Abstract
This project examines the evolving role of social work in Belgium from 1920-1970, focusing on social work education as a lens to understand the changing conceptions of social work within the Belgian welfare regime. It investigates how a professional identity and role of social worker emerged in the 20th century, in relation to the welfare state and the pillarised education system. The project explores the 'educationalisation' of social issues, questioning how the interpretation of issues addressed by social work evolved. A key aspect is the formation of a specific professional role of social worker, examining how social workers-to-be envisioned their position in relation to recipients and the educational, political and temporal context. To do so, the research uses a massive archival collection of 10.507 internship reports of trainee social workers from 1922-1970. These reports enable us to understand the self-representation and self-construction of social workers (influenced by the pillarised schools), thus offering bottom-up as well as top-down perspectives. The project employs an intersectional approach, analysing how gender, class and ethnicity impact the interpretation of social provisions, centred on the specific case of social work. Ultimately, this historical study will contribute to a better understanding of social work at large, by examining the roots of the profession and its institutionalisation within specific political, ideological, and temporal circumstances.
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