International Teaching in Social Work in Lille

Erasmus+ Staff Mobility: MCI senior lecturer shares perspectives on child protection in France and strengthens international collaborations

As part of the Erasmus+ “Staff Mobility for Teaching” program, MCI senior lecturer Robert Koglek recently visited ESSLIL in Lille, France.

In two lecturers on international perspectives in child protection, he designed the curriculum on-site and, together with ESSLIL students, explored key issues in Social Work within a global context. The visit was complemented by an intensive professional exchange with local colleagues, during which potential future collaborations – including student exchanges – were discussed.

Robert Koglek: “We explored the complex realities of life for children and families in the context of migration, education, and child protection, combining international perspectives with practical examples from Social Work. Particular emphasis was placed on approaches such as contextual safeguarding and issues like modern slavery, as well as on questions of power, inequality, and participation, and the design of effective interventions in complex systems.”

A particular highlight of the visit was an excursion to the former mining town of Lens. Today, the city is also home to the Louvre-Lens, but it was above all the street art project Charbon’Heurs that provided striking insights into the social consequences of structural change: Over 200 artists have transformed vacant buildings there, creating a space that brings history, identity, and contemporary realities to life.

The visit demonstrates how valuable international networking and place-based learning formats are for contemporary Social Work education and how they open up new perspectives for teaching, research, and practice.