ABSTRACT

Australian social workers are routinely employed in forensic roles, including forensic medicine, domestic and family violence, youth justice, probation or parole, and correctional work. Forensic social work often is considered to be a specialist area of social work due to the required additional knowledge of the law, crime, victimology, comorbidity, and intersectionality. Globally, and in Australia, concerns have been raised about the training and education of forensic social workers. In Australia, there is no clear forensic social work education pathway; there are no tertiary forensic social work courses, and the AASW does not recognise forensics in their credentialing program. Thus, practitioners are seen to qualify through their generic studies. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent to which forensic knowledge features in the current AASW accredited undergraduate social work programs. A content analysis of available 2023 Bachelor of Social Work programs was undertaken to reveal any disparity of forensic offerings under a generic qualification. This research is positioned within the wider “generic practice versus specialisation” debate in Australian social work education. It raises concerns about the fragmented nature of forensic studies within Australian social work education.

• IMPLICATIONS

• There is a lack of clarity around what constitutes useful and sufficient forensic studies within Australian social work education, in the absence of specialist programs.

• There is little opportunity for social work students to gain “social work specific” forensic training in their qualifying education.

• Further consideration of a specialist forensic social work pathway could assist with the advanced training of this workforce.

摘要

澳大利亚社会工作者通常从事法医工作，包括法医、家庭暴力、青少年司法、缓刑或假释以及惩教工作。由于需要法律、犯罪、受害者学、共病和交叉性的额外知识，法医社会工作通常被认为是社会工作的专业领域。在全球和澳大利亚，人们对法医社会工作者的培训和教育表示担忧。在澳大利亚，没有明确的法医社会工作教育途径；没有高等法医社会工作课程，AASW 的认证计划也不承认法医。因此，从业者通过他们的一般研究被认为是合格的。本研究的目的是确定当前 AASW 认可的本科社会工作课程中法证知识的特色程度。对 2023 年社会工作学士课程的内容进行了分析，以揭示通用资格下法证课程的任何差异。这项研究属于澳大利亚社会工作教育中更广泛的“通用实践与专业化”辩论。它引起了人们对澳大利亚社会工作教育中法医研究的分散性的担忧。这项研究属于澳大利亚社会工作教育中更广泛的“通用实践与专业化”辩论。它引起了人们对澳大利亚社会工作教育中法医研究的分散性的担忧。这项研究属于澳大利亚社会工作教育中更广泛的“通用实践与专业化”辩论。它引起了人们对澳大利亚社会工作教育中法医研究的分散性的担忧。

• 影响

• 由于缺乏专业课程，澳大利亚社会工作教育中的法医学研究的构成缺乏明确性。

• 社会工作学生在资格教育中几乎没有机会获得“社会工作特定”法证培训。

• 进一步考虑专业法医社会工作途径可以帮助对这支队伍进行高级培训。