When Ida Came To Class: The Inclusion of Animals in the Social Work Curriculum

Authors

  • Carole Adamson University of Auckland
  • John Darroch University of Auckland

Keywords:

Social work, Social work education, curriculum, Animals, Disaster, Domestic Violence

Abstract

The inclusion of animals within social work education is a relatively new, and still rare, component of curriculum development in Australia and New Zealand. To remedy this omission within our final-year social work programmes at The University of Auckland, New Zealand, the authors designed a lecture with two main focal points and with two underpinning agendas. This article summarises the knowledge base and conceptual underpinning of the presentation, which addresses an animal-inclusive consideration of human service organisations in the disaster context and the relationship between domestic/intimate partner violence and animals. Accounts of the active participation of a companion animal within the lecture serve to portray attachment bonds and provide a basic introduction to human–animal interaction. Social work’s potential for activism in the field of animal as well as human rights is included, with a call for a re-conceptualisation of a systems-based ecological perspective for human services and social work practice.

Author Biographies

Carole Adamson, University of Auckland

Faculty of Education and Social Work

John Darroch, University of Auckland

Faculty of Education and Social Work

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Published

2016-11-01

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