1. Emergence of social work education in Africa: A Historical perspective
Abstract
Social work education has a crucial role to play in training students and in preparing
them for the realities of practice in a conflict- ridden society. This requires an
understanding of the nature of our society and the range of social science disciplines;
which will be the foundation of the theoretical base of the student.
The knowledge and information of development of social work education in different
countries is very important to understand to the social worker. Social worker practice
and their knowledge definitely influence their mode of practice. They have to take into
consideration the history, social ideology and social development of the particular
country before they create programs of action to ameliorate social problems of a country.
During this unit, we examined the history of social work education in different countries
of Africa. Here, we build on that foundation, considering policies, functioning and
philosophies of social work education in Africa. Before going ahead, countries’ welfare
system have to be understood within the historical context of the way in which each
particular society’s basic institutions were influenced by and responded to the external
influences imposed upon them during the pre-and –post colonial era.
Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1509847
Introduction
Modern social work practice in Africa, has been differentially influenced by the activities
of early missionaries, voluntary organization, tribal societies, traditional customs and
practice, pre-and –post colonial economic, political and social realities and specific social
welfare policies implemented during the colonial period. At that time, the education
system was designed to maintain the monopoly of power and resources by the whites
Africans were trained only to serve the labour needs of the whites. Africans access to
more advanced education that might pose a threat to white control was restricted.
Education for white children was supported generously while meager funds were
allocated to the education of African children: government per capita spending for
education of a whites in 1978 was, for example, ten times that of African children.
Compulsory and free education until the age of 15 was true only for white children. Fees
2. for secondary education were affordable by most Europeans but only a small number of
African families. Responsibility for the education of African children was basically left to
missionaries.
Origin of social welfare programme for black in Africa
In 1965 the Dutch Reformed Church and the Dutch East India Company distributed
poor relief to indigent white farmers whose crops failed. However, the Dutch settlers
were likely to provide relief to indigenous Africans, since the racial attitudes of these
early settlers reflected a Calvinist belief. At that time social welfare services were
established for white children and person with inabilities under the authority of the
Dutch reformed church institutional welfare resources. They were giving the services
only for white people but they did not help the black population, which also experienced
social and economic difficulties.
In 1860, the plights of blacks and some whites worsened with the discovery of minerals
and the shift from an agrarian society to one that was industrial. The mineral mining
industry employed blacks migrant laborers in the urban areas. At that time, blacks
especially women residing in urban areas, created the own self–help and voluntary
association. This was the time when first time black people started welfare programme
that reduced the risk of destitution and the impact of the government’s discriminatory
policies upon their survival.
The most well known self help organization was the stokfel that formed support
networks and elements of the credit union. The stokfel consisted of approximately five
to seven women, each of whom contributed to a common fund which used for major
expenses associated with economic crisis. Simultaneously, numerous welfare societies
were started through church groups, sport clubs, and professional teachers associations
that served the social welfare needs of blacks.
Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1509847
3. Development of social work education in special reference to South Africa and
Zimbabwe
Development of Social work education in South Africa
South Africa is located, as one might expect, on the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered
by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Along its
northern border, from west to east, lay Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and to the
northeast are Mozambique and Swaziland. Wholly enclosed by South Africa, and situated
in its eastern central plain, it is the independent kingdom of Lesotho.
A brief overview of social development for black shows how these programmes evolved
initially as a response to colonial interests and the “poor white” problem. The
programmes established for degree programmes in social work were modeled on the
British and North American education system.
The Carnegie commission and the Afrikaans women’s movement in South Africa
provided the spur for the beginning of social work education in the 1920s. During this
period, as a consequence of the depression and the Anglo Boer War, government
introduced a comprehensive socio economic programme and a welfare system that
selectively addressed white poverty. At that time, first school evolved out of the child
guidance clinic at the Transvaal University College, which was funded by the South
African women’s federation and led ultimately to the establishment of the first
department of sociology and applied sociology at the University of Pretoria in 1931. In
the same year the University of Stellenbosch instituted its first-degree course, followed
by the University of Cape Town in 1933. In 1934, a National Conference on the ‘poor
white’ problem was held in Kimberley. This Conference reinforced the recommendations
of the Carnegie commission, among them government involvement in welfare provision
and the need for ‘thoroughly trained social workers’ to work in both public and private
welfare organizations.
The future direction of social work education was secured at a national conference on
social work held in Johannesburg in 1936, where the idea for professional social work
4. training based in the University was accepted. The purpose of social work education was
to “train skilled personnel to work with the white poor and the content of education was
to include the social science knowledge required by a “scientific” social worker, as well
as field training in the skills of social work.
