Trends in social work education in Colombia: legacies of professional history

ABSTRACT

This article presents the curricular trends of Social Work education in Colombia focusing on the legacy of the historical periods of the profession in Latin America: Traditional, Developmentalist, Reconceptualization and Post reconceptualization have on the conception of the curricula. Using the documentary review methodology, the social work curricula of eight Colombian public and private universities are analyzed. The authors discuss around three conclusions: 1. The professional identity in social work is mediated by the tension between historical moments and their diverse ethical and political positions. 2. It is relevant to recognize the legacy of the history of the profession of social work in Latin America in terms of reading the political and temporal context in each period. 3. There is evidence of a tendency to include themes that respond to the situated reading of the national context of the armed conflict, peace processes and migrations.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum development
• social work
• history of social work
• trends of social work education
• social work teaching

Introduction

This article responds to one of the objectives of the research in which it is framed, which is to explore the theoretical-epistemological trends in the professional education of Colombian social work.¹ The hypothesis guiding this article is the coexistence of the legacies of the different historical moments experienced by the profession in Latin America in the curricula of the Social Work programs offered in Colombia today. Oddly enough and in tension, in professional education we can still find three main trends: Firstly, Conservatism that individualizes the problems and understands them as moral and adaptative issues. Secondly, the current trend deployed during Developmentalism; this trend approaches social problems as the product of a lack of planning and management, it also seeks for a disciplinary space by delimiting its object of study and methodology. Thirdly, a trend that attempts to break with that past and that has been promoted by the Reconceptualization movement. In short, in Social Work programs in Colombia there is a combination of approaches, going from reformist conservatism to its modernization and the attempts to break.

Literature review

The literature recognizes four important historical moments within the origin and development of the profession in Latin America (Alayón, 2019; Leal & Malagón, 2006; Malagón, 2012). Acknowledging these four (4) historical moments may allow us to understand those evident trends in the academic education curricula of Social Work in Colombia.

Initially, the first schools in Latin America began in Chile, in 1925, with the school Alejandro del Río, with a social medical orientation (Ramírez, 2020). In 1929, the Elvira Matte de Cruchaga Catholic School was formed, a education model in the expansion of Schools for social workers in Latin America. During the 1930s, this was due to the influence of the Catholic Church and European models in education curricula (Manrique, 1982; Moyano & Rivas, 2017). A second moment took place after the Second World War. It was characterized by the rise of development ideas in Latin America with a strong influence of community development as a reference for intervention for the then called social worker. A third moment; the so-called reconceptualization process. This moment took place around the 70s and had its grounding on Marxist ideas and contributed with critical perspectives and the revisiting of social reality and the role of social workers in the scenarios known as classic intervention: case, group, and community social work, typical of the previous stage. A fourth moment was the post-reconceptualization period, that emerged in the 90s. In the words of Malagón (2012), it was the moment in which potential of the revolutionary work of the profession was understood. Three main trends are identified for this period: the return of Functionalism in the professional principles, the differentiation between the disciplinary and professional dimension of Social Work, and the adaptation of a critical vision toward the establishment.

In the case of Colombia, the first school of Social Work emerged in 1936 in Bogotá, within the framework of the reforms of the liberal government of López Pumarejo. This government sought the modernization and industrialization of the country, including greater State intervention in the economy, the recognition of women´s civil rights and their access to higher education, the responsibility of the State in public assistance, academic freedom, freedom of religion, university autonomy, the social function of property, among others (Leal, 2015; Gatner & Cifuentes, 2006). In this period, the industrialization of sectors such as textiles, footwear, steel, metallurgy and construction began, a fact that led to an increase in the demand for labor in urban centers and, therefore, the emergence of the working-class neighborhoods (Bueno, 2017)

Currently, Social Work in Colombia is considered in its disciplinary and professional dimensions, and focuses on the intervention-investigation of social problems for social transformation. It is a higher education program taught at different universities with an interdisciplinary curriculum that includes subjects on the foundations and history of social work, intervention methodologies, social research and academic practices. According to the National Higher Education Information System (SNIES, 2024), at the undergraduate level there are 69 active programs, where 24 correspond to public institutions and 45 to private institutions, 18 have high-quality accreditation, and they are programs with 8 and 10 academic semesters.

Materials and methods

Social Work education trends in Colombia have been identified drawing on the review of the courses presented by the curricula of eight (8) universities that offer the program, namely: Universidad Nacional de Colombia (hereinafter Unal), Universidad del Valle (hereinafter Univalle), Universidad de Antioquia (hereinafter UdeA), Universidad de Cartagena (hereinafter UdC), Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Medellín site, hereinafter UPB), Universidad de La Salle (hereinafter Unisalle), Universidad Minuto de Dios (Bogotá site, hereinafter Uniminuto) and Universidad Industrial de Santander (hereinafter UIS).

For the selection of the programs, three criteria were considered: first, having high-quality accreditation, that is, programs that have obtained from the Ministry of National Education not only the license that demonstrates that they meet the requirements of the law, but that they have been recognized as academic excellence programs. Second, programs located in the main cities of the country (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali and Bucaramanga). And third, ease of access to institutional educational programs.

The documentary review was adopted as a methodological strategy developed from three moments proposed by Galeano (2018): the first, corresponding to the design of the research proposal; the second, called management and implementation and which included the tracking and inventory of the documents, the decision-making regarding them, the constitution of a file referring to the curricular portfolios, analysis and reflection based on the construction of comparative matrices and the interpretation of the collected material in search of the trends and patterns present in the studied programs; and the third moment, corresponding to the writing and dissemination of the findings.

