Pedagogy of Social Work Education
and Practice-Present Status and
Future Strategies (10-11Feb.2011) Key Note Address
Dear Kinsmen,
I thank you very sincerely for
giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts, feelings and aspirations with
you here under the auspices of Kuvempu University that bears the name of a
great KANNADA poet and an humanitarian as also a protagonist of Sarvodaya
Philosophy. And, again, it was here that I was given a forum to propose an
action programme for social science teachers and students to take up
developmental activities throughout the university area covering, then, the
three districts, namely, Chikkamagalur, Chitradurga and Shivamogga with the
kind moral and intellectual support of the first Vice-Chancellor,
Dr.Shanthinatha K. Desai. I am happy to acknowledge the kind co-operation
extended to me by Dr.S.A.Bari, the then professor of History and at present the
Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of this University.
I am sure professor Bari, now with all the powers he has with him, would
take keen interest in supporting the social work department of his university to grow from strength to strength
so as to build itself into an instrument of change and development in this
region of Karnataka, and be a model to
the rest of the state. Besides I ardently desire that he would assist the
department in implementing the decisions taken in the light of the discussions
held during this workshop.
The Workshop and certain
questions
At the outset I have the pleasure
to congratulate the organizers of this workshop for having chosen the theme:
'Pedagogy of social work education and practice-present status and future
strategy ' as it is most appropriate and timely. I am happy to note that this
workshop envisages to cover social work paradigms of the West vis-a-vis the
prospect of indigenous model, evaluation of the present curricula, the growth
of social work training institutes, examination of the educational component
against the practice, and most importantly the social work professional
organizations. It is heartening to know that the workshop is focusing on the
status of social work situation in Karnataka; it is heartening because I am the
one who strongly feel the need for laying greater stress on making those who
are undergoing training in social work as also practising social work in
Karnataka should be acquainted with the culture and social work situation in
Karnataka for enriching their professional self and strengthening the roots of
social work in Karnataka. This is, of course, applicable to any linguistic
region of Bharath.
Besides, I Congratulate the
organizers of the workshop for their foresight in getting together at one place
most of the highly experienced academics of social work particularly from
Karnataka to participate in the deliberations. This ensures, I am sure, not
merely the success of the workshop but also the possibility of building social
work profession that too in Karnataka on strong footings. When I ponder over
the objectives of the workshop, and before taking discussion on certain crucial
areas, a number of questions arise in my mind. I place them for your insightful
consideration.
The questions are:
1)
Are we really professional?
2)
Are we-the teachers, the students and the practitioners - organized? Organized
well?
3)
Are we not apathetic, alienated and demoralized?
4)
Do we practise democracy, the basic philosophy of our profession, within
various settings: family, training institute, agency and others?
5)
Do we have smooth communication among ourselves, particularly between the
teachers and the students?
6)
Do we have required infrastructural facilities to teach, learn, research and
practise?
7)
Is there any supervising and controlling agency to maintain quality of
education?
8)
Do we have required literature particularly related to our society, its
problems, resources available, etc., and particularly in our language?
9)
Have we contributed to theory development and how much?
10)
What are our commitments and devotion to our profession?
The
reason for placing these questions is that these and such others are bothering
me day and night, and to seek your considered and thoughtful answers.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is related, as you know,
to all the aspects and dimensions of teaching. It is concerned with imparting
Knowledge, Values, Ideas, and esoteric ways to the novice, it is assumed, who
has had no acquaintance with new sphere that he/she has entered into. It is, in
a way , an edifying process to consider
it to be an indoctrination process by
not merely acquainting him/her with the
dimensions of the new world of knowledge and values, experience and style of
living, aspirations and expectations, a range of possibilities of achievement
but also of new directions to attain the goals set. The pedagogy is also
concerned with the rights and responsibilities the entrant is required not only
to be familiar with but also to be ready to imbibe them in full measure and
express them in action. . It is the way to build a new and a vibrant personality
so as to cope up with the challenges confronted in the world of operation unknown to and not to scuttle the required
functioning by the acolyte. The intrinsic aim of the process involved here is
to arouse and strengthen conscentization. In other words, it is a process of
transforming a person with raw endowment so as to develop in him/her a new
world-view, a new perspective and equip him/her with sufficient strength and
confidence to face with fortitude and comfort.
