Italian social workers as agents of change: past, present, and future

This chapter focus on Italian social workers' engagement in policy-shaping processes to advance social justice. The first section, after a brief historical contextualization of social work in Italy, discusses the available literature exploring social workers' participation in the policy arena, as well as the first attempts of the National Council of Social Workers to give voice to critical analyses on laws and policies and to formulate proposals at the political level as a collective professional group. The second part focuses on the findings from the first national mixed-method study aimed at understanding the characteristics and the frequency of policy engagement of Italian social workers. In particular, it examines the barriers limiting social workers' policy practice in the field, as well as the factors that can allow social workers to overcome such barriers, pointing to possible transformations. The conclusion provides suggestions on how to strengthen policy practice competencies in social work education, as well as variables that can facilitate social workers' involvement in the national and international policy arena.