Results

The review of the curricula has allowed us to identify the influence of the four historical moments of the profession, they survived and have influenced the education structure of future social workers. Each of these movements, framed according to the legacy of a particular historical moment, are present in the education curricula with a mixture of theoretical, epistemological, and political effects, reverberating in the configuration of the Social Work profession in Colombia, and in general, in Latin America.² There is a legacy of each one of those moments and the academic environment of Social Work in Colombia seeks the recognition and reconciliation of each one of the phases by giving them a place and putting them in dialogue in the professional education: a sort of conciliatory eclecticism.³

The curricula review section of this document will focus on the identification of the courses administered within the academic requirements. However, the academic communities of Social Work permanently debate the epistemological perspectives that frame the theoretical and methodological references to reflexively and consciously constitute the objects of knowledge that are the axis of education.

Traditional social work legacy (1920–1940)

The first school of Social Work in Latin America was founded in Chile in 1925 by Alejandro del Río, influenced by Belgian education, with a medical-scientific orientation and linked to state expansion in the field of social assistance. However, in 1929, the Elvira Matte de Cruchaga school emerged with a Catholic orientation and became the benchmark for replicated training in Latin America under the influence of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church (Manrique, 1982). In the case of Colombia, the first school of Social Work was founded in 1936, at the School of Social Service attached to the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario in Bogotá (Alban, 2018). Its conception was influenced by the Chilean Catholic proposal adapted to the national context as mentioned by María Carulla (Cifuentes and Gartner, 2003, p.37; Ramírez, 2020, p. 41).

Malagón (2012) distinguishes a pre reconceptualization philosophical subperiod between 1936 and 1952. Here Social Work education is characterized by the teaching of Ethics, stemming from courses such as Religion, Philosophy, and Social Doctrine, with a strong influence of the Catholic Church Social Doctrine. This moral trend in the education scheme was strong until 1945. Similarly, in the curricula of those years portrayed theoretical content, with courses such as Political Economics and Social Economics, as well as courses directly related to Social Work, such as Welfare, Public Intervention and Social Politics. On the methodological aspect, courses such as Social Projects Organization and Social Cases stand out. In addition, the role of the social worker was focused on keeping the family order, which explains his or her ‘technical qualification’ in topics such as ‘Social Cases and Visits, General Hygiene and Women Hygiene, First Aids, Childcare, Tailorship, Needlework, Drawing, Toy Making and Household Economy’ (Ibid. p. 283).

As Ramírez (2020) states, the then Colombian socio-political and economic situation placed the focus on the problems stemmed from the unplanned urban growing, the job emergency coming from an unprecedented industrialization that marked the change from serfdom relationships to paid ones, and a narrow polarization between Conservative and Liberal political forces (p.22). The institutional answer of the time was framed by the hygienism as an intervention approach, along with the notions of progress and civilization inherent to the development of a modern nation (pp.23–43).

After 1945, a great part of what is known as Traditional Social Work is consolidated. From 1945 to the 1960s, we notice the legalization of the academic education for the Social Work professional. In the first place, the enactment of the Act 25 of 1948 legislated by the Decree 1572 of 1952, declaring that ‘Social Work schools are teaching institutions that educate Social workers’ (Bueno, 2017, p. 79) and its curricula included ‘in a Professional domain with the methods of case, group and community; an Ethical domain: Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Economy; a Scientific domain: Law and Legislation, Social Medicine, and Psychology; and, a Research and Statistics domain’ (as cited in Bueno, 2017, p. 79).

This stage is significant for it marks the close relationship that seeks to enhance Social Work within Social sciences and scientific knowledge. Specifically, Bueno (2017), states that, because of the legislation,

[…] a higher importance is given to the scientific reason, the medical-legal domain is suppressed, and the curricula structure is strengthened around the traditional methods. It is important to consider the education of professionals that can understand and interpret social reality, which carries within it the research for the intervention process. They are recognized as approaches that underlie the education, functionalism, and empiricism. (p. 79)

Ander-Egg (1994) remarks that the dominant traditional Social Work from this historical moment is not homogenously structured and summarizes it as the transition from the psychologist approach to a conceptual, sociological, and operative approach.

This first historical benchmark allows the understanding of the influence of Traditional Social Work within the curricula that takes part in the academic education in Colombia today. With a greater or lesser degree, this education consists of two traditional legacies: the education in Traditional methodologies (case, group, and community) and the education in Social Sciences.

The education in traditional methods (case, family, group, and community)

The first education trend comes from the traditional legacy of Social Work whose focus was on the attention methods of case, family, group, and community. In this first stage of emergence and consolidation of the profession, these methodological tools had a primary role in the education as they were considered inherent to Social Work. Today, many of the curricula analyzed maintain education in these methodologies either with denominations referring to case social work, group social work or community social work and, on other occasions, assumed not as methodologies, but as objects of knowledge, i.e. individual and family, and community and organizations. These subjects referring to traditional methodologies occupy an average of 16 credits⁴ of the total number of credits taken in the career, being 12 credits the lowest case presented at UdeA and Uniminuto, while the highest crediting in this area is 23 credits at Univalle. (Annex Table 1)

Table 1. Core courses related to the traditional legacy.

