Editorial.

Noble, Carolyn ; Heycox, Karen ; Hughes, Lesley 等

This is the fourth issue of the Women in Welfare Education Journal. The journal has been a collective effort from four women educators from three Sydney-based universities. The first issue was published in 1994 and as we move to the next millennium it seems timely to reflect on its development and progression over these last six years. The idea of publishing a journal came about during the national WIWE conference held at UWS, Bankstown in 1992 where we saw a need to support women academics in their research, teaching and scholarship activities. The journal was, then, seen as the culmination in a long struggle to promote and support women academics in the social welfare field. One indicator of the gendered structure of social welfare education at the time was the very small number of women professors--one or two only and very few women in senior academic positions across the country. The 1992 conference produced a number of stimulating papers on many aspects of concern for women educators including feminist principles for community work, child welfare practice, gender aspects in social welfare and social welfare education and feminist research methodologies. Papers from this conference provided the basis for the first edition.

We soon discovered that our intention of producing an edition every year was too ambitious when it was a task that had to be added onto our already substantial workloads in the classroom, field, research and writing, with no additional resources to call on. However, we have managed to produce a quality edition every two years and we are pleased with the breadth of articles, as well as the look and presentation of the journal. In endeavoring to provide opportunities for women to publish articles of a high academic standard we are indebted to the efforts of all the women who have acted as reviewers over the past six years. Our review panels have comprised women from all Australian states and territories, as well as from New Zealand.

Since the first issue we have featured articles on many aspects of social welfare education and curricula such as: social construction of child homicide, women's activism, social work ethics, student field units, critical practices in education, disabilities, ecocide and field supervision. This edition sees contributions on parent education, older women and self-care, working with self-help, researching policy and action, women as managers of non-profit community services and feminist political ecology perspective. This fourth issue has several international contributions from Canada and the United States including a reviewed version of a paper presented at the Women's Symposium of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) held in July 2000 in Montreal. The student forum brings the student perspective into the debate.

Financial assistance from AASWWE facilitated the publication of the third and fourth issues of the journal, however we are now looking at ways to develop the journal further, particularly in terms of enlarging its circulation and encouraging more contributions. As we go to press we would like to invite ideas, and more contributions from all women academics in the higher education sector as to the way we move the journal forward and keep the focus of promoting quality publications with a focus on women and welfare education.