ABSTRACT
Social work education in Denmark has undergone significant changes propelled by at least two main forces. The first was processes of globalisation and European integration in the Lisbon strategy and the Bologna process launched by the European Commission, each and in tandem constituting a policy framework for higher education. The second force was local processes in Denmark in the 2000s that changed the political focus on and approach to shaping the public sector, including the educational sector, inspired by neoliberal discourses and New Public Management. During the 2000s sceptical discourse was reinforced by references to new knowledge, economic rationality, and forms of performance management creating a political climate that delegitimised the traditional rationality of social services and the productivity of social workers. The political climate surrounding social services clearly encourages social workers to embrace an economic rationality by coupling quality, price and effect - as an 'external' form of measurement, and 'internal' way of increasing the productivity of social workers.