UNIVERSITY	Year of the Current curricula	TRADITIONAL METHODOLOGY COURSES OF SOCIAL WORK			Total crd
		INDIVIDUAL-CASE-FAMILY	GROUP	COMMUNITY
Universidad Nacional (Unal)	2020	Social Work of the Individual 3crd Family Social Work 3crd Family Procedures 3crd	Group Social Work 3crd	Community Social Work 3crd Community procedures 3crd	18 crd
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	2020	Families and Social Work 4crd	Social Work, Groups and Collectives 4crd	Social Work, Communities and Collective Initiatives 4crd	12 crd
Universidad del Valle (Univalle)	2011	Individual and Family I 3crd Individual and Family II 4crd	Group Work Methodology I 4crd Group Work Methodology II 4crd	Community and Organizations I 4crd Community and Organizations II 4crd	23 crd
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)	2013	Individual and Family Social Work 4crd	Group Social Work and Networks 4crd	Social Work, Communities and Social Organizations 6crd	14 crd
Universidad de Cartagena UdeC	2016	Social Work with the Individual and Family 6crd Seminar Family Intervention workshop 3crd	Social Work with Group and Community 6crd		18 crd
			Seminar Group Intervention workshop 3crd	–
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB)	2018	Social Work with Individuals 5crd5 Social Work with Families 5crd	Group Social Work 5crd	Community Social Work 5crd	20 crd
Universidad Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto)	2020	Case and Family Social Work 3crd	Group Social Work 3crd	Community Social Work 2crd Community Theories 2crd	10 crd
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	2019	Family Social Work 4crd Case Social Work 4crd	Social Work in Groups 4crd	Social Work in Communities 4crd	16 crd

Source: Own research, 2023, from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

All the analyzed programs have courses related to what is known as traditional methods of Social Work. However, some programs include additional studies in these topics with interdisciplinary statements. This is the case at UPB offering courses in Family Theory, Seminar on Groups and Issues, and Social System and Social Knowledge. On the other hand, at Unisalle, courses such us Structure and Family Dynamics, and Course on Life can be found. Regarding Unal, additionally to the traditional methods, it offers the courses of Family Procedures and Community Procedures, whereas at Uniminuto, Community Theories and Community Management Tools courses are also offered. However, the latter can be considered to belong to the Developmentalist legacy. At UdC, there is a particular case where not only does it combine two courses in one called Group and Community Social Work, but also deepens in the traditional domains with a Seminar on Intervention with Families as well as Groups. It is worth noticing the case at UdeA that includes the course Health and Social Work, that although does not belong to the traditional methods, has been a domain rooted in the initial stages of the profession in Latin America under the promotion of medicine.

Education in social and/or human sciences

Due to the influence of the Traditional Social Work period, education in social sciences disciplines such as Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology, Law, among others, is perpetuated in the academic programs analyzed. In the same line, curricula that keep subdisciplines such us Psychopathology and Developmental Psychology education and Social Psychology are found, which are also closely related to casework intervention, inherent to traditional Social Work.

It is evident how curricula keep this ‘foundational’ or ‘basic’ education from the early traditional Social Work. From the curricula analyzed for this first insight to the academic education trends in Colombia, it becomes apparent that the eight (8) universities in the sample, deliver education in some of these fields. In addition, the cases of UdeA and Unisalle are noteworthy as they do not establish their curricula with denominations derived from disciplines in the Social Sciences. They present contents from the objects of study aiming toward a transdisciplinary perspective (Comprehensivist theories, critical theories at UdeA and Humanities at Unisalle).

Education in these foundational disciplines of the social sciences represents an average of 20 credits assigned within the curricula. At Unal, Univalle and UIS curricula encompasses the highest number of credits in these courses with 24, 24, and 34 credits respectively. Similarly, the last two institutions feature the highest focus on the education in Sociology (9 credits) compared to the rest of the mentioned programs, noting that they are the oldest serving curricula. Moreover, it can be highlighted that from this first legacy, we may find an average of 36 credits in the education between Social Work Intervention methods or scenarios as well as the education on foundational disciplines of the Social Sciences (Annex Table 2).

Table 2. Core courses and credits in the foundational disciplines of the Social and Human Sciences.

DISCIPLINES UNIVERSITY	Psychology	Sociology	Anthropology	Political Science/ Political Philosophy	Law	Economics	History	Crd
Universidad Nacional (Unal)	Foundations of Psychoanalysis 3crd	Sociological Theory I 3crd	Foundations of Anthropology 3crd	Political Science 3crd		Economic Thinking (optative) 3crd	Contemporary Colombia 3crd	24 crd
	Social Psychology 3crd						20th Century History 3 crd
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	–	Comprehensiv Theories. 4 crd Critical Theories. 3 crd			–	–		7 crd
Universidad del Valle (Univalle)	Social Psychology 3crd	Sociological Theory I, II y III 9crd	Social and Cultural Anthropology 3crd		Political Constitution 3cred	Foundations of Economics 3crd		24 crd
	Psychopathology 3crd
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)	General and Evolutionary Psychology 3crd	Sociological Theories 3crd			Labour Law 2crd			34 crd
	Social Psychology 3crd	Contemporary Sociology 3crd	Cultural and Social Anthropology 3crd	Political Philosophy 2crd	Family Legislation 2crd	Foundations of Economics 3crd
	Psychopathology 3crd	Family Sociology 3crd		Political Systems 2crd	Political Constitution 2crd
Universidad de Cartagena (UdC)	Psychology 2crd Social Psychology 2crd	Sociology 2crd	Anthropology 2crd.	Political Science 2crd		Economics 2crd	History 2crd	14 crd
Universidad Pontifica Bolivariana (UPB)	Evolutionary Psychology 4crd Social Psychology 3crd		Cultural Anthropology 2crd			Economics 2crd		15 crd
	Humanistic Line/Course I (2crd) Humanistic Line/Course II (2crd)
Universidad Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto)	Foundations of Psychology 3crd	Sociological Foundations 3crd	Anthropological Perspectives 2crd	Political Sciences 3 crd	Social Legislation 3crd	Economic Thinking 3crd	Sociopoliticsl History of Colombia 2crd	19 crd
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	Humanities I (2crd) Humanities II (2crd)				Legal Foundations in Family Legislation 2crd	–	Social and Economic History of Colombia 3cred	9 crd

Source: own research, 2023, from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

Within this legacy, it is also worth including the education in legal concerns, as they belong to the influence of the regulatory and have constituted reasoning of the proper order in the professionalization of Social Work in Colombia⁵ (Ramírez, 2020). The Social Work program at UIS stands out for it offers more courses on this regard: Family Legislation, Labour Law, and Political Constitution with a total of six (6) credits. It should be noted that at UIS, even though the current legal education features fields in traditional law: family and labor; it has a stronger aim toward an axis related to the guarantee and legal enforceability of human rights within the social legislation framework and the addition of courses such as Political Constitution and Human Rights, Conflict and Democracy. Similarly, UdeA and Unal include courses in Human Rights, Social Movements and Collective Actions, and Human Rights and Social Work respectively, although it is clear from their names that they do not focus on legal matters. The only course on the same line at Univalle is Political Constitution, and no course in this field was identified at UdC.

