Durham E-Theses Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education: A critical realist comparative study of England and Spain MARTINEZ-HERRERO, MARIA,INES How to cite: MARTINEZ-HERRERO, MARIA,INES (2017) Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education: A critical realist comparative study of England and Spain, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11991/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: A CRITICAL REALIST COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ENGLAND AND SPAIN María Inés Martínez Herrero Social work´s emergence and historical evolution has been intertwined with evolving notions of human rights (HR) and social justice (SJ). These two principles permeate definitions of social work and codes of ethics for social work across the world, and the Global Standards for social work education promote human rights and social justice as unifying themes of the profession. Yet there is little understanding of how these themes are represented and transmitted to social work students in specific national contexts. This thesis explores understandings of HR and SJ among social work educators and the mechanisms used to transmit HR and SJ to social work students in two contrasting European countries, England and Spain. Using a critical realist framework, a web survey of social work educators and students was followed by qualitative interviews with educators in each country to identify opportunities and challenges in engaging with theories and practice implications of this HR and SJ based profession. The findings show that neoliberal ideology, which increasingly pervades higher education institutions and social work agencies in both England and Spain, places pressure on social work educators to convey narrow understandings of HR and SJ and adopt increasingly bureaucratic and distant relationships with students. The thesis brings to the fore the challenges experienced by social work educators and students in each country engaging with HR and SJ in social work curricula. But it also identifies key spaces for the promotion of a HR and SJ based social work and examples of resistance to neoliberal ideology in social work education. The thesis concludes that social work education at university degree level remains a fertile site for the deconstruction of, and development of resistance to, neoliberal ideology that threatens the HR and SJ basis of the social work profession. 1 Human rights and social justice in social work education: A critical realist comparative study of England and Spain. María Inés Martínez Herrero A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Applied Social Sciences Durham University 2016 2 Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 1 List of tables ....................................................................................................................................... 9 List of figures .................................................................................................................................... 10 List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... 11 Statement of Copyright .................................................................................................................... 12 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 13 Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 16 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 16 Human rights and social justice in social work and social work education ................................. 16 Definitions of human rights and social justice ............................................................................. 20 Myself and the research background ........................................................................................... 21 Research aims, objectives and questions..................................................................................... 24 Thesis structure ............................................................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 27 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 27 Social Work and Social Justice ...................................................................................................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 30 Theories of social justice .......................................................................................................... 32 Historical developments of social justice and social work ....................................................... 36 A social work and social work education for social justice in the globalized world of the 21st century ..................................................................................................................................... 44 Social Work and Human Rights .................................................................................................... 48 Introduction: Why human rights? What human rights? ......................................................... 48 An introduction to legal developments in human rights history and the UN promotion of Human Rights. .......................................................................................................................... 51 3 History of human rights in social work ..................................................................................... 56 Human rights and social work in the globalized world of 21st century ................................... 60 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND SPAIN: THE BACKGROUND ................. 71 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 71 The origins and value base of social work education in England and Spain ................................ 71 First schools of social work and social work education in the first half of the 20th Century: England and Spain. ....................................................................................................................... 73 The 1950s and 1960s: boom of social work education in England and Spain ............................. 75 England ..................................................................................................................................... 75 Spain ......................................................................................................................................... 76 Social work education in Spain from the 1970s to the introduction of the social work Degrees in England and Spain. ....................................................................................................................... 80 Spain ......................................................................................................................................... 80 England ..................................................................................................................................... 83 Developments after the introduction of the social work degrees in England and Spain ............ 87 Developments after the introduction of the Social work degree in Spain .............................. 87 Developments after the introduction of the Social work degree in England .......................... 89 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 95 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY I: RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................... 97 Introduction ................................................................................................................................