Maria Wolmesjö

University of Borås

Maria Wolmesjö, Ph.D., is a professor in social work and the research leader of Work Life and Social Welfare: Sustainable Management, Organization and Leadership in Social Welfare (SOLWE) at the University of Borås, Sweden. She has long experience and has held leading positions as first-line manager and director of home-help care organizations for older adults and persons with disabilities, and as head of the department and program director in academic social work departments. She has served as chair of the Academic Appointments Committee and chaired different national and international evaluation committees. She has a broad national and international network through several collaborative projects. Her research focuses on sustainable leadership, healthy organizations, age management, ethical dilemmas, interprofessional collaboration, user participation, elderly care, and professional education and development.

1books edited

1chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Maria Wolmesjö

This edited volume, Social Work – Perspectives on Leadership and Organisation, presents a variety of perspectives and reflections from social work theories and practice on how to manage, lead and organize social work in different parts of the world. The authors share their experiences and knowledge from a variety of perspectives, focusing on education, practice, user participation, leading social work with responsibility for handling different ethical dilemmas, and organizing a sustainable and healthy work-life for both staff members and their clients. Global collaboration enables reflection on social work leadership and organization from different professional perspectives and organizational levels. The book addresses students, politicians, lecturers and researchers, practitioners, users, relatives and others who are interested in social work and want to improve their understanding of social work leadership and organization from an international perspective.

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Social Work

Edited by Maria Wolmesjö

Chapters authored

Teaching Innovations in Social Work Education

By Maria Wolmesjö

The aim of this chapter is to discuss how the use of creative methods can support students to become aware of global social challenges and give opportunity to reflect on sustainable solutions in relation to different social contexts. Further on, the aim is to discuss preconditions needed. The method used is Future workshop, which is combined with other creative methods as storytelling, scenario, painting, drama, reflective thinking, etc. Data is gathered, from a Swedish perspective during 20 years of being a social worker, lecturer and researcher in social work and national and international collaboration. Results shows, by using different creative methods in education and research, students are allowed to “think outside the box” and new perspectives on common challenges and solutions can be identified. This chapter intends to contribute to a discussion of preconditions needed for using creative methods and multidisciplinary collaboration in the social work programme. The conclusion is working with creative methods needs lecturers who have knowledge of different methods, flexibility to choose between those and confidence in the students to find new solutions. The biggest challenge is not the students, it’s often other colleagues. Support from the managerial level is therefore crucial when introducing creative teaching methods in social work education.

Part of the book: Global Social Work

Maria Wolmesjö

Latest work with IntechOpen by Maria Wolmesjö

Social Work

Chapters authored

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