Among the private universities, UPB stands out for it offers two courses on its curricula named Politics and Family Legislation, and Politics and Organizations Legislation for a total of five (5) credits. Unisalle includes a course on Socio-legal foundations in family legislation with two (2) credits, and Labor and Social Security with three (3) credits. And Uniminuto with the course on Social Legislation with three (3) academic credits.

The influence of this legacy in terms of Ethical education has been also identified, which keeps its name as General Ethics or Professional Ethics. Although, it does not have the same content or orientation of traditional legacy, it is important to point out which universities feature this course in their curricula: UdeA and UPB include Ethics; whereas UIS and Uniminuto present the course of Professional Ethics; and UdeC offers Civics and Citizen Ethics. No equivalent course was identified in the other three universities.

Developmentalist legacy (1950–1970)

Social Work schools and the education content for social workers in this period were regulated by the Act 25 of 1948 and Decree 1576 of 1952 (Diario Oficial, 1952). These legislations stated that regardless of the institution, each of the curricula had to be revised by the Ministry of Education and Hygiene. The offered courses could be grouped within Religious and Moral education, Social Philosophy, Social Medicine, Law and Legislation, and Social Service, including some elective courses. The foundations of the time were directly rooted from the Catholic social doctrine, presented in courses such us Religious Culture, General Morals, and Family Morals. Within the social medicine domain, the courses were oriented toward the mother and child’s health and that of the family in general: Childcare, Feminine Hygiene, Food Hygiene, First Aids. Regarding Psychology courses, they were meant to provide knowledge about the individual and his or her development, offering courses such us Child and Adolescent Psychology. On the same line, within the Law domain, courses such as Law of the Child and Labour Law were offered. As for the discipline of Social Work (Social Service), traditional courses such us Individual Case, Group Social Work and Community Organization, along with Social Service Management, and Statistics and Social Research courses were delivered (Himelda, 2020).

Following the above, a new cycle of a strong influence in professional education was emerging according to what Escobar (2007) has called ‘invention of development’. From the late nineteen forties to the late nineteen seventies of the 20th Century, Social Work established a close relationship with Developmentalist ideas. Even though the consolidation of the relationship with the Social Sciences was recent, it dated back to the late nineteen forties. It is worth to mention that the relationship between Social Work and Developmentalism was growing at the same time. According to Ander-Egg (1994) Developmentalism was introduced to Latin-American Social Work toward the early nineteen sixties, particularly with the marginality, underdevelopment, and social participation categories.

The involvement between Social Work and Developmentalism was not coincidental, it was rather explained by the influence of the newly established United Nations Organization in 1945. Escobar (2007) rightly points it out saying that the professionalization and institutionalization development processes in the countries considered as Third World included ‘the growth of sciences and developmental subdisciplines, raising awareness on the problems in a sensible way according to the system of knowledge and the established power’ (p. 95). The Social Work profession is not external to this influence, on the contrary, the professional profile is consolidated within the framework of the Developmentalist ideas oriented toward the community development, and consequently, Social Work reframed its professional education:

From community development approaches, professionals and technicians were qualified to function successfully and identified with the developmentalist proposals. Hence, the United Nations, among other organizations, deployed a heightened activity in the field of qualification and, from 1945, when the term of community development started to be used at the Economic and Social Council, they allocated significant resources for the training of technicians assigned to meet the growing demand of the various levels of development management. (Manrique, 1982, p. 141)

It should be emphasized that the profession received a significant specificity as mobilizer of community development. Manrique (1982) understands this trend as the key role of Social Work in this field of intervention as well as the integration of the profession within the so-called development projects. It this scenario, an important discussion about the causes of underdevelopment rises, as well as the subsequent alternatives to counteract and give an answer to the economic and social issues of the countries categorized as Third World.

According to Escobar (2007), this concern for the poverty in Third World countries and their prospect economic growth and improvement of life conditions is due to the search for solutions to different historical situations that framed the urgency and consolidations of the development discourse, in other words, the consequential World War II crisis, the uneasiness toward the expansion of Socialist regimes as well as the 20th Century independence movements in Africa. These events happened around the Cold War and the dispute over world hegemony. Added to these situations, are the search for new exploitation sites of natural resources for the benefit of developed powers, and the faith on science and technology for problem solving (Escobar, 2007). The developmentalist ideas had an influence on the shaping of community development, understanding that the causes of underdevelopment could be overcome by the communities through their own initiatives.

From the first ECLAC (1949) report and insofar more subsequent studies and papers were being published about the Latin American economy, and eventually, about each country in particular, the idea of development became stronger and embedded in almost every field. (Ander-Egg, 1994, p. 265)

Within this new intervention context, Social Work acquires a great commitment to overcome the basic needs of the communities, to strengthen community development, and to foster self-management projects at the local level as well as to understand the causes and solutions to poverty as planning’s problems rather than from a social imbalance perspective. As Escobar (2007) explains, the theories about poverty that are related to the invention of development, created ‘new discourses and practices that shaped the reality they referred to’ (p. 56), hence the concern for attention to poverty through the involvement of the State reflected on the social policies. This explains the convergence with the rise of Welfare States, which had their known golden age from the mid-nineteen forties to the mid-nineteen seventies of the 20th Century. In this way, poverty understood as a lack of resources, required an intervention that boosted the use of resources by means of development planning processes and social policies implementation as well as international cooperation.

