Summary

A critical indication of social work professionalization is the establishment of a self-governing regime, i.e., a publicly accountable gate-keeping system, to ensure the competence and ethical practice of its members in serving the best interest of their service users. In many countries, this professional regime is composited of two interrelated mechanisms, including social work education and professional registration, which have been used to certify the credential of the professionals. In most countries, social work education is responsible for selecting and training (or acculturating) competent new practitioners who can practice ethically upon graduation. An increasing number of countries have required social workers to register in order to protect the best interest of the society. Across different countries, the autonomy of and relationship between these two mechanisms vary greatly depending on the civil societal root of the profession and the influence of state’s ideology and policies. So far, studies of the organization and operation of social work gatekeeping regime in different countries are scant and scattered. In a highly mobile transnational condition, the recognition of professional credential is vital for social workers who choose to migrate or work in different countries. A shared identity based on the Global Definition of Social Work is insufficient to ensure a proper transfer of credential. In this workshop, the co-organizers will first share how the social work regime works in their countries and present some common threads across these different regimes. In the second half of the workshops, participants are invited to discuss the possibility of a global project to set up an online portal or hub to document how different regimes work across the world.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Professionallzation, Social Work Credential, Gatekeeping, Professionalization Regime, Social Work Registration, Social Work Education