About the conference
Conference will be held online at 23rd September 2021
Address of the Instute of Social Work: Víta Nejedlého 573/4, Hradec Králové 500 03
The topics of the conference:
At the HSWD 2021 conference, let us consider the multifarious and variously understood challenges for social work. Whether we understand the challenges for social work as arising from internal factors (the motivation of the profession to achieve change) or from external pitfalls (imposed on social work by circumstances), they represent a wide range of problems to be overcome. What political challenges, what declarations, new agendas, appeals determining the direction of social work development are rushing in to impact this particular profession? Or is the profession at the helm, securely in control of its future direction? And what economic challenges, limits and constraints are to be expected right now? Should we anticipate a future of rapid development for the profession and the availability of ample resources? And how will the public health sector cope with all this in the future? Current challenges for social work associated with COVID-19 certainly need to be “ventilated” in the professional community. This means discussing the obstacles to be overcome in practice on the one hand, and the successes that have been achieved despite (perhaps the same) obstacles, on the other hand. Could all these challenges be met by using new and innovative technologies? But what if it is precisely these technologies that become insurmountable challenges for people and, over time, make them into social work clients?
We are therefore addressing you with this offer to comment on the challenges facing social work at the annual international conference Hradec Days of Social Work 2021. We believe that this challenge will not be beyond you, and that your contribution will encourage (or directly invite) other conference participants to get involved in the debate.
1. Political challenges for Social Work
Social work cannot be separated from politics because it reflects a variety of political pressures and challenges, not only from different levels of politics, but also within dominant political discourses. Therefore, it is very important to discuss what these pressures or challenges are and from what levels; how they affect the performance of social work and how social work manages to resist any discriminatory or oppressive demands. Other key issues include: How does social work manage to defend or promote clients’ rights? Are we using all opportunities to strengthen people’s participation in shaping the reality of their lives? How are we ourselves active citizens? How do we manage to co-operate with other professions? What role should social work play in issues of environmental responsibility and civic activism?
2. Economic challenges for Social Work
Since the 1980s, social work has faced funding cuts globally (in the context of post-totalitarian countries it is rather a case of long-term underfunding), with the privatisation of profitable services, while loss-making services remain public, and with efforts to introduce into its management and functioning market principles based on the mechanisms of new managerialism, outsourcing, efficiency, standardisation and competition. These trends pose a great challenge to the future of social work and raise a number of almost fatal questions concerning the role of social work in the relationship between the client and the state, the role of vocational education, the role of evaluation and, indeed, the very survival of social work. In this section, we would like to discuss, how social work could or should respond to these challenges.
3. Social and health contexts and Covid-19 as challenges for Social Work. Biopsychosocial and spiritual contexts of present days as challenges for Social Work
The present time, and especially the COVID-19 pandemic, brings not only medical challenges, but also changes in the psychological and social spheresthat are reflected on the spiritual level. This section will create a platform for sharing experiences, advice and recommendations on how to deal with a wide range of issues related to these changes in society.
4. Technological challenges for Social Work in the 21st century
Technologies define the level of maturity of a civilization and permeate all areas of human life, even those that until recently were the exclusive domain of human reason and emotion. We increasingly rely on them in our personal and professional lives. They can help us, make us more efficient and happier, but they can also become a weakness or a threat. In this section, we would like to discuss trends in and opportunities to use technology in social work, especially for contact with clients, where it can reduce the physical and mental demands of some activities and increase the quality of life of clients, as well as helping to maintain contact during the anti-epidemic restrictions. Do social workers have sufficient competencies for these challenges? Is investment in technological infrastructure in the social sector adequate? Will social workers be replaced by robots?
Is there a need for a special law regarding social workers? What should the forthcoming law on social housing look like? Will the legislation on the so-called “housing benefit-free zones” pass the constitutionality test? Does the legislation on inclusion in education work? Is it not time to amend the law on the social and legal protection of children? What needs to be changed in the law on social services? Is the support of employers in the sheltered labour market sufficient? Will the efforts to enforce pension reform through legislation succeed? These are just some of the legal and legislative challenges that social work faces. We will discuss these and many other issues in this section.
6. Political, economic, social and technological challenges for Social Work. International issues of Social Work (this section will be held in English language)
Within the thematic focus of the conference, it is possible to ask questions about the extent to which current policy affects the form and development of social work or the extent to which the economic level of society interferes with the performance of individual professions in the field of social work (and to what extent it influences the emergence of new social problems. It is also possible to ask questions about biopsychosocial, health and spiritual contexts related to e.g. COVID and the consequences these aspects can have for social work.This is directly linked to the obstacles and opportunities of legal and legislative challenges that society and the state may face.And last but not least, it is also possible to focus on the technological challenges and changes that social work and its individual professional orientations go through and face.
prof. Malcolm Fisk, Ph.D.
Malcolm Fisk gained his practice expertise in UK local government - where he specialised in housing, health and the social care of older people. Later, after spells in academia and the electronics industry, he established a company to undertake research focused on care services and technological innovation - enjoying considerable success within European Commission funded projects on ageing and assisted living. He returned to academia in 2010, first at Coventry University and now as Professor of Ageing and Digital Health at De Montfort University, Leicester where he draws on his expertise on ageing, responsible innovation and service standards. Notable is his recent leadership of the European Commission funded PROGRESSIVE project that examined standards around ICT and 'Active and Healthy Ageing'.
Malcolm is widely published and carries a strong reputation in his field – reflected in invitations to give keynote presentations internationally. Currently he is engaged as an expert for NICE (the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), ANEC (the European Consumer Voice on Standardisation) and the World Health Organisation (in respect of their Digital Health Strategy). He is writing a key text on telehealth which, he envisages, will help establish a new service paradigm for technologies that will truly empower older people.
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