ABSTRACT

This article describes the recent changes to Australian higher education funding in relation to social work education and practice in order to analyse the frames that situate their implementation. It documents various stakeholder responses to the proposed changes, demonstrating ways in which social work's scope of practice is susceptible to reframing by external forces. The analysis of stakeholder framings of social work in the unfolding chronology illustrates this vulnerability, identifying the alliances and compromises that underpinned the efforts to mitigate impacts of the proposed changes. This analysis reveals the need for social work to articulate its unique role across both sector and disciplinary boundaries, as both an academic discipline and a practice-based profession.

IMPLICATIONS

• Recent changes to funding Australian higher education challenged the viability of social work education, with significant fee increases and reductions in Commonwealth contribution proposed.

• Advocacy in defence of social work education reframing social work as a branch of allied health succeeded, but no certainty regarding future funding arrangements for social work education was achieved.

• While the alliance with health did offer a protective frame for social work education funding, this was achieved at the cost of broader alliances within the human services sector.

摘要

本文描述了澳大利亚高等教育资金在社会工作教育和实践方面的最新变化，以分析其实施的框架。它记录了各种利益相关者对提议的变化的反应，展示了社会工作的实践范围容易受到外部力量重构的方式。对社会工作利益相关者框架的分析说明了这种脆弱性，确定了支持减轻拟议变革影响的努力的联盟和妥协。这一分析揭示了社会工作需要阐明其跨部门和学科界限的独特作用，既是一门学科，也是一个以实践为基础的职业。

影响

• 最近对澳大利亚高等教育资助的变化对社会工作教育的可行性提出了挑战，提出了大幅增加费用和减少联邦捐款的提议。

• 倡导将社会工作重新定义为联合健康的一个分支的社会工作教育的辩护取得了成功，但对于社会工作教育的未来资金安排尚不确定。

• 虽然与健康的联盟确实为社会工作教育资金提供了保护框架，但这是以人类服务部门内更广泛的联盟为代价的。