**3.2 The impact of social work education on society**

The impact of SWE on society could be understood from many perspectives. It can be the individual, institutional, or organizational and the structural level of the society [4]. When considering the individual level, there are mainly two segments. The first is the social workers. The lecturers, students who study Social Work and the professional social workers constitute this segment. The other segment represents the clients related to different fields of practice. The ultimate aim of the SWE in university curricula is to empower the members of both these segments. While the social workers are becoming proficient and competent in their service provision, simultaneously, they make the entire society a better place for all those clients to live.

The role of the institutions and organizations from the subnational level to the global level has a tremendous influence on society. The local level village communities and community-based organizations undoubtedly play a leading role in fulfilling the needs and wants of the society at a micro level. It is the village community that identifies their issues and the needs and wants better. The organizational capacity and the leadership qualities emerging from the subnational level are a great opportunity for the university students and lecturers to exploit. The direct and indirect contribution toward the sustainability issues by the local communities is immense. They may be unaware of their exact contribution, but it is immeasurable.

Apart from that, the national level organizations—the Ministries and Departments of the country—have another significant contribution to extend. They are the policy makers and the policy implementers. To achieve the expected outcomes of the Social Work activities, a positive intervention of the government institutions is critical. So, the success or failure of them directly has a direct impact on society. The universities, in this context, should deliver the best practices with best-fit policies to strengthen the society.

In Global South, the universities are mainly funded by the respective governments. In many cases, the higher and tertiary education has become a part of social welfarism. The finances allocated should not be a burden to the national economy but an investment. Since the universities are publicly funded, the social workers are accountable to the society and its people. The international organizations [IOs], the International nongovernmental organizations [INGOs], and nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] have to extend the timely support to all the social workers to achieve the sustainability goals of each country. Through the respective mechanisms, these international institutions and organizations representing Global North can extend their commitment through finances, training, exchange programs, research and development activities, and consultancy to improve the present situation of the Global South.

The analysis of the structural elements of society has proved that the personal issues and social problems are on the rise. Even though the world boasts of development using numerous indicators, the life of the clients and the social worker is getting complicated. The challenges posed by uneven development in the globalized world have spread its tentacles in every sphere. Based on the new developments in the postmodern social realm, the problems the social workers have to cope with are also getting increased. As the challenges are anew, the social workers should be trained using updated curricula and novel training methods. The traditional leadership styles the youth leaders or social workers have developed in relation to their own social contexts are becoming invalid at present. The theoretical approaches also should have to be revised based on the contemporary developments.

#### **3.3 Promoting leadership through university curricula**

Leadership had been identified in Social Work as a prominent element and all the social workers in the institution or field should acquire, learn, and develop leadership qualities and skills to serve proper in critical times in the society. Presently, the leadership styles the social workers use could be identified through the human resources management perspective. According to Yukl and Gardner [22], leadership is

*"the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives" [p. 52].*

The leadership qualities of the social worker are learnt through the preliminary sessions he or she attends in classes and later learns, acquires, and develops through the different activities the learner engages in. Both formal and informal learning can take place throughout this learning process. The educational institutes that design the curriculum should take efforts to include the topics and activities to improve the leadership qualities of the learner. The NASW has codified the code of ethics that facilitate the social Work practice [23]. Accordingly, the novices in the social work

#### *Perspective Chapter: Social Work Education in University Curricula for Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106246*

should study these six core values of Social Work profession. These are the basic guidelines on which the leadership traits are going to be enhanced.

The social workers in the field and even in in-class settings have to solve personal or social problems. Therefore, problem-solving skills, models, and approach are a must for the social worker. In understanding the issues of the people, finding the correct solutions within a short period of time independently, analyzing the pros and cons of the solutions when going to apply in personal or social contexts, and how to conduct the follow-up processes are crucial for a practicing social worker [12]. Out of the numerous skills available in social work literature, the social worker has to have almost all or majority of the skills related to communication, comprehension, critical thinking, problem-solving, presentation, negotiation, planning, resource mobilization, and listening.

Apart from that, the author suggests that the present social worker should be equipped with twenty-first century skills as well. All the stakeholders who belong to social work profession should be educated on these. There are three broad categories as learning skills (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication), literacy skills (information literacy, media literacy, and technology literacy), and life skills (flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills). Learning skills assist the social worker to improve his cognitive abilities to serve better in the present environment. The literacy skills make the social worker use information in a methodical manner while the life skills enable him or her to present his or her personality and its associated characteristics in an impressive way.
