Project Description

Social Work professionals face major challenges in dealing with contradicting imperatives and uncertain contexts, which are shaped by increasing economic differences, ecological, economic and health crises as well as various forms of group-related enmity and violent extremism. With increasing global crises, social work needs to expand its methodological repertoire and adapt its working and teaching practices accordingly. 

The project’s thematic focus is on the professional development of international social work (education), which, in view of global challenges, crises, wars, and disasters, has to be more international, culturally sensitive, conflict sensitive, and locally well anchored to suit the needs on the ground. This global awareness also includes a broadening of perspectives integrating sustainability as a major concept into the social work teaching practice. The ThRIvE project aims through implementing new teaching and learning formats to promote professional competences of students and to improve the general knowledge production and outreach of higher social work education. 

In order to strengthen crisis resilience and empower social workers, the project develops and implements teaching formats that, in addition to imparting knowledge, also aim at strengthening the students in their personal development and at the same time enable relationships to be formed between students from different cultures. A special focus is on mindfulness-practice, experience-based learning, and awareness-raising processes that strengthen future social workers in their self-reflection and promote their tolerance for ambiguity and emotional intelligence. On the other hand, the project aims to transform the social work education system in such a way that more participation and international networking are anchored in the curricula, while at the same time personal development and empowerment are accepted and integrated as core competences in higher education.