The process of imparting
successfully whatever I have stated above depends on the kind of rapport
established between the teacher and the student. It is assumed that the teacher
is fully equipped and perspicacious, and capable of transferring his knowledge
and experience to the student with no hesitation, inhibitions and/or
reservations, and grow along with the latter so as to overcome his own
limitations as well as of his ward. The ultimate goal of pedagogy, according to
Bharath’s model (Guru-Sishya Parampara) is to prepare the student to defeat the
teacher in the real sense of the term.
It is the fulfillment of this goal that is set for pedagogy process. The
personalities of both the teacher and the student, as a consequence, become
transparent and vibrant, full of mutual trust, concern; and the concern
transcends both of them to be glowing souls. At the end they cease to be the
teacher and the student; they become equal partners of the common task of
sowing goodness in the world. It is appropriate, I consider, to remember what
the ancient sages of Bharath have said about the teacher or the Guru:
" Gurur Brahma, Gurur
Vishnu,
Gurur devo Maheshwarah,
Gurur Sakshat Parabrahma
Tasmai Shri Guravennamah."
The guru was treated to be par
with the trinity of Sanatana / Hindu Dharma, namely Brahma, the creator of the
universe. Vishnu, the protector or the maintainer of the universe and
Parameshwara, the destroyer of the evil. Further the sages have this to say
about the power of such a guru. The connected sloka thus runs.
"Ajnana timirandhasya
Jnananjana salakasya
Chakshurunmilitam yena
Tasmai shri gurave nnamah."
The simple meaning of the sloka
‘as: the darkness of ignorance has covered my eyes; I am blinded with this
darkness. The guru has given me a spectrum of light to my eyes with which the darkness
is driven away. I bow with reservence to such a Guru. The guru has such a power
of wisdom with which he can drive away whatever darkness of doubts, ignorance,
aberrations, etc,. that the student has.
The guru, therefore, is such a person who is gracious enough to lead the
student from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom. Such a guru
deserves all the reverence and adoration. In the light of what is said above,
it is assumed, that the guru is the epitome of the good, the knowledge, the wisdom,
the kindness, the mercy, the affection and of the nobility. The student would
feel the warmth with which he/she is treated.
He/she tends ensconced. Between them there would be no blemish; if any
that would be burnt out during the
spiritual-intellectual transactions. I wonder whether this model of Guru-Sishya
Parampara built during the hoary past of Bharath could be suitably adapted or
grafted to the social work pedagogy.
Social work Scenario
Right now we are concerned with
the process of training the aspirants to be Professional Social Workers. The
process is necessarily to be comprehensive enough to subsume all aspects of
training:
1) The curriculum and the method
of imparting it to the seekers;
2) The field work practice where
theory is tested and purified and enriched;
3) The research undertaken to
explore new areas of knowledge and values and ideologies and examine the
veracity of the existing ones;
4) Getting acquaintance with the
contours of practice areas;
5) The ways the professional social
workers (including teachers, students and practitioners) are getting organized
as also the ways of sustaining the organizations;
6) Evaluation of the kind of
relationship needed between social work and other professions and related
sciences;
7) etc.,
All these aspects of training
expect the seeker to develop a transformed personality so as to make him/her
fully equipped with the capacity to carry on the mission undertaken with a
clear vision generated.
I take this opportunity to place
before the erudite participants my thoughts on certain areas related to the
growth of social work both education and practice components. I take up first
for discussion the philosophy and ideology part against the societal
background. When we trace the phases/stages of the growth of social work, as
per my reading and understanding, there are four stages, namely, 1)
Indistinguishable or role reversal; 2) polarization or consolidation of roles;
3) sharpening of the knowledge and skills; and 4) back to the modified original.
