Social Work Education in India and Australia—Examining the Colonial Beginnings, Exploring Challenges and Possibilities

Author(s):  
Venkat Rao Pulla ◽  
Abraham P. Francis
Author(s):  
Rajendra Baikady ◽  
Venkat Pulla ◽  
Channaveer R.M

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richi Simon

Purpose This paper aims to understand the social work curriculum as perceived by the learners of the master’s degree programme. The study compares the perception as held by students’ originating from the same and different faculties regarding the curricular aspects of social work education in India. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a qualitative approach. It is a case study-based paper whereby the participants were selected using multi-phase sampling, universities were selected using purposive sampling and 106 students were selected using quota sampling. Semi-structured online interviews were taken using an interview guide and transcribed. Inter-coder reliability was tested using Cohen’s kappa. The paper used grounded theory to analyse data. Findings The study suggests a significant difference in the perception of curriculum between those originating from the same discipline and other faculty. It was found that the learners perceive the curriculum to be obsolete in addressing contemporary concerns and needs serious reframing. Research limitations/implications As the study uses the case study method, it has been limited to four universities of Madhya Pradesh state of India to analyse the cases effectively. Further, only the domain of social work has been explored in the study. Thus, the results may lack generalizability. Further studies can also be conducted to test the propositions suggested. Even similar studies can be carried out with other disciplines. Also, the study being cross-sectional leaves scope for future comparative and longitudinal studies. Practical implications The paper presents some interesting perceptions of the student community, which can be used for redesigning and revising the social work curriculum. Such appraisals if done by every educational institute can bring significant reforms in the present education system of India and make it at par with the global standards and responsive to the contemporary needs of the society. Further, with such training, social workers can be true change agents. Social implications The study can play a significant role in the redesigning of social work education in India. Thus, directly or indirectly benefit the entire society. Originality/value The paper addresses the concern to include the current student community in curriculum design to ensure quality curriculum.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110489
Author(s):  
Abhijeet Mishra

This article discusses a brief history of ‘modern’ social work in India before 1936. I present how abstract conceptions of scientifically informed and organized social work practice were brewing in colonial India, along with attempts to assemble or organize it. I use these accounts to further present certain nuances on the modalities of imported social work knowledge that dominated social work education in India after 1936.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh P . Chougule

The present paper is a review based article written on the needs of social work education in Indian context. The researcher had made an attempt to critically review the research works and articles written by scholars on the topics of social work education in India and the need to make it indigenised and more applicable to Indian communities. The researcher had used the reviews which have been studied while doing his doctoral research review work. The researcher had written this article with the reflections from his own practice and experiences while working as an assistant professor in department of social work. The article focuses on social work education and its need to make it suitable, application and relevant in Indian context. The studies made and reviews written on the particular topic were critically studied during the PhD research work. The research gap thus found out that, there is urgent need to redesign the social work curriculum and develop new theories that can fit the India society. The article had travelled right through the history of social work education in India to the contemporary challenges of social work education in India.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Tushar Singh ◽  
Saumya Saumya

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