The relevance of Global Standards to social work education in Australasia

Abstract

Underpinned by the Global Standards published for the promotion of quality social work education, and as a benchmark for social work education at national levels, a qualitative content analysis is conducted to explore the alignment of national standards of the Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia regulatory bodies with the Global Standards. A number of equity issues are identified: service users and student participation, student representativeness, indigenous rights and political action, gender and cultural equity, and equitable access. The implications for social work education internationally are considered, including a possibility of the role of the Global Standards in democratizing social work education.