Therefore, the courses classified in this section as part of the developmentalist legacy have a great administrative, planning, organization, and management component, among others. In the frame of community work (be it urban or rural), group work (with women, young people, farmers), and social policies. As Cruz (2013) highlights, an engineering vision strongly shaped because of the influence of the post-World War II historical moment, when dependence on external financing through social projects gained momentum, in the also developmentalist framework of ‘development cooperation’. As stated by Ander-Egg (1994):

This integrating labor is initially carried out through community development programs, later social promotion, popular animation, etc. were addressed. Different designations that involved similar techniques and operating modalities were also used. All of them founded on the same basic assumption: marginalized people should be integrated into global society through their active participation in development projects. (p. 266)

This study highlights the emphasis given by developmentalism to the monetary poverty and ‘adaptation abilities’ of individuals, groups, and communities to respond to the model that assimilate development to economic growth—because of the linear and single-causal perspective that the European experience takes as universal standard, and the influence of the positivist perspective of Social Sciences, particularly structural functionalism. The legacy of this historical period is evident in the education of undergraduate social workers in Development theories, Poverty, Social Planning, Social Problems and Administration in general, which are current courses in the analyzed curricula in this research, as presented below.

Education in development theories, social problems, and social administration

Given the influence of post-World War II developmentalist ideas, it is possible to find courses related to this category of development and community in the analyzed curricula. Thus, curricula show evidence of academic education on Development Theories, Community Service Management, Social Policy, Social Development, Planning and Management, Project Design and Evaluation, and Social Management as the main courses. It is also worth pointing out some courses that refer to the practical task of Community Animation, Intervention Tools, Techniques and Pedagogies.

Results show that 100% of the analyzed universities have a strong influence of this trend in their curricula, with an average of six courses on these topics. As reviewed, the university with the strongest emphasis on curricular education in this area is UPB with 30 credits, followed by UdC with 25 credits, and Uniminuto and Unisalle with 21 credits each. While UdeA has the lowest number of credits in this area (16 credits). Considering the average of 153 credits of the professional curriculum in Colombia, the legacy of developmentalism accounts for 19,6% in UPB and 10,5% in UdeA. (Annex Table 3).

Table 3. Courses and credits of the Developmentalist legacy.

COURSESUNIVERSITY	SOCIAL PROBLEMS		SOCIAL PLANNING				Total crd
Universidad Nacional (Unal)	Social problems I & II 4crd	Social policies I & II 4crd	Foundations of social statistics 3crd	Social planning 3crd	Social resource management 3crd	Social development projects 3crd	20 crd
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	Colombia and regional problems 3crd	State, democracy, and public policies 3crd Urban and rural social problems 3crd		Urban-rural territorial planning and management 3crd		Project design, management and evaluation 4 crd	16 Crd
Universidad del Valle (Univalle)	Colombian problems 3crd	Colombian social problems and policies 4crd	Social statistics I & II 6crd	Social management 4crd	Social planning 3crd		20 crd
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)	Social problems and development 3crd	Social problems and social policy 3crd	Demography 3crd	Social management 3crd	Project management 3crd	Social pedagogy 2crd	17 crd
Universidad de Cartagena (UdC)	Contemporary social problems 3crd	Social policy I & II (6 crd)	Demography 2crd	Social management 2crd. International cooperation and social management seminar 3crd	Design of intervention and social management projects 3crd Evaluation of intervention and social management projects 3crd	Pedagogy 1crd Social pedagogy 2crd	25 crd
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB)	Social problems 3crd	Social policy: legislation, participation 2crd Social policy and welfare 5crd Social policy 1crd	Statistics 4crd	Management of social services 5crd Cooperation and project design 3crd	Local and regional development 2crd Development theories 3crd	Sociocultural animation 2crd	30 crd
Universidad Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto)		Public policy 3crd	Statistics for social sciences 3crd	Social planning and management 3crd	Social development and welfare 3crd Contemporary social development 3crd	Community management tools 3crd Social projects design and evaluation 3crd	21 crd
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	Equity and poverty 3crd	Social and public policies 3crd	Statistical methods 4crd Population dynamics and demographic analysis 2crd	Social management 3crd Project-based social intervention 3crd	Theories and debates on development 3crd		19 crd

Source: Own research, 2023 from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

The courses dealing with social statistics and Demography were included into the Developmentalist legacy – yet statistics is part of the curriculum since the early years of Social Work,⁶ considered as a contribution from Traditional social service – due to the tendency to link such courses with Social Work as part of the planning process prior to project designing; Statistics and Demography will provide the objective knowledge of society upon which development projects are formulated. Statistics makes it possible to gauge problems, quantify them, understand their repercussions at a macro level, and comprehend problems at population level. In fact, the course on Statistics is connected to social research as of the Decree 1576 of 1952. In 1962, according to Guevara and Beltrán (2021), when the Social Work program was extended from three to four years, the Statistics course was renamed as Research Methods and Statistics⁷ as three more courses were added: Medical-Social Aspects of Disease, Public Health and Maternal and Child Medicine; courses that later converged into Demography.

Reconceptualization legacy (1970–1990)

The third identified trend is the legacy from Reconceptualization, which appears to be a convulsive moment in the trajectory of Social Work. This period, which spans from the 1970s to the late 1980s, is characterized by a strong Marxist influence in the interpretation of social reality, a professional intervention driven toward the social transformation and the ethical and political challenges of the profession. The Reconceptualization trend debated the conservative stance of the profession and radically questioned the influence of the theories and methodologies appropriated from European and North American Social Work, especially the transitory notion of underdevelopment and its potential to be overcome with capital and technology. Based upon Dependency theory, this trend sought to unveil what professional performance should be in the Latin American reality. As stated by Gustavo Parra (2004), professionals ‘unite around the slogan of building an authentic Latin American Social Work’ (p. 3).

