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Teachers in Swedish schools are to balance the values implemented by the law and at the same time try to respect the freedom of religion for the pupils. Aim of the study was to empirically investigate how teachers deal with pupils being Jehovah's Witnesses, a minority religion. Interviews with 11 informants who was members of Jehovah's Witnesses during the time in school (age 13 - 16) was conducted as well as interviews with two teachers as well as one school-psychologist and one school-counsellor. The study found that teachers often are lost in situation with children belonging to minority religion. Implications for practice are given.

Decision support systems are known to be helpful for professionals in many medical professions. In social work, decision support systems have had modest use, accompanied by strong criticism from the profession but often by praise from political management. In this study the aim of the authors was to collect and report on the published evidence on decision support systems in social work. The conclusion of the authors is that a decision support system gives support to social workers in conducting a thorough investigation, but at the same time gives them the freedom to make autonomous decisions that might be the most helpful for and used by social workers. Their results also indicate that decision support systems focusing on atypical rather than typical cases are perceived as the most useful among experienced staff.

Universities in the Global North teach social work in the Global South from time to time. This article aims to describe and discuss such projects from a pedagogical aspect, with a focus on teaching styles. Nine interviews were conducted with Swedish teachers who had experience of teaching in Iraqi Kurdistan. The article sketches their strategies they developed during their period of teaching social work abroad. The teachers had different ways of handling the teaching situation and the styles were divided into three major types. These styles are referred to here as Co-traveller, Therapeutic and Socratic.

Denna rapport presenterar en översikt av forskning om evidensbaserad praktik (EBP) i svenskt socialt arbete inom den kommunala socialtjänsten och andra verksamheter inom den svenska socialvården. Syftet är att beskriva forskningsläget om EBP i socialt arbete samt ge förslag till fortsatt forskning på området. I rapporten redovisas forskning om stöd, attityder och förhållningssätt till det evidensbaserade arbetet med fokus på organisation, chefer och första linjens socialarbetare. Resultaten visar att genomförandet av EBP i socialt arbete till stora delar styrts centralt av Socialstyrelsen. Den EBP-version som på detta sätt prioriterats och spridits skulle kunna kallas en guideline-modell. Forskning visar också att svenska socialarbetares anpassning till ett EBP-koncept enligt guideline-modell är relativt svagt. Trots det är socialarbetare liksom sina chefer överlag allmänt positiva till EBP, men det finns också en relativt stark oro för att den version av EBP som sprids av Socialstyrelsen är för rigorös för att passa praktiskt socialt arbete. Mot bakgrund av det fokus som forskningen haft och de kunskapsluckor som finns om socialarbetares förhållande till en reflekterande praktiker-modell avslutas rapporten med att ge ett förslag på framtida möjliga forskningsfrågor utifrån detta perspektiv.

Denna rapport har som syfte att göra en översyn av magisterprogramet i evidensbaserat socialt arbetes första år. Intervjuer har genomförts med studenter, lärare samt representanter för arbetslivet (kommuner). I rapporten presenteras följande förlag; 1) Att avsluta fri-fart, fri-start upplägget och istället införa fast fart (25% alt. 50%)  takt för studierna. Kurserna kan fortfarande bestå av inspelade föreläsningar och ha en stor flexibilitet, inom terminsgränserna. 2) Att begränsa examinationerna till fem. 3) Att ha kvar distans/nätundervisningen och att uppmuntra kursansvariga att lägga in diskussionstrådar, chat, connectmöten och bjuda in studenter som bor nära studieorten att närvara vid streamade föreläsningar. 4) Att ge möjligheter till ett program. Att erbjuda magisterkurserna som fristående kurser som sedan vägs samman i en magisterexamen. 5) Att inrätta ett programråd där återkommande diskussioner förs kring socialarbetarnas utbildning, policyns implementering och vidarutveckling.

