Indigenization of Social Work Education and Practice in Pakistan

Abstract

Social work as a profession emerged during the late 19th century as an aftereffect of industrialization, poverty, and injustice, progressing with professionalization in the formal training and standardized techniques. Following the country's achievement of independence in 1947, Pakistan underwent social work growth as a major state and international organization response to ailing issues including poverty, health, and the settlement of refugees. In order to prepare professional social workers, social work education started in the University of Karachi and the University of Punjab during the 1950s and was further expanded to include child welfare, disaster management, and community development in subsequent years. The focus of qualitative research at present is on challenge and potentiality in indigenizing social work education and practice in Pakistan. Information were obtained through interviews with 24 scholars and practitioners who were specifically selected from the government social welfare department and the public institutions. The thematic coding disclosed predominant strengths of curriculum weaknesses such as obsolete learning materials and failing to infuse fieldwork leading to a divorce between professional preparation and workplace demand. Institutional shortcomings like weak faculty drives and negligible research inhibit development of education. The study recommends curriculum change under the umbrella of experiential learning, practicum in action, and additional professional training so that social work education can address the evolving national and global needs of the profession.