A human rights-based approach to social work training. The experience of the European project ‘Fundamental Rights in Daily Actions of Social Workers’ (FRIDAS) in the co-creation of participatory tools

Abstract

Social work is defined internationally as a human rights profession (Mapp et al., 2019) whose core values, such as dignity (Borowski, 2022), social justice, non-discrimination, participation and accountability (Reynaert et al., 2022), are central to its mission. Despite this ethical commitment, the literature has often found a significant gap between human rights theory and everyday practice (Ife et al., 2022), with scientific production remaining predominantly theoretical rather than empirical in nature (Cubillos Vega, 2017). In its first phase, FRIDAS is beginning a process to improve how human rights are integrated into social work education and practice, by developing case study cards. The pilot project in Italy involved 62 participants, including social workers, students and lecturers from degree courses in Social Work, who were asked to analyse the cards based on their practical and educational value. The methodological choices and co-creation helped to reduce the gap between theory and professional competence, fostering a shared understanding of human rights in everyday social work practice.