This unique book provides an international comparison of labour markets, migrant professionals and immigration policies, and their interaction in relation to social work. Case studies based on the latest research from the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia allow readers to make critical comparisons and gain understanding of the global nature of the social work profession. Detailed analysis covers the opportunities and challenges presented by labour market mobility, the implications for social justice and discussion of the experiences and perceptions of transnational social workers. Essential reading for social work educators, academics and professionals, this book will also inform the development of relevant policy, professional, and educational responses to the phenomenon of transnational social work mobility.

This popular and innovative core text book explores contemporary social work theories and perspectives in a systematic way, using an integrated and flexible framework to link context, theory, and practice approaches. Healy expertly provides an applied guide to social work theory across a range of organisational contexts, showing social work as a diverse activity that is profoundly shaped by professional purpose, public policy, and practice locations. This edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect developments in the contexts and theorising of social work practices. This is ideal reading to support and develop undergraduate and postgraduate students taking modules on Social Work Theories and Methods on qualifying professional programmes. Its international breadth and supportive pedagogical features have ensured the book's value to students of social work all over the world. New to this edition: - New sections on post-humanism and eco-social work - Coverage of a broader range of critical approaches including feminist and anti-racial social work - Additional practice exercises drawn from realistic case studies.

As a social worker, you are required to communicate in writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences. This text guides you through all you need to know to develop your social work writing skills: Essential elements of written communication Writing skills in daily practice Macro-practice writing skills: obtaining resources and creating change Influencing your professional context Now with two new chapters on writing for local mass media and writing for social media. Hot tips for effective writing, reflective exercises & further reading are included in every chapter to help you cement your skills and become a confident and effective written communicator.

As a social worker, you are required to communicate in writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences. This text guides you through all you need to know to develop your social work writing skills: Essential elements of written communication Writing skills in daily practice Macro-practice writing skills: obtaining resources and creating change Influencing your professional context Now with two new chapters on writing for local mass media and writing for social media. Hot tips for effective writing, reflective exercises & further reading are included in every chapter to help you cement your skills and become a confident and effective written communicator.

This brilliantly systematic and comprehensive textbook provides an integrated approach to social work theory, methods and skills as the bedrock of all social work practice. Recognizing social work as a diverse activity that is rooted in common foundations, it explains how practice both shapes and is shaped by professional purpose. The text also explores the diverse range of social work practice methods available and aims to equip the reader with a foundation in the history and application of these varied approaches. Offering a step-by-step discussion that will empower readers to critically develop and refine their professional toolkit for purposeful and innovative intervention, this original rationale is an essential resource for any social work student or practitioner looking to build, or consolidate, their understanding of the range of methods and skills available for effective professional practice.

`Karen Healy has written a very interesting and worthwhile book that explores the relevance and significance of postmodern theory to social work. It provides a well-argued account of recent developments in social work theory? However, it is not simply an account of theory, as considerable effort goes into making links between the theory and its implications for practice. ?[I]t offers a sound foundation for exploring issues of theory and practice.

A major strength of the book is that it shows that some of the significant flaws in earlier attempts to develop critical approaches to practice should not lead us to assume that radical approaches are necessarily oppressive in themselves, or doomed to failure?

It should serve its purpose well in prompting educators, policy-makers and practitioners to begin to take on board the critique of dominant approaches to social work theory and to help us guard against the dangers of dogmatism and orthodoxy' - European Journal of Social Work

`Karen Healy profoundly challenges, in the context of the postmodernity of late capitalism, many of the assumptions upon which the critical tradition in social work has been founded. This is a book which interrogates not only the emancipatory metanarratives of left perspectives from her position within the left, but also questions many of the received ideas about her professional power and identity, and about the kinds of social work practices necessary in order to continue to pursue welfare as an emancipatory project under transformed ideological and material circumstances. This is a most significant contribution to the debates which confront social work, worldwide, at the present time' - Peter Leonard, McGill University, Canada

How should social workers be responding to the crises which beset the welfare states of the 21st century? Could postmodern theory provide some of the answers?

This original and stimulating book provides a critical review of contemporary social work theory and considers its relevance for professional practice. Karen Healy outlines critical theoretical perspectives - including feminist, Marxist and radical social work - and indicates their implications for social work practice. She explains contemporary debates on post-structuralism and postmodernism and shows how their application to everyday social work practice would point to a new pragmatism focused on local, contextual and incremental proposals for change. By referring to actual examples, she invites the reader to consider the potential for relevant and diverse forms of social work practice informed by postmodern theory.

This accessible and engaging book makes an important contribution to contemporary debates on social work theory and practice. It will be important reading for students and academics in social work and social policy.

`Karen Healy has written a very interesting and worthwhile book that explores the relevance and significance of postmodern theory to social work. It provides a well-argued account of recent developments in social work theory? However, it is not simply an account of theory, as considerable effort goes into making links between the theory and its implications for practice. ?[I]t offers a sound foundation for exploring issues of theory and practice.

A major strength of the book is that it shows that some of the significant flaws in earlier attempts to develop critical approaches to practice should not lead us to assume that radical approaches are necessarily oppressive in themselves, or doomed to failure?

It should serve its purpose well in prompting educators, policy-makers and practitioners to begin to take on board the critique of dominant approaches to social work theory and to help us guard against the dangers of dogmatism and orthodoxy' - European Journal of Social Work

`Karen Healy profoundly challenges, in the context of the postmodernity of late capitalism, many of the assumptions upon which the critical tradition in social work has been founded. This is a book which interrogates not only the emancipatory metanarratives of left perspectives from her position within the left, but also questions many of the received ideas about her professional power and identity, and about the kinds of social work practices necessary in order to continue to pursue welfare as an emancipatory project under transformed ideological and material circumstances. This is a most significant contribution to the debates which confront social work, worldwide, at the present time' - Peter Leonard, McGill University, Canada

How should social workers be responding to the crises which beset the welfare states of the 21st century? Could postmodern theory provide some of the answers?

This original and stimulating book provides a critical review of contemporary social work theory and considers its relevance for professional practice. Karen Healy outlines critical theoretical perspectives - including feminist, Marxist and radical social work - and indicates their implications for social work practice. She explains contemporary debates on post-structuralism and postmodernism and shows how their application to everyday social work practice would point to a new pragmatism focused on local, contextual and incremental proposals for change. By referring to actual examples, she invites the reader to consider the potential for relevant and diverse forms of social work practice informed by postmodern theory.

This accessible and engaging book makes an important contribution to contemporary debates on social work theory and practice. It will be important reading for students and academics in social work and social policy.