Call for Chapters for the SpringerBriefs Book series on Advancing Social Work Education.
Title of Proposed Book
Emergence of Social Work Scholarships in the Global South
Description of the Book
Social work educators and practitioners in the Global South countries have to work around constantly evolving social, political and economic conditions and overcome unique challenges to advance education and practice that are often unimaginable in the Global North context.
With the problematic dominance of ethnocentric theories and practices, the call for anti-oppressive and culturally sensitive social work has paved the way for decolonising and reforming social work education in the Global South. Harms Smith (2020), Green & Baldry (2016) had called for incorporating indigenous worldview into social work curricula to support the advancement of a decolonised social work.
However, to generate counter narratives and bring in fresh perspectives in contemporary social work, forward looking social work relies on the decolonial voices to share their knowledge and methods. As indigenous voices gradually find expression in mainstream literature, there is an increasing interest in, and need for, understanding the trade-off and challenges for social work scholarships to emerge in the Global South. It is equally important to recognise the painstaking and admirable efforts they have made, against all odds, to confront the narratives of the universalisation of social work education, methods of practice and international social work, and promote traditional practices in contemporary settings.
This book aims to provide a platform for scholars from the Global South countries to evaluate the drivers of change, define the problems, and reflect upon their unique experiences in carving out pathways to facilitate the emergence of social work education and scholarships. Such evaluation and analysis would serve as a basis to inform actionable strategies for future social work education development in specific countries, as well as valuable lessons to share with other countries. In addition, this book aims to facilitate a well-networked partnership of scholars to take the lead in, and sustain, the debate and discussion on the topic from native perspectives.
Proposed Chapter Themes
- Historical development of social work education
(E.g., Describe the historical and cultural assets in the context of the country, identify key stakeholders, describe the elements that drive changes, examine a potential of future social work education development etc.) - Trends, challenges and opportunities of professionalisation of social work. (E.g., Describe the current landscape and needs, examine global and local standards for social work education and training, analyse the contribution of non-indigenous knowledge to social work education and practice, etc.)
- Pathways that facilitate the emergence of social work education and scholarship
(E.g., Identify the innovative programmes, online teaching, e-courses on social work practice learning and teaching, examine innovative approaches to social work education, describe the process from an individual, organisational or national perspective and analyse the effectiveness of changes, examine what and who supports the implementation process, etc.)
Key Dates
| Action | Date (Deadline) |
| Call for Abstracts | January – February 2024 |
| Submission of Abstracts | End of February 2024 |
| Notification to Authors | Early March 2024 |
| Submission of Full-Length Chapters | 30 May 2024 |
| Peer Review | May – July 2024 |
| Reviewers’ Comments to Authors | mid July 2024 |
| Submission of Revised Chapters | 30 September 2024 |
| Submission of the Book Manuscript | 31 October 2024 |
Submission Guidelines
1. Interested authors should submit a 100-200 word abstract, plus 5-10 key words and list of authors and affiliations, and a short biography for each author (no more than 100 words) to the editor of the book to: editor.advancingswed@polyu.edu.hk
The corresponding author should be identified (by an asterisk, for example) and the corresponding email should be included. The editors will review all submitted abstracts and will invite potential authors to submit their full-length chapters if the abstracts are accepted.
2. Authors should submit their chapters to the editors via emails.
3. All submission should reflect research and scholarship that has been conducted in an ethical manner and will be vetted by the editorial team. Details of the formatting and word count will be sent to potential authors.
Introducing the SpringerBriefs Series in “Advancing Social Work and Social Work Education”
The title of this volume is “Emergence of Social Work Scholarships in the Global South”. This is part of the SpringerBriefs series in Advancing Social Work and Social Work Education.
The SpringerBriefs series in Advancing Social Work and Social Work Education features compact volumes of 50 to 125 pages. The maximum word count for each volume is 48,000 words. The length of each chapter is 4,000 words minimum up to 6,000 words maximum. It presents concise summaries of cutting-edge research and practical applications. The series provides an updated survey of international social work education as well as a resource for the future of social work education. It covers a range of content from professional to academic and may consist of timely reports of state-of-the art analytical techniques, reports from the field, snapshots of hot and/or emerging topics, literature reviews, and in-depth case studies.
The series partner is International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the series editors are Professors Carolyn Noble and Ngoh Tiong Tan.
Volume Editors
Prof. Wing Hong Chui, Head and Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Co-Director of the Policy Research Centre for Innovation and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Prof. Angelina Yuen-Tsang, Former President of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), Former Vice-President (Student and Global Affairs) and Honorary Professor of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
