Social Work Education and Training in Ghana: A Participatory Action Research Approach to the Indigenization of Curriculum at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana
Abstract
Social work Education and Training in Ghana: A Participatory Action Research approach to the Indigenization of Curriculum at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana
The profession of social work emerged in the United States and Britain in the 1800's with social workers becoming a necessary part of the new capitalist societies. In the 1970's, social work education and training expanded to non-western countries, often in an imperialistic fashion, through modernization. Increasingly, non-western countries discarded some of the values and theories associated with western social work and indigenized their programs to meet the social, political, cultural and economic needs of their own countries.
In the 1930's social work began in Ghana as a result of the breakdown of the traditional family system and the influence of the market economy. The 1960's and 70's saw an important establishment of training in Ghana and the formulation of the Ghana Association of Social Workers. During this period the Association was the leading voice for social work in West Africa. Since the late 1970's social work has remained on the periphery of Ghanaian society and continues to struggle to become a voice for good social policy formulation in Ghana.
In November 2002 a Participatory Action Research (PAR) study was facilitated at the University of Ghana, Legon concerning the evolution of social work training and practice in Ghana. The study explored the processes of westernization and indigenization in the case of the development of social work curriculum at the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana. The oral presentation will give an overview of the project and give the opportunity for conference attendees to hear first-hand the research group's experiences with this type of project.
The project supported the use of civil society in the formulation and evaluation of social work curriculum and promoted the empowerment of local people to change the course of social work training and practice in Ghana. It is anticipated that through this presentation, conference attendees will have a better understanding of the PAR process concerning social work education and a positive approach to making social work education relevant to changing societies.