Perspectives on the community education model of social work : implications for education and practice

The purpose of this paper is to construct perspectives on community education as a model of community work by unpacking the knowledge of community education that exists in social work, and packaging it in the context of social work's response to contemporary risk issues, in order to identify implications for social work education and practice. This is done by motivating the addressing of risk issues by means of community education, exploring the roots of the community education model, examining the relationship between community development and community work, analysing the theoretical foundation of the community education model, and by conceptualising an ideal type of community education. Core concepts of community education arising from these contexts are also elucidated.