This does not, however, pertain only to the modern social work but to the
social work from the beginning (1*). There is no room here for me to lengthen
the narration.
The social work anthropologists
and sociologists agree that societal structure exists thanks to its
functioning. That means, the functioning structure can only exist and survive.
The social work educators and the workers are aware that the abstract form of
human society expresses itself in the concrete forms of social person with personality,
the human group and the human community. The individuals, the groups, the
communities interact through their appropriate institutions and organizations
in the light of the values, norms and ideologies and the total cultural ethos
resulting in the formation and maintenance of the human society. Therefore, the elements of social work were
present even from the very beginning of the societal structure. When Auguste
Compte was laying the foundation for the new science of society-i.e.,
Sociology- he was searching for solutions to the problems cropped up during his
period of upheaval (1842). What he found, as a philosopher, were the elements
of social work (though not specifically
worked in this fashion) that were needed to meet the exigencies.
The modern social work, I assume,
was born along with sociology, the modern science of society. As sociology was
born during 18-19 century so does modern social work. The modern social work
became a new discipline with new ideology and philosophy, methodology and
techniques, principles and skills, and identified certain areas for operation.
Otherwise social work was in operation along with society, as it was indicated
earlier, whatever ideology, values, philosophy, methodology, etc., as per the
ethos of that period. Along with other societal activities, social work
activities have also undergone appropriate changes.
A hypothesis: Origin and growth
of modern social work
Coming to modern social work I
have formulated a hypothesis which I place for year reflections. We normally
divide the world into three segments, namely, the first, a developed world, the
second, socialistic world, and the third, developing world. Modern social work
thrived in the western, particularly, American, countries. There social work
adopted democracy as its basic philosophy because of its socio - political
background. The migrants from the main land wanted to be absolutely free from
any control; the individual freedom was the upper most consideration;
consequently democracy became the political philosophy and ideology (2*).
Social work, therefore, adopted democracy as its basic philosophy which lays
stress on the individual; consequently Case Work became the prime or mother
methodology. The other methods had to
shape themselves under the influence of Case Work. Supposing history decided
that social work to grow in the second or the socialist world, and the
background was going to be socio-economic, where because of communistic –
socialistic atmosphere the commune or the community would have been the
important focal point for methodological consideration; case work was
definitely going to be pushed back giving place to Community Organization.
Imagine the modern social work had taken birth and developed in the third or
the oriental world its background was being socio-religion or spiritual as a
result of why devotion was going to be the core philosophy , (later during the
Gandhian era it took the form of Sarvodaya) the group gaining the center-stage.
In the oriental society it was the family and the caste that were the strong
systems that dominated the life-style of the people. Even the panchayat was
functioning like a group of elites. To summarize, socio-political background
breeds democracy leading to individualism and formulating case-work to be prime
method of social work; the socio-economic background to communism – socialism,
commune becoming the main area of operation and the dominant method being
community organization, and the socio-religious/spiritualism to devotion/
Bhakti, the prime place being occupied by group work.
In the light of what is presented
above I desire to draw your attention to post-Independent Bharath situation.
Because of British rule and American influence our independent country adopted
democracy as its political philosophy and national ideology, and because of
Russian relationship as also J.Nehru`s leaning towards socialism, Bharath
grafted socialism to democracy. That is how and why democratic socialism became
the basic philosophical ideology for the nascent nation on which to build a
secular welfare state. Therefore, democracy, socialism, secularism and
welfarism became the components of the ideology of the new nation.
The philosophy and ideology were
accepted with no wryness as these were introduced to us during the freedom
struggle. Secularism was assumed to be non-religious, though the Constitution
declared it to be not anti-religious and treated all religions as equal.