Additionally, Kisnerman (1994) includes more aspects to the criticism to Social Work considered as traditional: the sustaining function of social reality; the technology without explanation of the social phenomena that is addressed; the emphasis on human pathology; the eminently empirical knowledge, supplied by theories from other social disciplines. The accent on value neutrality leads to a lack of engagement with the people and with the profession itself by the part of Social Workers (p. 52).

On the other hand, Reconceptualization has also been subject to criticism, particularly regarding its closeness with the Marxist theory and the partisan, utilitarian, and marginal character identified in the use of this theory (Iamamoto, 2018). However, the Reconceptualization process as a legacy has provided the epistemological, methodological, and ideological reflection characteristic of the profession. This has indeed enhanced the discussion on the role of Social Work, its disciplinary nature, and its relationship with the contexts of intervention. Notably,

Reconceptualization, despite its ambiguities, is quite significant in the philosophical and theoretical growth of Social Work. It improved the conceptual qualification of professors and students, built bridges with other professions and disciplines, its scope was to create an epistemological awareness that has attempted to account for social work ever since. (Malagón, 2012, p. 300)

In this sense, we may identify three effects of the reconceptualization process based on Malagón’s claims.

• First, Reconceptualization contributions led to a conscious discussion on the disciplinary statute of Social Work, which implies defining the object of study over social policy, more research on the curricula, and greater relevance to the systematization of experiences as a tool for knowledge-based intervention (p. 298).

• Second, the exclusion of functionalist sociology courses, the lower relevance given to studies on subjectivity, and the reduction of psychology courses revitalize history, dialectical materialism, and political economy in the curricula (p. 299).

• Third, it seeks to overcome the alleged traditional methodologies of Social Work (case, group, community) and suggests a unique method based on the logical steps of the intervention, including the pedagogy of liberation, Freire’s thematic investigation and Fals Borda’s participatory action research (p. 299).⁸

This quest for an own method that offers a holistic perspective of reality is currently reflected in courses still lectured at UIS, Univalle and Unisalle, such as: Integrated Social Work Methodology, Seminar on Methodological Integration, and Integration.

During this period of Reconceptualization, Colombian professional organization was reinforced by the Act 53 of 1977, that ruled the practice of the profession; and the Decree 2833 of 1981 which established the regulations of this Act (Malagón, 1992). It is worth mentioning that Latin America experienced the reconceptualization process in a different way, we acknowledge the lack of evidence of this period’s legacy due to the influence of military dictatorships across the region (Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, etc.), especially from the 1960s through the 1990s. This fact affected the collective construction conceived as revolutionary at the time, although its effects and products generated by the reconceptualization after democratization are also recognized (Goin, 2016).

When examining the Social Work curricula for this study, it is evident that the influence of the Reconceptualization process is preserved in the epistemological and methodological reflection; particularly in the courses related to History and Foundations of Social Work, Paradigms of professional intervention, Social Work Theory. Likewise, interdisciplinary courses such as Foundations of Social Sciences and education in Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research are consolidated in all the programs analyzed. According to Quintero (2018), Reconceptualization incorporates research as fundamental in the production of knowledge, which consequently contributes to improve the qualification of the profession (Bueno, 2019). (Annex Table 4).

Table 4. Courses and credits of the Reconceptualization legacy.

DISCIPLINES	Social Work Theory	Social Research	Foundations of Social Sciences	Crd
UNIVERSITY
Universidad Nacional (Unal)	History of Social Work 3crd	Epistemology of research in Social Work 3crd	Foundations of social sciences 3crd	24 crd
	Contemporary theories on Social Work. 3crd	Qualitative methods 3crd
	Social intervention. 3crd	Research laboratory 3crd
	Research on intervention. 3crd
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	Epistemology of Social Work I & II 8 crd	The Work of the Researcher 3crd	Epistemology of Social Sciences 4crd	30 crd
		Quantitative Perspectives of Social Research. 3crd
		Qualitative perspectives of social research. 3crd
		Comprehensive Perspectives of Social Research. 3crd
		Critical Perspectives of Social Research. 3crd
		Writing for Research. 3crd
Universidad del Valle (Univalle)	Introduction to Social Work. 3crd	Research Strategies 4crd	Epistemology of Social Sciences 3crd	30 crd
	History of Social Work. 3crd	Survey Design 3crd
	Systematization of experiences. 3crd	Ethnographic Design 3crd
	Methodological Integration Workshop I & II. 4crd
	Introduction to Practice. 4crd
Universidad de Cartagena UdC	Epistemology of Social Work. 6crd	Introduction to Research. 2 crd	Social Work and Social Sciences 3crd	35 crd
	Contemporary Trends of Social Work. 3crd	Documentary analysis. 2crd
	Social Intervention. 3crd	Research designs. 2crd
	Social Action and Intervention. 3crd	Quantitative Research designs. 2crd
	Systematization. 3crd	Qualitative Research designs. 3crd
	Social Intervention specialized seminar. 3crd
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)	History of Social Work 4crd	Foundations of research 4crd	Epistemology of Social and Human Sciences 3crd	34 crd
	Foundations of Social Work. 4crd	Quantitative research and statistics 7crd
	Systematization of experiences. 4crd	Qualitative research 4crd
	Integrated methodology of Social work. 4crd
Universidad Pontifica Bolivariana (UPB)	Social work 5crd	Social Research 2crd		21crd
		Research Software 3crd
	Integration I & II. 6 crd	Research Seminar 5crd
Universidad Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto)	Historical analysis of Social Work. 3 crd	Introduction to Research 3crd	Social sciences paradigms 3crd	27 crd
	Foundations of Social Work. 3crd	Social Sciences Research. 3crd
	Systematization in Social Work. 3crd	Research Projects Design. 3crd
	Social Work Action Seminar. 3crd	Research Projects in Social Work. 3crd
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	History of Social Work 3crd	Qualitative Research Designs and Methods. 3crd	Epistemology of Social Sciences 3crd	37 crd
	Foundations of Social Work 3crd	Quantitative Research Designs and Methods 3crd
	Integrated Methodology. 3crd	Social Research Project Design. 3crd
	Advanced Seminar on Intervention. 7crd	Social Research Project Management. 3crd
		Research Seminar. 6crd

