Decolonial pathways in social work education
Date
2025
Authors
Shabbar, F.
Sorby, J.
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Journal article
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Australian Social Work, online, 2025; online(1):1-13
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Abstract
Concerns about white dominance in social work have led to various scholarly works exploring potential avenues for the decolonisation of the profession. As a contribution to this work, this article presents the various processes that the authors have engaged with to create a space for diverse theories and perspectives to be integrated within the social work curriculum. This work can enable a holistic and decolonising learning experience for social work students. The authors' journeys in engaging with the praxis of Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing are presented as a critical pathway of learning and growing as educators committed to decolonial work.
In this article the authors describe the application of this praxis by challenging the cultural hierarchy of knowledge (ways of knowing), employing a self-discovery and self-transformation approach (ways of being), and adopting pedagogical strategies that facilitate these goals, such as storytelling (ways of doing). Through the sharing of experiences, the authors aimed to provide educators with examples, guidance, and insights into the possibilities of decolonising social work education.
IMPLICATIONS: Decolonising social work education is the gateway for decolonising social work practice. The Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing can offer a pathway for decolonising the social work teaching and learning experience. Sharing experiences and learning is central to decolonial work that helps promote critical thinking and reflection, fostering new possibilities for education and engagement in social work.
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Copyright 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License, which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)