Culturally Sensitive Curriculum Development Of Social Work Undergraduate Education: The case of Somalia

Abstract

ISACK, Abdisamad Sheikh Abukar. Culturally Sensitive Curriculum Development Of Social Work Undergraduate Education: The Case Of Somalia, Master thesis, Ankara, 2018. This research project tried to develop a culturally sensitive curriculum and put a clear basic plan for Social Work education in Somalia, a post war country that recovering from two decades of civil war, at the same time it has no institutionalized social service neither in practice nor in education. So there here is a crucial need of Somalia for Social Work as a professional practice and education. The newly built federal government has no capacity to deliver the needed social services; there is no education service for the children of the poor people. The needed care services for adults are not available and to deliver these social services there should be institutions that prepare human power like social work practitioners and academicians. The study employed a mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative, social constructionist approach. Findings of the study were interpreted within a theoretical framework of ground theory. The empirical material consisted of interviews with 15 Somali students studding Social work and a questionnaire consisting of twenty questions distributed to two hundred students studying Social Work related fields. The main findings of the study were that there is a need of Social work education in the Somali. All participants agreed that there is a crucial a need for Social Work Education in the country. Some of them justified their answer by mentioning some of the missing services and institutions that could deliver the needed social services, while some others told that the installment of Social Work Education to the education system of the country will increase the Social Welfare of the Somali society. Some participants debated that Social Work will not only play roles on services but also public polices by developing and writing legislations related to Social policies and services. All participants suggested that the profession of Social Work in Somalia must be localized and culturally sensitive to the Somali traditional, which is a process by which social work is made relevant to local culture and traditions. In addition to localizing the field, most respondents also emphasized on the importance of cooperation between social work institutions of Somalia with those in other countries. A second method that researcher used to collect the necessary data was through questionnaire, and the findings of the questionnaire section are the following: The highest number of participants 102 (51%) of this study were aged between 25-30. The second number 72 (36) were aged between18-24. On the sex basis, 147 (74%) of the respondents were male while only the other 53 (27%) were female respondents. The marital status the majority 139 (71%) of the respondents were single while only 57(29%) of the respondents were married. The highest level of education of the respondents in this study was undergraduate level 107 (54%) while the second highest level of education was Master degree 80 (40%). On the educational background, Most of the respondents 42 (21%) were from Social Work background, the second part of the respondent were from Psychology 18 (9%). The Social Work knowledge of the respondents was so high. 187 (94%) of them said that they knew Social work before their participation in this study. Participants were asked about the role of Social work on the society, Most of the respondents 109 (55%) said that Social work empowers the society while 82 (41%) of them answered, that Social work minimizes Social Problems. On the most prominent social problem in the country, the largest number of the respondent 87 (44%) said that Clannism (which is a prejudice based on clan affiliation) is the leading Social problem in Somalia. Poverty came to the second social problem in the country by the answers of the respondents: 67 (34%). In the part of theory courses, almost all the respondents accepted these the listed courses to be included to the Social Work curriculum in Somalia. The same result came out to the methodology courses. On the approach of education, collaborative approach was the choice of most of the respondents 162 (81%) while only 38 (19%) preferred didactic as an approach to education. On teaching methodologies and resource materials, 160 (80%) of the respondents agreed case studies, 143 (72%) of them accepted Traditional large group-classroom,180 (90%) preferred group discussion. On the instructor qualifications, overall, 164 (82%) students answered that Master Degree level instructors can teach BSW. Another 152 (76%) students answered that lecturers should have doctorate as their highest level of education to teach Bachelor of Social work. In the questionnaire, there were service related courses. A large proportion 174 (87%) of participants described all the listed service related courses as requirement for the curriculum. On the values of the social work profession, almost all of respondents 180 (90%) accepted Social work as a service and Social Justice came to the second required Social Work Value for the respondents 171(86%) Over eighty percent of the respondents agreed all the international values of Social work that means that Social Work can be easily applied in Somalia. To achieve the purpose of social work, participants were asked about building partnerships in social work education with other countries. 184 (92%) of them accepted, only 16 (8%) rejected such cooperation with other countries. Students were also asked if they would like to participate the international conferences Of Social Work. The majority 194 (97%) of the respondents said yes while only 6(3%) of them rejected participating such conferences.