Family Planning: Implications for Social Work Education

New contributions to social work education, highlighted at the 1972 International Congress of Schools of Social Work held in the Hague, generate critical questions for social work educators on theory and experience, commitment and competence, authority and freedom. The contributions of “agology” from Holland, “conscientization” from Latin America and “animation” from France give new urgency to the old problem of defining the core and boundaries of social work. The paper postulates that the boundaries must be drawn to include social action and social change, while always maintaining an identifiable professional behavior which is the product of knowledge, values, and skills associated with a professional discipline.