Editorial

2001/2002 ISSUE 4

In less than a month the 2002 School of Social Work Theory and Practice
will be in session. Some 100 colleagues and students from Africa, Asia, Europe, New Zealand and North America are registered at this point. Each of our five courses prepares of an annual symposium. This year we plan to focus on:

• "Towards Nonviolence and Social Inclusion" as part of the SW and Spirituality course,
• "Reaching Children" as part of the SW with Children and Youth Course,
• "Developing Local Social Policies" as part of the SW and Social Policies,
• "Social Work as Social Control" related to the SW with Juvenile Offenders Course, and
• "Social Movements, Civil Disablements and Human Rights" as part of the
  Developing Neighborhood and Community Support Systems Course.

On June 19 and 20 we will visit with Dr. Peter Erath and his associates to
review the newly proposed course "Social Work Theories and Strategies” (to learn more about the course please visit the NEWS section of the Journal).

We seek input widely, looking for the issues that preoccupy SW scholars,
students and practitioners, and cutting edge solutions related to actual issues. In more than 12 years of existence we managed to bring together an impressive, very diverse group reaching to all regions of the world. We reiterate the following:

• We are an honors program; a service to the profession and humanity. We are
  all volunteers. The IUC has a very small Secretariat of paid staff. This is what makes it truly unique. At the same time this puts very special expectations upon each of us to secure funding from our institutions and/or other sources. Formal membership of the IUC helps since all member institutions are expected to provide support for their faculty.
• The only difference between any of us - School Organizing Directors, Course Organizing Directors, Course Directors, Resource Persons (Lecturers) and Participants - is in the amount of work invested into our program before we meet in Dubrovnik. Once at the IUC we are all engaged in a truly wonderful, dynamic, open, egalitarian, participatory inquiry of the exchange of the ideas (theory) and experience (practice).

Since 1989 we have developed a strong network of over forty associates.
Although most of them come from Europe, USA and Canada we have at least one
connection in other regions. What follows is a very brief look at our network.

Co-founders of the School: Dr. Dada M. Maglajlic', Croatia/USA and Dr. Burt Galaway, USA
Organizing Director: Dr. Dada M. Maglajlic’, Croatia/USA

In addition, some twenty long-term associates help with promoting and defining
our annual program, serving as Resource Persons and/or Evaluators and Facilitators:

• Dr. Marlene Bock, Fachhochschule FB Sozialwessen Erfurt, Germany
• Dr. Martin Connell, M.D., PP Parkview Johannesburg, South Africa
• Mr. Arun Gandhi, Founder and Director, M.K. Gandhi Institute for
  Nonviolence, Christian Brothers University Memphis, Tennessee, USA/India
• Professor Sonia Jackson, Thomas Coram Research Unit, University of London, UK
• Dr. Zmira Laufer, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies - School
  of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel
• Dr. Stefan Matula, Research Institute of Child Psychology - Center for
  Pedagogical and Psychological Prevention Bratislava, Slovakia
• Dr. Anica Mikus-Kos, Sloveniaa Philantropy, a WHO Collaborative
  Institution Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Dr.Silvana Mojsovska, Institute for Social Policy, University of Skopje,
  Macedonia FYR
• Ms. Regina Mueller, NGO Programs Switzerland/Nepal
• Dr. Ksenija Napan, Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Community Studies
  UNITEC Auckland, New Zealand
• Dr. Mary Nash, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Massey University
  Auckland, New Zealand
• Professor E. Ives R. Nedeljkovic, Ph.D., University of Belgrade Serbia, YU
• Dr. Vlado Puljiz, School of Social Work, University of Zagreb, Croatia
• Ms. Andrea Tonc, Small Grants manager, Academy for Educational Development
  (AED) Zagreb, Croatia
• Dr. Elka Todorova, Varna Free University Department of Social Work Bulgaria
• Dr. Ben Yanoov Chetkov, Bar-Ilan University, Rosh Pina, Israel

A minimum of that many colleagues stay in touch and join us every second or third year. Keeping in mind the above-mentioned structural facets, this is one of the elements that keep us truly unique. This year, in one of the five symposia, we plan to take a closer look at social work as social control. More often than we are willing to admit our wonderful profession operates from the power and control position. With our modus operandi such an approach is practically impossible. Sharing the approach by attracting as many as possible faculty/researchers, practitioners and students should be one of our priorities.

Social work is known as a profession with many faces, many specialties. About half are related to working with children and youth and their families. This, the fourth issue of the journal, has a selection of eight lectures related to children and youth. Lectures were presented within the four different courses/symposia:

• Social Work With Children and Youth (Sonia Jackson, Peter Erath, Dada M.
  Maglajlic', Toyin Okitikpi, Pedro Rankin),
• Developing Neighborhood and Community Support Systems (Stefan Matula),
• Social Work and Social Policies (Ron and Zmira Laufer), and
• Social Work With Juvenile Offenders (Brian Williams).

Our educational background, our experiences and our culture also differ quite a
bit. One of the common elements is a passion for working with children and youth, contributing to the prevention of problems at all three levels, elaborating on the UN Convention on the Rights of Children and all other relevant documents implementation of which promotes a better, more just and egalitarian life for most children.

Active participation in our annual program at the IUC Dubrovnik provides an
excellent framework for the exchange of the ideas (theory) and experience (practice). It is hard, and for many colleagues practically impossible, to secure funding. We invite all to an open dialogue. Please send us your comments and contributions. In 1999, while working on our orientation for the future document, we established an E-mail contact with all associates unable to join us for the 10th Anniversary Conference. We continue to use this method. Thus, you can send your contribution (and we will respond to it) while school is in session during the month of June. You can also send us your somewhat independent contribution in the form of a brief report related to a selected set of topics within the social work theory and practice. We welcome your inputs.

 

 

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Copyright for the I.U.C. Journal of Social Work Theory and Practice is owned by the Social Work Program, Department of Social Relations and Services, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota, USA. One copy may be made (printed) for personal use; teachers may make multiple copies for student use if the copies are made available to students without charge. Permission must be secured from the editors for sale of any copies of articles or for any commercial use of the material published in the Journal.