Transcending university boundaries: community engagement as a tool to enhance social work students preparedness for real world practice

ABSTRACT

This paper presents data from a qualitative study on the community engagement experience at the Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, to prepare students for social work practice. It focuses on how students and academics understand engagement, the values derived from the engagement experience and the particular activities that formed part of the engagement process. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with six academics and eleven students. Using a process of thematic analysis, the study found that service learning within the context of rural villages presented a rich opportunity to prepare students for social work practice and, more importantly, to facilitate the social justice mandate of the profession.

KEYWORDS:

• Community engagement
• service learning
• education

Acknowledgments

The funding received from the National Research Foundation (SA) towards this study is acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Raisuyah Bhagwan

Raisuyah Bhagwan, is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Studies at the Durban University of Technology. She completed her Doctoral study at UKZN, in 2002 and used her research to guide how spirituality and indigenous knowledges may be embedded within social work education nationally. She is passionate about issues of social justice, community engagement, spirituality and indigenous knowledge systems and has published extensively on these topics.

Lyrise Naidu

Lyrise Naidu, works in the Department of Community Health Studies at the Durban University of Technology. She completed her Masters Degree in Peace Studies at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in 2019. She is currently pursing her PhD in Health Sciences at DUT.

Manju Panwar

Manju Panwar, is a Professor in the Department of Social Work at the Bhagat Phool SIngh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, In India. She has over 10 years of experience as a social work educator, researcher and practitioner. She has published extensively and has received numerous academic accolades.