Part 1. Introduction
By Monica Short
This student, industry, and university led and co-designed anthology is a professional development resource for busy practitioners who are new to group work or are growing their skills, as well as students, volunteers, and academics searching for ideas. The book complements existing group work texts and other scholarship. It reflects the authors’ engagement with group work theory and shares the activities they designed in their group work workshop. It is consistent with key international, national and University ethos and goals:
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2024, para. 1)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) objective to ‘promote inclusive and equitable quality’ Open Education Resources (OER) (UNESCO, 2024, para. 9)
- Charles Sturt University Yindyamurra Wahanganha, which is “the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in” (Charles Sturt University, 2024, para. 1) and,
- Australian Association of Social Workers (2020) ethical principle to “promote policies, practices and social conditions that uphold human rights and that seek to ensure access, equity, participation and legal protection for all”.
Introducing the chapters of the book
This book contains four chapters.
- The 1st chapter briefly presents our understanding of the theory of social work group work practice. Our group work is inspired by social work knowledge and the scholarship of group work pioneer Tuckman.
Chapters 2 to 4 present different components of social work group work sessions. Group work practitioners can mix and match activities from these three chapters according to need.
- Chapter 2 shares four examples of icebreakers.
- Chapter 3 presents three getting-to-know-you activities.
- Chapter 4 outlines the steps for conducting five therapeutic groups, three educational groups, three social groups, a research group, and an advocacy group.
- The Conclusion explains some of the strengths, limitations and impact of our anthology.
Reference list
Australian Association of Social Workers. (2020). AASW Code of Ethics 2020. https://www.aasw.asn.au/about-aasw/ethics-standards/code-of-ethics/
Charles Sturt University. (2024). Our ethos. https://about.csu.edu.au/our-university/ethos
UNESCO OER Dynamic Coalition. (2024). UNESCO open educational resources (OER) dynamic coalition portal. https://oerdynamiccoalition.org/about
United Nations. (2024). Goal 4: Quality education. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/goal-04/
