Educating the Next Generation of Human Rights Advocates: An Interprofessional Partnership Panel Presentation

Overview: Leading critical conversations about human rights requires interprofessional collaboration. Panelists discuss an innovative collaboration, CSWE and IPEC competencies in a human rights context, training students to practice from a human rights foundation, and the power of interprofessional collaboration to enhance social work education and promote human rights locally and globally.Proposal text: Recent sociopolitical changes have made it an imperative for social workers to advocate for human rights and advance a human rights agenda as a core competency of social work education. Human rights has become a significant part of the social work mission as social work broadens its reach in a cross-national perspective and global framework (McPherson&Abell, 2012). In order to educate future practitioners to contribute to a global human rights agenda, there are concerted efforts to formalize the incorporation of human rights approaches into social work education (Healy&Warire, 2014). The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) requires that social work students achieve competence in Advancing Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice (CSWE, 2015). Panelists will discuss the historical parallels of social work and human rights along with current opportunities for social workers to enact their commitment to the profession’s core values. Immigration, healthcare, and the criminal justice system are three areas identified where violations remain prevalent, which panelists will highlight as an inspirational call to action for social workers to become human rights advocates.
Current violations of human rights connected to a tumultuous political climate underscore the importance of social workers working interprofessionally against these abuses. There is a need to unite various professions, such as law and social work, in order to stand against the myriad of injustices prevalent today. The call for collaborative, transformational change at local and global levels is reinforced. It is an opportune time to further the discussion of the importance of professional collaboration to address human rights violations and to change how we educate students. This panel will present an innovative, interprofessional partnership of human rights, social work, and law. Panelists will provide an overview of the benefits of collaborative and interprofessional practice and offer tips for the successful administration of an interprofessional partnership. Participants are encouraged to consider potential university-community partnerships they can cultivate with their institutions.
Panelists will discuss the manner in which their students are being trained to utilize human rights as a cornerstone of their practice and how social work education is enhanced through the interprofessional partnership. Research on human rights in social work education found that emphasis lays in instruction of Human Rights instruments rather than on how to practice social work from a human rights framework (Gatenio Gabel&Mapp, 2019). Practicing from a rights-based framework becomes essential in order to create systemic change and work towards identifying solutions to human rights problems and complex global issues. The partnership model and lessons provided by this panel illustrates how to purposely teach students to specifically practice from the human rights framework. Effective interprofessional practice (IPP) is predicated on effective interprofessional education (IPE). Panelists will explore how social work programs and practitioners can incorporate both Council on Social Work (CSWE) and Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Competencies in teaching and practicing from a human rights-based framework. Panelists include social work educators, field faculty, and human rights professionals. Program evaluation measures will be reviewed with these instruments provided to participants.