Study Abroad as a Tool for Teaching about the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

Overview: This workshop presents approaches for incorporating content on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into short-term study abroad courses. Study abroad courses at three social work programs with undergraduate and graduate students will illustrate each approach. This interactive workshop will address COVID-19 adaptations and offer recommendations and curricular examples for application.Proposal text: Background
To achieve our profession’s social justice mission, social work educators must teach students to connect their own experiences with global issues and populations (Lombard, 2015). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), ratified by the United Nations in 2015, provide an ideal framework for this effort that reflects key social work values (Drolet, 2015; Rice & Girvin, 2021). The 17 Global Goals represent a “roadmap for global good,” and their core principles—human rights, social justice, collective action, and global perspectives—are closely aligned with the Education Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS; CSWE, 2015) as well as the global definition of social work (International Federation of Social Workers & International Association of Schools of Social Work, 2014). Yet, despite their relevance for social work educational goals, many programs may lack the curricular flexibility to add substantial SDG-focused content.

Short-term faculty-led study abroad courses—which exist at many U.S. social work programs and are now beginning to resume after COVID-19 cancelations in 2020-21—offer an ideal opportunity to meaningfully embed the Global Goals into curricula. Short-term study abroad offers social work students important opportunities to learn about other cultures, enhance practice skills, gain cultural humility, and build cultural competence (Cordero & Rodriguez, 2009; Gilin & Young, 2009; Oliphant, Ritchie & Origanti, 2019). These experiences abroad help students to explore global citizenship (Fairchild, Pillai & Noble, 2006; Rice & Girvin, 2021) and can make a sustainable, community-driven impact in the host community (Fisher & Grettenberger, 2015). By reframing existing short-term study abroad courses to focus on the SDGs, instructors can build students’ knowledge of critical strategies to improve global health and wellbeing and advance social work’s commitment to global social justice.

Objectives
This workshop will first describe the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, their relevance to social work practice, and their alignment with the conference theme, Human Rights are Global Rights. Next, three approaches to SDG-focused study abroad courses will be presented: (1) A broad course addressing all 17 SDGs, (2) A thematic course addressing an interrelated sub-group of SDGs, and (3) A primary SDG course, addressing a single Goal in great depth within the broader SDG context. Three presenter-designed study abroad courses to Ecuador, South Africa, and Spain will provide case examples to illustrate each approach. Strategies for retrofitting existing study abroad courses versus course redesign will also be discussed. The workshop will conclude with a question and answer session focused on applying these pedagogical approaches in diverse educational contexts and host countries.

Teaching Methods
This interactive workshop will draw on the study abroad experiences of participants throughout the session. Copies of course design maps will be provided as handouts for workshop participants, and presenters will make other course materials (e.g., syllabus, SDG assignment descriptions) from the three illustrative courses available to any interested participants. By providing a course design roadmap for instructors and examples of course materials, this workshop will help instructors to successfully adapt short-term study abroad courses and advance social work education’s contribution to the implementation of the Global Goals.