Engaging social work students to think globally and act locally

In recent years international social work has been of increasing interest to social work educators. While some students enter with international experience and plans to continue international work after graduation, many are primarily involved in their local communities and have limited knowledge about how global issues relate to their actual practice.

Much literature has been devoted to international social work (Healy and Link, 2012), especially on developing field placements abroad (Lager Mathiesen, Rodgers, and Cox, 2009; Engstrom and Jones, 2007). Little attention, however, has been devoted to ways to educate students about the relationship of global issues to local health concerns. This presentation will begin with strategies to increase students' awareness of international health issues that impact on the welfare of their clients such as disease transmission patterns and comparative country health indicators.

Not only do students need to increase their awareness of global issues, but also to make connections between the global and the local. A major way to involve students in thinking globally, but acting locally on public health issues is through a focus on immigrants. Within their own communities students can learn about and become involved in advocacy on behalf of immigrants such as working to reduce hate crimes, to expand health benefits to all immigrants, to increase educational opportunities through the Dream Act and to promote a more open immigration policy on the state and federal level. Through advocacy activities on behalf of immigrants students can learn how to think globally, but act locally.