However it was superimposed against the caste system. However, because of
deep-rooted religious sentiments, spiritual base, and the realization of the
importance of head-count during the elections held the castes started donning
the religious garb. (3*)
The British rule brought in
radical changes in the political, legal, educational and economic systems.
Against this changed background democratic socialistic ideology became a
natural political philosophy of the new nation. The modern social work made its
entrance during the period of freedom struggle (1936) with democracy as its
basic philosophy. But, unfortunately, to borrow Will Durant`s observations of
French Revolution and use them to the new nation`s scenario, “the sons of
revolution have become sons-in-law of reaction”. Gradually, elections after
elections held in independent Bharath, our society became fully politicized,
and politics becoming criminalized, unscrupulous people who became the rulers
started corrupt practices and became nouveau riche at the cost of well-being of
the common masses. As a writer put it bluntly, “Abuse of discretion is the
biggest source of corruption. The germ of corruption crept inside the belly of
the body politic right after the country gained independence” (4*). As I have
observed the society is infested with a large number of viruses generating and
nurturing social problems which in turn are eating the very vitals. We can
identify these as major viruses, namely, Apathy, Alienation, Selfishness,
Demoralization and Imbalance of Rights and Responsibilities (5*). Social work
field cannot remain immune to the polluted environment prevailing and
expanding.
Therefore, I consider that there
is a need for this workshop to seriously reflect on the kind of social work
philosophy and ideology as also the methodology of treatment that we need to
adopt keeping our culture and tradition in view. I do not feel it to be
inappropriate to suggest for experimentally at least, grafting the Bhakthi Yoga
on further reflection we can take in sarvodaya as an ideology along with Bhakti
Yoga. (See: H.S.Doreswamy, Sarvodaya Mantra, Sapna Book House, Bangalore-2010
as a suitable philosophy for social work in our society (6*). It would suffice to quote an erudite social
work educator who steadfastly believed in the strength of the Bhaktas in
promoting the total well-being of the humanity. “Bhakti Yoga” she says, “is a
process of totally surrendering to the Lord through devotion.Such a state of
perfection of being a true Bhakta, calls for bringing of head and heart
together through transcendental love. It is believed that love in a dormant state
is in every heart. In Bhakti Yoga devotion and love is cultivated as a mode of
expression for everything…
“In Bhakti Yoga humans, animals
and all other living creatures in fact the entire creation is viewed as Lord`s
manifestation. Hence, service to all is sacrifice for the Supreme Cause.
“In Bhakti Yoga there is no room
for dislike or envy. Kindness flows in all actions, friendship is for all
living entities, self is not thought of as a proprietor, and no false ego is
sustained. In happiness and in distress the being is conscious, aware and
satisfied. The experience is of being engaged in devotional service with
determination.
“Bhakti Yoga is characterized
with upasana-an inward act of attainment with the higher principle and
completely merging with it. The process begins with faith-Shraddha and
continues as perfect faith ever steadfast in worship and totally merged with
God”. (7*)
Dr. Gokarna has given a
descriptive account and analysis of the Bhaktas all over the country who have
exhibited their nobility and guided masses to overcome their limitations and
miseries. She has shown how, for example, Bhakti Yoga through the action taken
by the Bhaktas (devotees) could bring about the development, we the modern
social workers are deeply interested in(8*).
Kosha-System
Further, I desire to point out
that the latest trend in treatment of mental patients particularly to
incorporate the principles of Yoga.
