Asserting that an effective rural social work curriculum begins with faculty commitment to the rural experience, this article describes the undergraduate curriculum at Lock Haven State College, Pennsylvania, a systems/planned change model, a problem-centered teaching approach, and the equasion of professionalism and activism in public social…

Addressing three related objectives, this paper: identifies characteristics and trends in rural areas which are problematic for the traditional approaches of education and social work; indicates some of the implications of traditional education and social work practice; and specifies how the Guided Design model can address these problematic…

Reviews social-work research concerning the differences between rural and urban practice, how rural social workers feel about their practice, and what needs to be taught in professional social-work schools. Suggests a more useful agenda for social-work research. Describes a West Virginia study that identified the research interests of the human…

To address social problems in rural areas, it is important to combine the generalist model of social work, which stresses intervention at the individual level, with a sustainable social development model that directs intervention efforts toward social institutions and cultural practices. Curriculum implications for social work education are…