each social work programme will have
adapted the prototype module to fit with local programme
requirements. This paper outlines the module that has been
developed, the focus of which concerns vulnerable older people.
Rationale and background
There are major challenges facing the welfare systems of
countries in Europe, challenges concerning, for example,
social exclusion and ethnic conflicts, relative poverty, increas-
ing numbers of people who are divorced and/or dependent
elders. Social work approaches to these common problems in
different European countries have mainly developed along
diverse lines as a consequence of historical antecedents and
inherited customs and practices. We take the view that it is
necessary to train social workers to transcend limited, culturally
specific perspectives and to introduce broader comparative
understandings and analysis into social work training.
Comparative European
module: protection of
vulnerable older people
Greta Bradley
Lecturer in Social Work, Social Work
Department, University of Hull
Bridget Penhale
Lecturer in Social Work, Social Work
Department, University of Hull
key words
social work education and training
comparative European module
protection of vulnerable
older people
abstract
For the past four years, the
social work department at the
University of Hull has been working
in partnership with colleagues from
Austria, France and Germany to
develop a European module on
comparative social work. Funded by
the EU’s SOCRATES programme, this
has involved the four European
sites developing and adapting a
prototype module concerning
vulnerable older people to fit with
their own programme requirements.
This paper describes what the
process has revealed.
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Professional
education