This study investigated how young teenagers, as members of a strong religious organization, dealt with the school situation and the encounter with mainstream culture taking place at school during the final years in Swedish primary school (age 13-15 years). The purpose was to explore possible strategies that members of a minority group, in this case the Jehovah’s Witnesses, developed in order to deal with a value system differing from that of the group. We interviewed eleven former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses about their final years in compulsory Swedish communal school. The ages of the interviewees ranged between 24 and 46 years, and the interviewed group comprised six men and five women. Nine of the eleven interviewees had grown up in the countryside or in villages. All but two were ethnic Swedes. The time that had passed since leaving the movement ranged from quite recently to 20 years. The results revealed three strategies; Standing up for Your Beliefs, Escaping, and Living in Two Worlds. The first two strategies are based on a One-World View, and the third strategy, Living in Two Worlds, implies a Two-World View, accepting to a certain extent both the Jehovah’s Witnesses outlook as well as that of ordinary society. The strategy Standing up for Your Beliefs can be described as straightforward, outspoken, and bold; the youngsters did not show any doubts about their belief. The second subgroup showed an unshakeable faith, but suffered psychological stress since their intentions to live according to their belief led to insecurity in terms of how to behave, and also left them quite isolated. These people reported more absence from school. The youngsters using the strategy Living in Two Worlds appeared to possess the ability to sympathize with both world views, and were more adaptable in different situations.

Sweden is among the most secular countries in the world and Jehovah’s Witness is a fundamentalist Christian organization with an ambition to present its interpretation of the Bible as truth. Emerging adults in Jehovah’s Witness are expected to behave and believe according to rules and a view of life which distinguish them from the values and teachings of the Swedish school.  The aim of the paper is to present strategies and reflections among Jehovah’s Witnesses in Swedish secondary school to meet the expectations of the religious community, when these are in conflict with the values and teachings of the school. Interviews with eleven former Jehovah’s Witnesses, now adults, have been conducted in the tradition of grounded theory. Strategies found where; 1) to stand up for their belief; 2) double standard and 3) flight. The reflections concern what it is to be an authentic person and the social context.

This is a book about social workers and social work. It tells the story of the journey into and through social work of people from around the world living and working in social work today. We hear what has brought them into social work and what has kept them in it since. Their lively accounts demonstrate that commitment and passion remain at the heart of social work today. This new edition of Becoming a Social Worker is made up of entirely new stories. It describes what it is like to be a social worker in a range of different practice settings in different countries. While many of the narratives are from practitioners and educators who either grew up in, or came as adults to, the UK, half of the narratives explores the experiences of social workers and educators working in different parts of the world in countries as diverse as Australia and New Zealand, India and Bangladesh, Ireland, Sweden and Eastern Europe, Nigeria, the USA and Canada. The book ends with a commentary, which argues that social work is truly a global profession.Some of the contributors will be recognised as those who have played a key part in shaping social work over the years and they provide valuable insights into how the profession has developed over time. Other contributors, less well known but no less interesting, give a vivid account of the challenges that social work education and practice face, and the shared values that underpin social work wherever it is located. Social work is a demanding and difficult job that goes largely unseen within society. We only ever hear about social work and social workers when something goes wrong and a vulnerable adult or child is hurt. Becoming a Social Worker sets out to change that - to make social work visible, so that those considering a career in the caring professions across the world can make an informed choice about whether social work is the career for them.

The intended aim of this paperis to discuss motivation and personal traits among social work students andimplication to international social work. An enquiry was made to investigatethe motivation, values and expectation among first year social work students atfour universities in Sweden. There is previous evidence that education havedifficulties forming students values, and the effect follows that it isbecoming vital to attract and accept the best students for the profession. Oneof the investigated universities did have a different form of admission systemsince half of their students were accepted after a test and an interview. Thepresentation aims to present results from the survey as well as discuss how theresults of the Swedish social work students differed in between theuniversities and from international research of social work students.

Universities in the Global North teach social work in the Global South from time to time. This paper aims to describe and discuss such projects from a pedagogical aspect, with a focus on teaching styles. Nine interviews were conducted with Swedish teachers who had experience of teaching in Iraqi Kurdistan. The paper sketches their strategies they developed during their period of teaching social work abroad.The teachers had different ways of handling the teaching situation and the styles were divided into three major types. These styles are referred to hereas Co-traveller, Therapeutic and Socratic.