Internationalizing social work curriculum through student co-development and co-delivery of content

Internationalization of societies is occurring across the globe but there is insufficient literature on how social work is internationalizing its curriculum to align with these societal demands. In Australia, for example, where one in four people are born overseas and in addition, the country has taken on international students in most of its social work programmes, internationalization of the curriculum becomes inevitable for social justice’s sake. Drawing on an example of social work education at a university in Australia, in this paper, I share how I have internationalized one aspect of the formal and hidden social work curriculum, the assessments, by working alongside students to develop and deliver social work content on their cultures and how they might inform social work. This process demonstrates the contribution that internationalization of curriculum can make in enhancing active learning and participation for all students, in challenging normative whiteness and its deficit view of non-western cultures as well as white colonial dominance in social work.