Abstract
Social work, and social work education, is increasingly challenged by the changing nature of the globalized environments that it works within. The local and the global are deeply intertwined, leading to complex transnational problems and shared risks that continue to impact heavily on communities. Cultural diversity plays a key role in this, providing a number of opportunities as well as threats to the ways in which people and communities interact. This chapter explores some of the responses of the social work profession in India and Australia to the challenges experienced in the globalized world and discusses these responses in relation to human rights and social justice. The role of community development in this context is then examined, and its relevance to social work education is discussed. We argue that traditional forms of community development have not been very effective at working with diversity and look towards new ways in which professionals can engage with this realm of activity. The chapter closes with an exploration of possible future directions for social work educators to consider.
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Gopalkrishnan, N. (2020). The Critical Role of Community Development in Social Work Education. In: Ponnuswami, I., Francis, A.P. (eds) Social Work Education, Research and Practice . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9797-8_8
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