History of social work: a fascinating new website

(Dutch text below)

A few years ago, two professors and a lecturer from Universities in Belgium and the Netherlands, a journalist and a researcher embarked on a project that would lead to the “Canon Sociaal Werk”, a website about the history of social work. Universities (among which, I'm proud to say, Saxion) and organisations in the field of social work in Belgium and the Netherlands supported their work financially.

The Canon comes in a Dutch, a Flamish and a European version. The Dutch Canon, for instance,  has 50 windows, each dealing with a period or a theme and starting with the Council of Nicea in 567 A.D. Each windows contains unique documents, interesting web links and assignments.  Furthermore there are eight essays dealing with topics like “Christianity and social work” or “Should social work focus on individuals or on structures?”, there is a quiz and there are enough powerpoint presentations to cover a complete course in history of social work.

Two or three times a year, the authors of the Canon publish an interesting newsletter in which they invite their readers for a meeting where distinguished speakers talk about themes like the history of psychiatry or the battle against poverty throughout the centuries.

Of course it was only a matter of time until they would carry this fine initiative beyond the Low Countries and now there is an English version, called “History of Social Work” . It is not yet as complete (sixteen windows) as the Flamish-Dutch version but it is worth paying a visit. Highly recommended!



The editors, taking a break after a hard day's work



En natuurlijk geldt dat eens te meer voor de Nederlandse en Vlaamse lezers die de Canon nog niet bezocht hebben (shame on you!). Tegenwoordig heeft de Canon ook steeds een historische voetnoot bij actueel social-worknieuws. Zo staat er vandaag, naar aanleiding van de berichten over de vrouwenopvang, een artikel over de geschiedenis van Blijf van mijn Lijf. Hulde aan Jos van der Lans, de man die sneller schrijft dan zijn schaduw!