There followed a flurry of interest in social work, even though only seven social work posts
had been established and only 86 students were registered for social work at the universities.
The state department of social welfare soon introduced a system to subsidise 75% of social
work post in private welfare. It is also called a national conference where attempts were
made to formulate minimum standards for social work education being offered at eight
training centers. Courses ranged from three to four years’ duration, subject choices varied
widely and social work were offered mostly within departments of sociology and social
work. However, by 1938 social work was recognized as a major subject in its own right and
by 1939, seven Universities had established undergraduate social work courses of between
three and four years’ duration.
In the early 90s, social work felt the need of trained Black social worker; therefore, the
Department of social welfare had its responsibilities for Blacks transferred to the Department
of Bantu Men’s social center. The Department played important social, political and cultural
roles in the lives of Black. In January 1941, under the directorship of Rey E. Phillips,
congregational minister, the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of social work in Johannesburg was
introduced. It was the first institution to train black social workers in South Africa. The idea
of training blacks social workers was first raised in 1932 by Max Yergan, an African-
American who organized on behalf of the YMCA in South Africa. Phillips and YMCA
national secretary T.J.R. Ponsford worked on the idea, with input from J.D. Rheinalt Jones,
Edgar Brookes, and HofmeyrPhillips proposed to the YMCA national council in April 1939
that there should be a YMCA school to train black Africans for welfare work. The school
was funded with the help from the young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the
Afrikaner philanthropist Hofmeyr. The demand for black Africans social worker was so great
that the initial goal was soon surpassed. From 1945, the school’s courses ran over three years,
instead of the two it had offered up to that point. In 1947 the school moved from Bantu
Men’s social center to rent free space in a municipal building that also housed the
Johannesburg city council’s jubilee social center. From 1949 the school functioned
5. independently from the YMCA. By the late 1960s social work education was well
established within twenty-one institutions of higher education. Now social work in South
Africa is based in twenty universities and one college, and comprises a four-year professional
degree course.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, like Botswana, is a landlocked country at the base of the African continent.
Its neighbors are Mozambique (to the east), South Africa and Botswana (to the south and
west), and Zambia (to the north)
The last ten years have been difficult for most people in Zimbabwe. Economic structure
established in the 1980s was being dismantled before new ones could form. Social
problems that were rampant before independence returned: massive poverty,
unemployment, lack of healthcare, political and economic insecurity, hunger, sub
standard housing and poor sanitation. The AIDS pandemic exacerbated these social
problems. Deteriorating social conditions have been attributed to the worsening economic
and political crisis in Zimbabwe. As the strong current of popular dissatisfaction was met
by political oppression, many Zimbabwe began seeking survival abroad.
In Zimbabwe social work education began with the establishment of the school of social
work in 1964. Prior to this, the country relied on social workers trained in Britain, South
Africa and Zambia. During the colonial and apartheid periods, the social welfare needs of
the indigenous Africans population were expected to be met by local communities.
Christian charity was active, providing rudimentary educational and health services along
with missionary activities were designed to civilize the natives. At that time social work
was driven by the paternalistic idea of uplifting the natives and serving the white
government by controlling vagrancy, loitering and other forms of juvenile urban crime.
The initial focus of social work education was on training caders who would work with
groups of unemployed youths and women in urban areas. Thus, the programmes were
introduced to address urban social ills. The major strengths of colonial social work
education were that it provided the foundation for professional social work practice and it
responded effectively to the practice needs of social work agencies.
6. Social work education in present context
Social work education in Africa was driven by the paternalistic ideas of uplifting the
natives and serving the white government by controlling vagrancy, loitering and other
forms of juvenile urban crime. Political independence led to significant changes in Africa
social work in terms of broadening the scope of its activities, as social workers became a
part of the government’s efforts to improve housing, child welfare and women’s rights.
Practice had changed in relation to the primary methods of intervention and the
populations served. Before the 1994, Casework was taken up as the basic modality of
dealing with juveniles and group work for facilitating the domestication of indigenous
women in the dominant white settler culture. Now the emphasis being placed on a more
developmental approach requires a focus on large population groups, initializing self-help,
grass roots initiatives and community-based programmes to supplement public
programmes, and developing alternative fiscal supports. Social workers are redefining
their priorities and channel their efforts into those pursuits that will have the greatest
impact on raising standards of living.
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