Social Work Education

Social Work Education in Brazil: Reconstructing the Profession's History Over 90 Years

In 2026, Social Work in Brazil will celebrate 90 years. The first Social Work schools in Brazil were created in 1936. This special edition for “Social Work Education” seeks high quality, critical and reflective papers that are theoretical and practice informed on social work education within Brazil. It will encourage and promote international debate on the contemporary and future debates on social work education within Brazil. Registered social workers in Brazil represent the second-largest professional contingent of its kind globally. Brazilian social work ranks as the second largest body of professionals, numbering more than 240,000. This professional field has undergone a significant process of reconceptualisation, breaking with conservative traditions and adopting curricular guidelines (organised by Abepss in 1996) that foreground two foundational categories: the social question and labour. These are approached from a critical perspective and articulated across three interrelated dimensions: the theoretical-methodological, the ethical-political, and the technical-operative. Brazilian social work organisations assert that professionals must possess a broadly critical and radical education. Additionally, practitioners are expected to demonstrate professional competence, creative capacity, and the ability to propose radical interventions.

For this special issue, contributions will be accepted that analyse the historical trajectory of Social Work in Brazil, its foundations, professional work, training, the political organization, and the production of knowledge, through the following thematic axes:

• The Social Work Training and Education in Brazil: legacy, its ruptures, and challenges
• Undergraduate and postgraduate Social Work training in Brazil
• Challenges to the training and education of social workers in the face of contemporary social issues
• Research and knowledge production in the area of ​​Social Work

This special issue seeks to contribute to the critical national and international debate, strengthening the visibility of Brazilian Social Work and its theoretical, ethical-political, and professional contributions in the global scenario.