Papers by Lester Thompson
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Identifiable marginalised groups can be vulnerable to the impact of government intervention progr... more Identifiable marginalised groups can be vulnerable to the impact of government intervention programs. As such, Australia’s remote Indigenous social policy is better focused upon “client” needs than upon the neoliberal policy frameworks that some observers see as dominant. Ideological approaches to Australian governance are here considered as are policy implications for remote Indigenous people. Since these approaches have different strategic intentions, there is exploration of their social objectives against logic and Indigenous needs. As national policy implements macro-level change, the critical analysis contraindicates confident ideological interventions and recommends sensitivity and humility regarding policy development which maximises Indigenous quality of life
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Advances in social work, 2015
The benefits of using electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) in social work education have been wel... more The benefits of using electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) in social work education have been well recognised. Yet, as technology advances, their potential outstrips the initial, relatively modest goals of producing summative documents. The latest version of PebblePad facilitates the creation of a personalised online learning environment - one product of which can be an e-portfolio - that facilitates a wide range of reflective learning activities. This conceptual article discusses the rationale for embedding such a learning environment and e-portfolio generator at the core of a new Master of Social Work (Professional Qualifying) degree. In applying social constructivist pedagogy, it explores how e-portfolio technology can support the construction of knowledge and meaning-making in a social environment, including the facilitation of skills in critical reflection. It is argued that this technology can enable collaborative learning and professional socialisation, build capacity to respond to complexity and uncertainty in practice situations, and help in making sense of, and articulating, a social work identity. Key challenges include a lack of empirical data supporting the use of this technology, adjusting to the requirements of employing new technology, and modifying staff workloads to reflect different modes of teaching and learning.
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New Community Quarterly, 2012
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Postwar Australian social policy has occurred within neoliberal, social-conservative and social d... more Postwar Australian social policy has occurred within neoliberal, social-conservative and social democratic ideational frameworks. Recent perceptions vary from concern about high levels of public spending, through disquiet about cultural change, to fear that government inaction is ignoring community needs and creating fractious and unhealthy social conditions. this paper examines these alternate ideological influences as they could affect Indigenous Australians with a focus on the values and approaches that might lead logically to desirable outcomes. effective policy requires clarity and compatibility between government thinking and the social values of Indigenous people. At issue is how the objectives of policy for Indigenous citizens might be determined.
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The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Ethics and Values, 2019
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Faculty of Health Social Work Human Services, 2009
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The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social and Community Studies, 2014
This paper argues that 'human nature' is a key factor in understanding the underpinnings ... more This paper argues that 'human nature' is a key factor in understanding the underpinnings of collectivism and proposes that neoliberalism corrupts th e innate human need to act socially, ethically, and morally for the benefit of the common good. The evolution of humanity has been grounded in our need to collectivise and act in concert with each other in ways that improve need satisfaction. Evolutionary biology suggests that any economic or philosophical system that fails to conceptualise human systems-communities, societies, collectives-is flawed and likely to fail in the long term. Adopting this position, this paper argues that neoliberalism, in its all-consuming demand for individualism, rejects the premise and evidence of evolutionary biology. As a result, neoliberalism corrupts human needs and human nature. The lynchpin to a more civilised society rests in economic and social systems that recognise the evolutionary reality that human needs are better satisfied when they act in concert with each other, through activities such as the building of social and economic capital in the welfare sector and through unionisation.
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New Commmunity, 2013
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Papers by Lester Thompson