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Review of 'Exploring the relevance of sustainability values and principles : Impact of International Social Education (ISE) in a local context'

Reviewer: Arvydas Guogis

Inviter role(s): AUTHOR

Publication date of review: 2024-01-09

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Arvydas Guogis5

Exploring the relevance of sustainability values and principles : Impact of International Social Education (ISE) in a local contextCrossref ScienceOpen

The article makes good impression on methodological and content input and results.

Average rating:	    Rated 5 of 5.
Level of importance:	    Rated 5 of 5.
Level of validity:	    Rated 5 of 5.
Level of completeness:	    Rated 4 of 5.
Level of comprehensibility:	    Rated 5 of 5.
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Exploring the relevance of sustainability values and principles : Impact of International Social Education (ISE) in a local context

Joachim Thoennessen, Jonas Christensen (2023)

This article explores the relevance of sustainability in international social education (ISE). Our empirical data is based on a survey of 30 social work students from Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Sweden. Theoretically, we draw on Bronfenbrenner's theory of social ecosystems and Dewey's emphasis on democratic learning. We use a qualitative approach based on Strauss' Grounded Theory, which allows us to dig deep into the meanings of the students we interviewed. The interviewed students experienced more or less continuously that learning in an international context is learning with all senses, is a "24/7 learning", and is learning in another language (at least most of the time). The results of our survey underline that acquiring knowledge in an international context contributes to a comprehensive understanding of social work as a profession and to the formation of a broad and professional identity. This includes a broad range of critical and systemic thinking skills that enable enquiry, integration and holistic thinking, i.e. sustainability.

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Review information

DOI:: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-SOCSCI.A96MVH.v1.RUKWGT

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This work has been published open access under Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conditions, terms of use and publishing policy can be found at www.scienceopen.com.

ScienceOpen disciplines: Education,Social & Behavioral Sciences

Keywords: Experience,Internationalization,Professional identity,Social education,Sustainability

Review text

The article has sound theoretical side as well as empirical with the results of a survey of 30 social work students from 4 different Western European countries. There is found a sound connection between theoretical and empirical sides of the article. However, it can be slightly questioned the author's position towards the relevance of "sustainability" in the article. To the point, "sustainability" has to be developed on the "plus" scale, but not having anything at "minus" scale (damage, "bad waste", etc.) The balanced sustainability can have very small "plus", but not the "minus", as degradation, loss of health., etc. ... It really can be questioned slightly the part of "education" in the article. Is it not "education" - for "education"? What is the aim not only of "sustainability", but also - of "education"? It is not enough to say that it is not effective and efficient. What does it mean - the "effectiveness" of education? What are it's purposes? What values are cionsidered for these purposes? Social work is not only assistance technically, which is necessary for the needs of the clients, but also - social values to adhere. What is the content of these social values? The authors speak about cultural skills and competencies - but for what aim? It is not only the "game of methods in education" - but for what purpose?What certain culture to adhere to? - First of all, because it is important for inclusion, integration and cooperation between people. It has to be much broader and deeper the authors' reference in the text of Niemczyk (2019) minds about "glocal" as a critique of some contemporary notions of globalization.

Comments

Joachim Thoennessen wrote:

The reviewer Arvydas Guogis criticizes the fact that we only focus on the positive side of sustainability. The negative aspects, such as health hazards, are neglected. The author also criticizes that we do not define any "targets". This is meant in the sense that we should explain what exactly (which objectives) should be achieved with sustainability in the classroom.

We are very aware that globalization and sustainability are very complex concepts and have tried to capture this complexity by introducing the term "glocal". This means that aspects of global awareness can be found and identified at a local level. Furthermore, we actually received rather positive descriptions in the responses of the students participating in the study. However, it was always possible to describe negative effects that were felt first-hand.

2024-02-08 09:43 UTC

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Preprint version 2

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Reviewed by Gesa Birnkraut Reviewed by Arvydas Guogis