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Summary: To what extent are social work students in England and Denmark equipped to deal with child sexual abuse? - A Comparative Discourse Analysis between the English and Danish Social Work Education.
The above title is a dissertation submitted to Aalborg University inDenmark on the 25th of September 2005 as the final project in the DanishMasters of Science in Social Work (Den Sociale Kandidatuddannelse,Cand.scient.soc.) - subsequently this dissertation was successfullydefended at exam and awarded a distinction on the 5th of October 2005. Save the Children Denmark sponsored the author to carry out research inEngland during the English research phase in March 2004. Background: Primarily this is a comparative study between the English and the Danishsocial work education with particular focus on how social work studentsare trained to tackle CSA. This work was inspired by the author'sexperience of social work training and practice in both England andDenmark. The Study and Underpinning framework: Primarily this study is based on the accounts (interview transcripts)given by a small purposeful sample of 'trainee' social workers, socialwork educators, newly qualified social workers, and 'experts' from bothEngland and Denmark to compare and contrast the extent and the contentof teaching in relation to CSA against what is known from internationalmethodologically sound research. The underpinning theoretical framework for this study within amulti-factoral framework is that feminist and pro-feminist approachesoffer the most crucial part of an explanation for the majority of casesconcerning child sexual abuse in society. Similarities, Dissimilarities and Implications for Research: Generally the accounts given by the Danish and English participantspoint towards salient differences in the general training of students inrelation to issues surrounding the labour market, oppression anddiscrimination in society and in relation to equipping students tocommunicate with children and tackle child sexual abuse. Moreover, theaccounts are suggestive that there are differences in the 'systems' inplace in both countries in relation to tackling CSA and other harmfulbehaviour towards children. Additionally, the accounts given by some ofthe participants indicate that the level of competence of the workersdealing with such cases is perhaps different in some English localauthorities as opposed to Denmark. Furthermore, the accounts from theEnglish and Danish participants points towards a marked difference inrelation to 'understanding' CSA in society. In relation to this theDanish participants gave emphasis to certain discourses that are notwell grounded in empirical research. Recommendations: This study highlights the similarities, dissimilarities and implicationsfor research between the two 'systems' and puts forward recommendationsas to what 'elements' ought to be included on social work trainingprogrammes to equip and prepare social work students to work with thesocial problem of child sexual abuse in society. The Author: The author/researcher of this study is Kevin Perry a qualified socialworker from England (Diploma in Social Work and Higher Education, BA(hons) in European Social Work and the MSc in Social Work). Kevin has 15 years experience of working with children, young people and theirfamilies in various settings - currently he works as SSP Konsulent on Bornholm. The author can be contacted via email at [email protected].