TEME

Main themes

1.
Social work as the paradigm of interdisciplinarity

Methodological approaches and theoretical shifts in scientific research in the field
of social work;
Analysis of methods and skills of social work;
Ethics as a precondition of the science of social work;
Presentation of scientific research in social work;
Cases of interdisciplinarity in contemporary social scienes;
Process of education: undergraduate and postgraduate study of social work and
professional advanced training;
Process of education: a comparison with European programmes;
Internationalisation of research and international networks of scientists in
social work;
Narratives, remembering and modification of stories in theory and practice of
social work (narrative methods).

2.
Social work in the currents of globalizing changes

The accession of Slovenia in the European Union and its consequences for
social work;
Employment, the right to work, the processes of the increase in unemployment,
possibilities for the employment of social workers;
Social management, global trends, new methods;
The influence of neo-liberal politics on social work; practical experience;
Reflections on the influence of globalisation on local contexts and the influence of
the local on the global: cases of bad and good practices;
New technologies and their influence on social work;
Post-traditional forms of people living together;
Social work in international organisations and in projects of international help.

3.
Development of community social services

The review of community services in Slovenia and in the world;
Uneven development of community services: comparisons of various fields of
social work;
Presentations of the case studies of the work of community services;
Methods of work in the community;
Users "movements and users" organisations and their influence on the
formation of community services activities and methods of work;
Cases of good practice/cases of bad practice;
New community services as a framework for the introduction of new methods of
social work;
Social actions of users and experts.

4.
New exclusions

The responses of the welfare state and practices of social work to the exclusion
processes: theoretical approaches, methods, social actions;
Vulnerable groups of women and the responses of social work;
Vulnerable groups of disabled people and responses of social work;
The position of ethnicaly sensitive social work;
New immigrants as especially vulnerable population group in the system of social
care;
Consumers of legal and illegal drugs: methods, theoretical approaches,
new services;
Theories of exclusion and inclusion;
The influence of globalisation ideologies on the creation of new marginalized
groups: the construction of "age", "unemployability", "working disability" etc.;
The practice of inclusion;
The question of accessibility of goods and socially valued identities.

5.
Dilemmas and challenges of social work

The role of social work in centres of social work and the processes of new
transformations;
The influence of the National Social Welfare Programme by 2005 on institutional
practice;
The analysis of the past institutional care: case studies;
Processes of deinstitutionalisation and processes of reinstitutionalisation;
Introduction of complaints procedures;
Theoretical shifts and the influence of conceptual changes on the methods of
work in practice;
The position and fate of innovative methods;
Respecting the rights of users: theoretical presentations, case studies, methods,
social actions;
Relationships between administrative and social work;
Skills and methods of social work (presentation, reflection, criticism);
The relatioship between public, non-governmental and private services.