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Legal education for social work students:Toward an interdisciplinary framework of teaching and practice

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Submitted   Feb 26, 2021
Published   Apr 6, 2021
Issue    Vol 3 No 1 (2021)
DOI   10.25082/SWSW.2021.01.004

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Vered Ben-David corresponding author
School of Social Work, Zefat Academic College, Israel

Abstract

Since social work practice interfaces with the law in various ways, there is a need to integrate legal studies into social work education. Currently, social work curricula leave little room for basic legal education and, furthermore, there appears to be a general negative reaction to the law among social workers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the importance of law to social work, and discusses aspects of the law that are particularly valuable to social work education and practice. We contend that it is vital to provide social work students with basic legal education in order to promote efficient social work practice and collaboration between the law and social work. We analyze inter-connections between social work and legal disciplines and discuss the challenges and benefits derived from combining the two disciplines. Key areas of legal education that should be addressed in order to educate future effective social work practitioners are also discussed. The discussion is based on our experience in providing legal education to social work students, our belief in the importance of law to social work, and our experience in the practice of both legal and social work.

Keywords
legal education, social work students, interdisciplinary framework

Article Details

How to Cite
Ben-David, V. (2021). Legal education for social work students:Toward an interdisciplinary framework of teaching and practice. Social Work and Social Welfare, 3(1), 111-120. https://doi.org/10.25082/SWSW.2021.01.004
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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