Enhancing Community-Based Learning in Social Work Education Through a Social Marketing Approach

Abstract

How do universities engage with local communities? How is a pedagogy of engagement introduced into a graduate professional degree? Are there any new approaches for linking campuses with communities? Is social marketing a useful approach when considering community engagement? The chapter aims to answer these questions by proposing a novel approach based on applying social marketing to the scholarship of teaching. Specifically, it draws on an example of a university graduate course in social marketing within a master's program in social work at an Italian university. The experience shows how a social marketing perspective helps social work students address social issues that face local communities through service-learning.