Education for social work as a self-regulating profession

The paper was given on 5 April 2000 as an invitational paper at the university of Macerata in Italy upon the opening of their new program preparing for social work (assistence sociale) practice in Italy. The paper discusses models of social work education which would prepare for free-standing, self-regulated practice (una libera professione) of social work, similar to professions of physicians, lawyers, accountants, etc. there is discussion of international models of social work practice, the general scope of work an advanced, specialized practice