Suchergebnisse

The main assumption of the article under discussion seems flawed and misconstrued. The "professional decline of social work" neither is because of the "lack of scholarship of the Board of Directors" nor is an outcome of an imperfect accreditation process. The presumption that independently achieved accreditation will improve the quality of scholarship and educational programs and raise the deans' and directors' caliber is also misconceived. The author, though in general agreement with many of the observations of Stoesz and Karger, finds the crisis of social work deeply rooted in the field's cultural contradictions, academic malaise, and professional mendacity. The triangularity of this problem obscures basic issues that are crucial to unraveling social work education, its variegated crisis, and its possible transformation.

This article argues that South African social work education, situated in Western modernism and broadly within the ideological project of colonialism and racist capitalism, should move from knowledge and discourses which are domesticating and oppressive, and do essential decolonising work. It explores colonialism and post-colonialism and the politics of social work knowledge, it describes the processes of the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall movements, and then it describes the work of decolonisation. In order to move from coloniality and domestication, which means neither indigenisation nor Africanisation, social work education must 1) reclaim and repossess truths and narratives about the history of social work in South Africa, 2) explore ideology underlying its knowledge and discourses, 3) facilitate critical conscientisation and cultivate a critical and anti-colonial approach, and 4) include anti-colonial theorists in the curriculum. It provides two examples of courses which facilitate such a process.

Limited research exists pertaining to field education coordinators' leadership and educational practice in general, or with respect to the specific topic of gatekeeping in social work education. This article presents the results of a Canadian study that investigates the experience and approach of field education coordinators in addressing student professional suitability concerns. This exploratory study consists of a focus group conducted with field education coordinators from across Canada, and an extensive web-based survey questionnaire administered to all current, and some former social work field education coordinators in Canada. In brief, the results of this study reinforce the perception found in social work literature that gatekeeping predominantly falls to the field component of social work education. Findings of the study provide insight into the location of field education within academia; and highlights the important leadership role undertaken by field education coordinators in supporting students, faculty liaisons, field educators, and university administration in addressing concerns related to student professional suitability. Implications for social work education are discussed.

section 1. Social work education in context : the Western drivers -- section 2. Emerging and re-emerging social work education -- section 3. The scholarship of learning and teaching -- section 4. New insights into field education -- section 5. New directions in learning and teaching -- section 6. Future challenges for social work education