January 26, 2018

Verifying a continent and locating all Schools of Social Work in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Salvador, Surinam, Nicaragua, and Venezuela is a monumental task for a person who do not speak Spanish and Portuguese and only briefly visited Peru in 2009. However, having support from Yaryna in Ukraine who helped pre-map many Schools and TRU Research Apprentice Robert who verified all the websites and re-build the list from the IASSW Census 2010, was extremely helpful. Google Translate, allowed me to finalize the map. Special thanks to the TRU Research and Graduate Studies Office for providing funds to hire research apprentice for the project.

The next step is to find local social work educators and ask them to do a final verification of School locations and ensure that all the schools are fully mapped. If you know Latin America social work educators please share their contact information so I can forward the request to verify schools of social work in their countries of residence.

Also if you know any students from Latin America who wants to study social work in Canada here is a great program that allows students to study in Canadian universities as part of the exchange:

https://scholarships-bourses.gc.ca/scholarships-bourses/can/institutions/elap-pfla.aspx?lang=eng

Once I learn more Spanish and connect with Schools of Social Work in Latin America I might also teach there and research through The Faculty Mobility Program that aims to increase the number of institutional collaborations and student exchange agreements between Canadian and foreign institutions. https://scholarships-bourses.gc.ca/scholarships-bourses/can/institutions/elap_faculty-pfla_professeurs.aspx?lang=eng&_cldee=YmNoYWR3aWNAdHJ1LmNh&recipientid=contact-bf2ba667f1ade711810fc4346bac2a20-49b780853a5d4a7da6fa3f3aff77f4fc&esid=003c7b0b-4714-e911-a96c-000d3a310f6b

After Schools in Latin America will be verified the next step is to write the book or journal articles on current developments of social work education in Latin America as limited literature is available in English on current trends. If you are interested in the book or article project please let me know.

Here is some of the initial list of resources on the development of social work in Latin America:

Alayón, N. (2016). Desafíos para el Trabajo Social en América Latina en los momentos decisivos de capital y el avance del conservadurismo/Latin America Social work challenges in equity critical moments and the progress of conservatism. Textos & Contextos (Porto Alegre), 15(1), 10-18.

Bello, E. M., & Leal, G. E. L. (2006). Historia del trabajo social latinoamericano: estado del arte. Trabajo social (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), (8), 45-61.

Muñoz Arce, G. (2015). Imperialismo profesional y trabajo social en América Latina. Polis (Santiago), 14(40), 421-438.

Pereyra, B. (2008). Social Work in Latin America: a historical view and the impact of Reconceptualization in how the intervention is seen today. School of Social Work Working Paper, 4, 1-15.

The current list of 199 Schools that are already included on the Schools of Social Work Around the World Google Map: