30, August 2025

Training Social Work Students for Community Social Work Practice in Kerala: An Empirical Analysis

VOLUME-11; ISSUE-8; AUG-2025

Author(s): Dr. Mini K.P.

Authors Affiliations:

Associate Professor, School of Social Work, De Paul Institute of Science &Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala, India

DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202508033     |     Paper ID: IJIRMF202508033


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 Community social work necessitates a practice that transcends sectors and methodologies, focusing on the utilization of culture-specific and locally relevant knowledge and skills. To accomplish this goal, it is crucial to enhance the training for community social work practice, ensuring that social workers possess the competence and insight required to effectively tackle the distinctive challenges and intricacies of the communities they serve. The education for community social work practice in Kerala has received limited research attention. This article discusses a study conducted to empirically analyse the training imparted to social work students in Kerala for community social work practice employing a convergent parallel mixed method design. It delved into the teaching methodology, field work, skill development and assessment strategies adopted in the social work institutions in Kerala by drawing from the experiences and practices of 81 social work educators and nine experts in the field through a cross-sectional survey and interviews respectively. The study outlined the major elements and factors on which the education for community social work in Kerala depend and contributes to the theoretical and empirical knowledge of social work education by developing the model of training social work students to work with communities in Kerala.

 
Social work practice, community social work, social work education, social work training, Kerala

Dr. Mini K.P. (2025); Training Social Work Students for Community Social Work Practice in Kerala: An Empirical Analysis, International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, ISSN(O): 2455-0620, Vol-11, Issue-8, Pp.250-259.          Available on –   https://www.ijirmf.com/

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