Transforming Social Work Curricula: Institutional Supports for Promoting Sustainability |
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| Authors: | Kelly Melekis Valerie Woodhouse |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Kelly Melekis &2. Valerie Woodhouse, Department of Social Work, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USAkelly.melekis@uvm.edu;4. Valerie Woodhouse, Department of Social Work, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA |
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| Abstract: | Due to the centrality of human rights and social justice in the profession, social work must collectively take a stand on ecological degradation and the climate crisis. Overall, social work education's engagement with issues of sustainability and an expanded ecological justice perspective has been peripheral and piecemeal. It is crucial that social work education expand opportunities to prepare social workers to respond to the global environmental crisis. This conceptual paper considers strategies for integrating environmental content in social work curricula and addresses the essential role of institutional supports for curricular change and professional development focused on sustainability. The role of institutional supports to advance curricular change to respond to environmental crises and promote sustainability is highlighted, along with specific examples from the authors' home institution, including (1) institutional commitment and culture, (2) curricular supports and guidelines, and (3) interdisciplinary faculty development. |
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| Keywords: | Curriculum Development Environmental Social Work Sustainability Ecological Justice Deep Ecology Social Justice Human Rights |
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