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Saving Australian Social Work: the Save Social Work Australia Campaign and the effective use of social media

Citation

Crisp, BR and Norris, G and Bowles, W and Moulding, N and Stanford, S, Saving Australian Social Work: the Save Social Work Australia Campaign and the effective use of social media, Australian Social Work pp. 1-13. ISSN 0312-407X (2022) [Refereed Article]


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DOI: doi:10.1080/0312407X.2022.2108328

Abstract

In 2020, the Australian Government proposed a new model of higher education funding that purported to incentivise study in national priority areas. However, despite shortages of social workers, the initial proposal doubled the student fee contribution for a social work degree. The Save Social Work Australia campaign was established by the Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work to redress errant assumptions underpinning the funding of social work education and to lobby for social work to be funded at the same level as other allied health programs. A successful social media campaign resulted in the reclassification of social work prior to promulgation of the legislation as one of only two academic disciplines to achieve this outcome. This article demonstrates that social media can be an effective tool for social workers engaged in political lobbying.

  • IMPLICATIONS

  • Social work academics successfully lobbied the Federal Government to improve the funding of social work education in Australia.

  • Social media can be an effective tool for social workers engaged in political lobbying.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:Australia, higher education funding, social media, social policy, social work education
Research Division:Human Society
Research Group:Social work
Research Field:Social work not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:Education and Training
Objective Group:Learner and learning
Objective Field:Higher education
UTAS Author:Stanford, S (Professor Sonya Stanford)
ID Code:154741
Year Published:2022
Deposited By:College Office - CALE
Deposited On:2023-01-03
Last Modified:2023-01-03
Downloads:0

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