Source: Own research, 2023, from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

It is an evident disparity in terms of the Reconceptualization legacy among the curricula analyzed in this document. Credits range from 21 to 37 units. The public universities as Unal, UdeA, UdeC and UIS offer 24, 30, 35 and 34 credits respectively in courses that follow this legacy. In the case of the private universities, the UPB offers 21 credits, Uniminuto 27 credits, and Unisalle 37 credits in courses that follow this legacy, which is the highest number of credit units in courses related to Social Work Theory, Social Research and/or Epistemic Foundations of the Social Sciences.

As for Foundations of Social Sciences, the courses Social Sciences Paradigms and Epistemology of Social Sciences are included in this legacy for they provide theoretical and methodological foundations for social research.

Consistent with the legacy of this historical moment, these courses were included and implemented in the curricula of the 1990s, nurtured by the discussions and contributions emerging from the reflections of the Reconceptualization process. As it is presented in the following section, the Post reconceptualization trend decants the tensions of the previous stages, thus retrieving the debates of the ‘down-to-earth’ Reconceptualization legacy and revaluing the arguments of the Traditional stage with a ‘relational focus’.

Post reconceptualization legacy (1990-today)

The Post reconceptualization trend marks the beginning of a new stage in which both the profession’s context and response were modified. There are new conditions that led to ‘disciplining’ the profession after the reflexive and revolutionary trend brought about by the Reconceptualization trend. Malagón (2012) points out that,

The dissolution of the European socialist bloc, the decline of Marxist ideology in the academic sphere, its better comprehension by Social Work professors, and the peremptory signs of the labor market prompted that, after twenty years, academic hubs understood that conceiving social work as a revolutionary practice would lead to its extinction. (p. 301)

With this background, the author recognizes three trends at the time of Post reconceptualization: firstly, ‘the return to professional education within Functionalism models’. Secondly, it ‘seeks to explain the differences between the professional and disciplinary fields, and to initiate the research education of social workers’. Thirdly, it adds ‘a critical view of the establishment that includes social work’. Particularly this critical view of establishment is what leads to argue that ‘a professional might be revolutionary, not because they are a social worker, but driven by the strength of a personal commitment to the utopia of humanity as a species in solidarity’. In addition, the author claims that ‘contradiction is accepted as a valuable pedagogical tool and a legitimate political strategy for the critical individual to figure out ways of survival in capitalism’ (Malagón, 2012, pp. 301–302).

This stage allows the realization of concerns that arose during the reconceptualization. A greater deepening of academic debates on epistemology, the influence of the social sciences, the study of the disciplinary and professional nature of social work, the commitment to social research and its relationship with social intervention occupy a large part of the profession’s reflections. In addition to this, the profession today faces challenges in the context of neoliberalism and proposes perspectives of intervention in this restrictive context of social protection in which social work positions social assistance as a human right (Cáceres et al., 2020; Haley & Lock, 2023).

The inclusion of courses such as gender, diversity, environment, interculturality, human rights, among others is evidenced as an emerging trend in the curriculums. The case of the Unal with the Environmental Seminar course and the UIS with the Gender course stand out. On the other hand, Unisalle and UdeA reflect a greater number of courses that could be classified as post-reconceptualization. (Annex Tables 5 and 6).

Table 5. Post reconceptualization courses: human rights and citizenship.

UNIVERSITY	COURSES
Universidad Nacional (Unal)	Human Rights and Social Work
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	Human Rights, Social Movements and Collective actions
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS)	Political Systems Human Rights, Conflict and Democracy
Universidad de Cartagena (UdC)	Violence
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB)	Humanism and Civil Culture Politics Individual and Society
Universidad Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto)	Human Rights
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	Society State and Conflict Human Rights

Source: Own research, 2023, from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

Table 6. Post reconceptualization courses at Unisalle and UdeA.

UNIVERSITY	COURSES
Universidad de la Salle (Unisalle)	−Communication and Social Interaction
	−Individual and Disciplinary Context
	−Constitution of Subjectivities
	−Individual and Professional Identity
	−Culture and Daily Life
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)	−Theories of gender, masculinities, and sexualities
	−Intercultural Social Work
	−Postcoloniality, Decoloniality and Epistemologies of the South
	−Cultural Studies and Social Diversities

Source: Own research, 2023, from Universidad de Antioquia (2020); Universidad de la Salle (2019); Universidad del Valle (2017); Universidad Industrial de Santander (2013); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2020); Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (2019); Universidad UNIMINUTO (2020).

The contribution of this period is in the density of conceptual, theoretical, epistemological, methodological, and/or ethical discussions; as well as in the advance toward disciplinary construction and the tension that this generates with other areas.

Discussion

Analyzing the trends in Social Work training in Colombia acquires special relevance at the current time. As the first centenary of the teaching of social work in Latin America and Colombia approaches, a balance of the path traveled is necessary. Colombian Social Work shares common elements with the training context in Latin America, whose influence is increasing internationally. Furthermore, the history of Latin American social work is inscribed and related to the history of social work in Europe and North America, environments with which a permanent dialogue has been maintained. And, finally, it should be noted that research production and postgraduate training in master’s and doctoral degrees in Social Work in Latin America is contributing with increasing visibility to the international debate on education and the professional and disciplinary practice of the profession.

