Neoliberal influences on American higher education and the consequences for social work programmes

Neoliberal trends have significantly altered the colleges and universities that train social workers. Social work educators should recognise how neoliberalism has influenced higher education and presented unique challenges to the mission of social work education. Higher education’s main pedagogical frame – the liberal arts education – influenced the parallel evolution of social work education over the 20th century, but it is now under threat. Alongside their host universities, schools of social work are answering market-based pressures for research and curriculum that favour evidence-based micro-interventions over macro-oriented knowledge production and teaching. With global implications, this article reviews the historical development of American higher education, social work education and their intersection with neoliberalism. Consequences for the profession are examined, as are options for resisting neoliberal pressure in social work academia.