Is There a Global Common Core to Social Work? A Cross-National Comparative Study of BSW Graduate Students‪.‬

During its century-long existence, social work has become a worldwide profession (Midgley, 2001). The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has 76 member associations, and there are 3,000 schools of social work in 114 countries (International Association of Schools of Social Work [IASSW], 2002). International social work is taught in schools of social work, and cross-national cooperation between training programs is not uncommon (Hokenstad & Kendall, 1995). The wide dispersion of the profession has been accompanied by unification efforts on the part of international social work organizations. Thus, in 1982 the IFSW formulated an international definition of social work, which it reformulated in 2000. These trends have raised the question of whether social work is a global profession with a common core of values, theoretical foundations, and modes of practice, as claimed by some scholars (Healy, 2001), or whether it is a context-contingent profession that differs in essential ways from country to country, as claimed by others (McDonald, Harris, & Wintersteen, 2003). This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of this issue through an empirical examination of the professional ideologies of social work graduates in 10 countries.