Social work educational programmes aimed at the young: redefining programmes to succeed?

Abstract

In recent years, young people’s behavior has undergone major changes as they have been affected by the crisis that influences their future perspectives and goals. In this context, the demands of youth pose a relevant challenge to social work education. To respond to this challenge, social work education programmes should be adapted. Using meta-analysis methods, this article reviews the current situation of educational programmes focused on young people in the field of social work. Four areas were identified as results from the literature review: social work education programmes focused on specific needs, the adoption of ICTs to complement social work education services, the development of children’s programmes to address problematic situations in their earlier stages, and proposals for improving educational programmes. The main findings show that most studies focused on improving social work education programmes and analyzing the specific needs of social work users. On the other hand, ICTs are not included in most of the articles selected. These results allow us to identify several key recommendations that will assist social work education programmes in successfully adopting and implementing changes experienced to better meet the needs of young people in their daily practice.