Towards Inclusion: Systemic Change Through Organizational Education

Abstract

This article discusses inclusion in social work from an organizational perspective and suggests that organizational education (a new discipline and profession focusing on learning organizations) opens up new perspectives for organizing inclusion. In making this argument, the authors start with a notion of social inclusion that is connected to theories of social justice, social exclusion, and democracy. Against the background of historical and recent research on child and youth care in Germany and Switzerland, it is shown how organizations place clients in powerless positions. To this day, diversity in society is viewed as problematic for organizations, particularly when it comes to interpreting clients’ situations. However, learning can only take place in organizations if clients have a chance to articulate their experiences with organizations and participate in decision‐making from more powerful positions. The authors therefore plea for organizations in social work and other social services to become more democratized, to further a form of inclusion that leads to more social justice.