Liberal Education and Social Work Education

Abstract

Does the development of undergraduate social work education represent the profession's abandonment of its traditional respect for liberal education and the joining of ranks with advocates of a professional school model of undergraduate education, thus furthering the demise of liberal education? To place this question in context, this paper briefly traces the history of liberal education and formulates a typology of four 20th century U. S. conceptions of liberal education against which the CSWE accreditation standards for undergraduate programs are examined. It concludes by offering suggestions for increasing the interface between liberal and professional goals in undergraduate social work education.