the day of the professional group with diverse and meaningful professional profiles
Vienna (OTS) – The third Tuesday in March (21.3.2023) stands as ‘World Social Work Day’ (WSWD) once more this year in the sign of social work. Social work is a very diverse professional group and is active in almost all areas of society – mostly unnoticed. Rarely does anyone have a concrete picture of social work or social pedagogy!
Around March 21st, social work will be made visible via a social media campaign and its diversity will be pointed out. Under the hashtags #wswd2023 #obds #facesofsocialwork #ifsw, professionals from Austria present themselves with this year’s colorful subject, but also with statements, pictures and events from all over the world, which in turn show the diversity and global spread of social work. Events are also held in Austria on the occasion of the WSWD, which are supported by the members of the specialist community. An overview of all events can be found on the homepage of the professional association (www.obds.at/wswd/#Veranstaltungen_wswd23).
This year’s motto is: “We respect diversity through collective social action“ (Original: „Respecting diversity through joint social action“).
Faces of social work in Austria
The Austrian Professional Association of Social Work (obds) takes the WSWD as an opportunity to thank all colleagues in social work for their indispensable work and their tireless commitment to social participation. The obds provides an insight into the variety of social work and the faces of social work on the social media channels and on its homepage (www.obds.at/wswd/).
A professional group without professional rights
A total of around 44,000 people can be assigned to the professional groups of social pedagogy and social work, which – in contrast to other professions in the health and social sector – have neither a designation protection nor professional rights. The managing directors of the obds, Gerlinde Blemenschitz-Kramer and Julia Pollak, therefore renew the demand: “A nationwide professional law that regulates social work and offers legal security for users of the services, employees and employers is overdue. We are pleased that the Ministry of Health and Federal Minister Johannes Rauch are making efforts to protect the designation. This is a first step for the urgently needed federal regulations, which were called for by the Council of Europe back in 2001 and whose implementation is also intended in the current government program of the Austrian federal government.”
Minister Rauch at the symposium on the professional law
In this context, we would like to refer to the event planned for April 17, 2023 entitled “The (un)unending history of the professional law of social work” In addition to representatives of the specialist community, the trade unions and the Chamber of Labour, Federal Minister Rauch will also take part.
Further information can be obtained from the obds office.
Questions & contact:
Austrian Professional Association of Social Work (obds)
Julia Pollak & Gerlinde Blemenschitz-Kramer
+43/670/5594651 or +43/670/6082709
social work@obds.at
www.obds.at