Social work in Britain today has lost direction. We need to find more effective ways of resisting the dominant trends within social work and map ways forward for a new engaged practice. SWAN encourages an inclusive debate about the future direction of social work, involving social work academics, practitioners, students, service users and representative organisations (both professional and trade union).
SWAN developed from the Social Work Manifesto written in 2004. It launched a popular defence of social work in the aftermath of the Baby Peter tragedy in 2008. It continues to hold hugely successful conferences and campaigns. It supports grassroots campaigns across the globe.
SWAN offers a space to discuss the impact of neoliberalism, marketisation and managerialism on Social Work and Social Pedagogy; the links between social work and social movements; the importance and significance of local social work traditions; alternative interpretations and practices of social work across the globe and how this affects our understandings of “international social work”.
