The Global Definition of the Social Work Profession was approved by the IFSW General Meeting and the IASSW General Assembly on July 2014. The first sentence of this definition includes the word “social cohesion” as one of the new important keywords. However, the Japanese Association of Certified Social Workers’ opinion about the proposed draft of the definition was “some people are worried that ‘social cohesion’ may entail more or less coerced obedience to organizations and the state, and proposed ‘social inclusion’ instead”.

  This paper reviews arguments about social cohesion in social work articles and documents written by governments and international organizations. It attempts to examine why social cohesion has been added in the new Global Definition. It has become clear that there are two dimensions in the literature of social cohesion. The first can be denoted as the inequality dimension and the second can be as the sustainable community/society dimension.

  It is suggested that the idea of social cohesion can possibly lead to control and discipline over vulnerable people. In an increasingly globalized world, social workers are engaging in risk management with marginalized people including migrant workers.

  This study examines how reflection involves professional learning for social workers to experience different changes in their understanding as professionals in their working context. The findings highlight that reflection involves the social workers in the study taking a step back from everyday practice in various ways, which can lead them to get different perspectives on their practice and furthering of their professional being. To get ‘away’ from where social workers are now, as it were, and see their way of practice from different perspectives, their underlying assumptions need to be questioned and challenged to some extent in a supportive relationship with others. The social workers experienced changes in their understanding through interacting actively with others, which included colleagues within their work setting, fellow social workers and other helping professions beyond their work setting, and friends other than helping professions. It can be argued that a supportive and challenging relationship as a whole enhances their learning opportunities, in that it can give a chance to become aware of some aspects of practice that social workers might not notice without interacting with others in an open way.

  The purpose of this exploratory study was to clarify the components necessary for the implementation of the project, “Home Visitation for Families in Need to Support Child‒raising” by local governments from the perspective of social work in micro and mezzo levels. A nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted targeting the project administrative staff located in 1,742 city and local governments, with the objective to clarify, 1）the constituent factors for the implementation of the project through exploratory factor analysis and, 2）factors influencing “project advancement” using multiple linear regression analysis.

  As the result of factor analysis, four factors are identified：factor 1, “ICT used task management and standardization”；factor 2, “clarification of work/roles and mutual understanding”；factor 3, “collaboration with child and family welfare and educational institutions”；factor 4, “required personnel and securing the personnel.” Statistically significant models were identified through multiple linear regression analysis. All the factors were significantly influential with regard to “project advancement.”

  Though there was no empirical research for this project, many suggestions on the factors such as an implementation framework, system, and methods advancing the project are provided from this study.