The current situation in Latin America is characterized by the tension between the profession and the academic education to prioritize and place the professional identity within one of these historical moments. The reality of the profession and its historical development should not be undervalued, especially because the professional education represents a diverse tapestry of threads woven at different times in the history of the profession. Recognizing the professional legacy, valuing it, reflecting on it, and qualifying it based on a permanent interpretation of time and context. As stated by Nidia Aylwin (2018) for to write of history of Social Work is essential recognize the role of the profession and to identify the limitations, contradictions, contributions, and achievements in each historical moment.

Finally, the emergence of a discipline-transdiscipline tension is identified in contemporary education in Social Work (CONETS, 2022; Wallerstein, 2006). With greater weight in recently redesigned curricula, the influence of feminist epistemologies, decoloniality, intersectionality, affective turn and border thinking is evident (Lopez-Humphreys et al., 2022; Martínez & Agüero, 2018). This trend produces the inclusion of topics that respond to the situated reading of the national context specific of armed conflict, peace processes and migrations.

Professional education is product from the history of social work in each context (Campanini, 2008), and this is how this history crosses the curricular plans in force today in Colombia in the same way that historical periods have crossed the profession in Latin America. Within the curricula as well as within the teaching teams, the tensions inherent to each turn in the history of the profession are disputed, read less and less dichotomous and instead more and more as a continuum (similar to Moebius strip) between individual-society, science-humanism/art, object-subject, explanation-interpretation, micro-macro level, pragmatism-materialism, reform-revolution, theory-practice, rationality-affectivity (Failla et al., 2020; Ioakimidis & Wyllie, 2023; Viscarret, 2007). Qualification and continuous reflection will ensure the relevance of professional education in correspondence to the social question of each context and time.

The disciplinary and professional construction has been a long-term exercise whose weave continues to be woven today (CONETS, 2022).

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This paper is product of the project Decolonizing the community: explorations for a social-emancipatory intervention funded by the Universidad Industrial de Santander.

Notes

1. Project Decolonizing the community: explorations for an emancipatory social intervention Code 3926.

2. It is important to consider the nuances of this statement. In the Brazilian case, post-reconceptualization meant the creation of postgraduate programs at the master’s and doctoral levels, the consolidation of an editorial policy for the dissemination of the knowledge created in the programs (Cortéz editorial) and the management of trade union and academic organizations by an academic group that shares a theoretical-methodological matrix of Luckanian Marxism: the centrality of the work category in the constitution of the social being.

In the Argentine case, the consolidation of the public educational system in the post-dictatorship era created conditions for the strengthening of Social Work education. In 1998, the Argentine Federation of Academic Units of Social Work (FAUATS by its Spanish acronym) held a meeting on curriculum and research in Social Work, in which it was decided to strengthen postgraduate education with education proposals focused on Social Work that aimed to consolidate the field (Well, 2019).

Chile experiences an opposite phenomenon as the process of privatization of higher education delays the consolidation of the postgraduate offer in Social Work. It is relevant to point out the contribution of Espacio editorial in Argentina, whose impact on disciplinary academic dissemination has a Latin American scope. In general, post-reconceptualization in Spanish-speaking Latin America is marked by the emergence of human rights as an axiological category and telos of Social Work, as well as by the influence of situated, feminist and decolonial readings. Research and intervention fields are gaining strength around identity categories and their corresponding power disputes, with which intersubjectivity becomes relevant as a field of professional intervention.

3. It should be noted that this article does not address the analysis of the epistemological and theoretical perspectives that are used to support each of the legacy contents, as the information on objectives, contents, and bibliography is almost available. However, it is important to note that the historical moments of Social Work have been associated in the academic literature with various epistemological currents such as: functionalism, developmentalism, dialectical/critical, systemic, constructionist, constructivist, and human development (Vilches, 2018).

4. Under Colombian educational regulations, one academic credit is equivalent to 48 hours of academic work, including direct teaching and autonomous work.

5. The Prof. María Himelda Ramírez presents the curricula of 1938 at Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario in which courses in Civil, Administrative and Labor Law are offered. (p.42).

6. According to María Carulla, the first school of Social Work in Colombia was strongly influenced by the Elvira Matte Cruchaga School promoted by the Catholic Church in Chile (Carulla, [1944] 2014). In fact, Manrique Castro (1982) in his study on Social Work in Latin America reports that this Chilean institution included an Office and Statistical Techniques course in its curriculum. In Colombia, this course was also included by the first school (1936) under the generic designation of Statistics (Albán, 2018). Once the Act 48 of 1945 and, especially, the Decree 1576 of 1952 specified the incorporation of the course Statistics and Social research, indicating the conceptual shift of the course.

7. It is important to clarify that, at the UIS, statistics takes the name of Statistics and Quantitative Research and, therefore, could be classified both as a product of the developmentalist legacy and because of the influence of reconceptualization; we have chosen to place it in the latter legacy, because it is associated with quantitative research.

8. Gustavo Parra (2004) also points out that during this period (around 1965) the creation of integrative intervention models was advocated, as was the case of the proposal of the integrated, basic and unique methods, considered by the author as the transition methods between the classical methodologies (case, group and community) and the methodological proposals that emerged from the reconceptualization in its most radical moment around the seventies: methodology of transformative action (Manuel Zabala, Colombia), Social Work as a practice of liberating action (Ander Egg, Argentina), the Belho Horizonte (BH) method (School of Social Service of the Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) and the method of reality intervention (Boris Lima, Venezuela).