I may be permitted to show how it
would benefit the pairs of teacher-student and practitioner-client to get
acquainted with the religious philosophy of Bharath that elaborately worked out
the `Kosha System’. The internal life of the human being is so thoroughly and
systematically studied as to show how the gross body could elevate to the level
of blissful conditions. This system is given below:
1. Annamaya
Kosha- Physical or gross body
level
2. Pranamaya Kosha- Energy or bio-plasmic body level
3. Manomaya Kosha-
Mental or emotional body level
4. Vijnanamaya Kosha- Intellectual body with the power of
discrimination
5. Anandamaya Kosha- Blissful body level where complete
tranquility and equanimity prevail. (9*)
The teacher of social work, if he
can be grounded in this Yougic method he/she would be capable of elevating the
student to his level. And the social work practitioner, who has reached the
Anandamaya level would be great influence on the client or the one whom he/she
is helping. He/she becomes a realized soul like Bhakta I have referred to while
quoting Dr.Gokarna. I hasten to add that this, however, does not mean the
teacher or the practitioner need to renounce the worldly life. For example, the
Karnataka Shiva Sharanas and the Haribhaktas did not renounce the worldly life.
They have shown the way of light by their exemplary style of living.
Strengthening Group work
Besides modifying ideology there
is a need to concentrate on strengthening group work. It would help in finding
ways to strengthen people to make their group more satisfying, meaningful and
develop their group into an agent of change and development. Because of
unhealthy changes people are engaged in competition, that too cut-throat
competition instead of cooperating with each other; hating instead of loving;
cultivating selfishness instead of altruism; despising other group member`s
contribution instead of appreciating and encouraging. This kind of feelings and
behaviuor is found in almost all group living. Even the family that has
tested-base for centuries is experiencing cracks, and the bonds between the
members are becoming weaker leading to breakdown. Consequently marital
conflict, indiscipline among the youngsters, neglect of the elderly and the
handicapped, etc., are on the increase. Centrifugal forces are gaining upper
hand leading to desperateness. Social work intervention has become an urgency
even in the tradition-bound society like Bharath. Therefore, concerted efforts
need to be made in equipping the social workers with the knowledge, techniques
and skills in helping small groups including family and kin-groups. Even the caste
groups can be helped to overcome their prejudices against other castes and
preventing them from cultivating feelings of casteism. Social workers can
witness ineptitude among the co-workers in formal settings resulting in
disorganization. Group morale is found totally absent in such situations. Group
work becomes a must to deal with such situations. I need not go on giving
illustrations to highlight the importance of group work. It would suffice to
state that the oriental cultural ethos facilitates for practising group work
than case work.
Organizing social workers
Our country is great in several
respects. It is great in size, in population, in history, in culture, in
literature, in contribution to the world of philosophy. But unfortunately it
has failed in building strong organizations with discipline and commitments.
The professional social workers are either not organized or badly organized.
Even those national level organizations have become defunct. Though they have
realized the need for strong organizations at various levels they have not been
making genuine efforts in building them.
May I take this opportunity to
appeal to take up the matter seriously and start organization of teachers, and
of students, and of practitioners. I have been pleading to organize social work
educators for more than two decades under KASWE (Karnataka Association of
Social Work Education). I am appending 10* to this speech my address delivered
at Mangalore some time back. Kindly give some time to deliberate on this issue
as the workshop is interested in discussing the issue of organization.
Social Work in Karnataka
In the beginning itself I
congratulated the organizers of this workshop for including an item to discuss
Karnataka case. I feel that it is a must for anyone who inhabits here as one
should know its language, its culture, its social problems, its social work
situation, particularly those who are engaged in social work profession for
several reasons. Karnataka is a unique culture that exhibits all the important
elements of Bharatiya life and living; it is here that several experiments have
been going on; it was here daring social reform movements had taken place; it
was here that Ramanuja who fled from Tamil region in the 9-10 century realized
his dream of cultivating socio-religious reforms; it was here that Sharana
revolution took place in the 12th century; it was here Bhakti movement was
further strengthened by Haridasas; it was here backward less movement gained
prominence during the 20th century; it was here educational and social welfare
activities were promoted by the state (particularly erstwhile Mysore state) and
religious organizations; it is found that all over the state schools of social
work in large number are engaged in training hundreds of social workers; it is
again here voluntary sector in the welfare field is very active. Over and above
Karnataka is known for its religious tolerance and harmony. It is, therefore, a
special interest must be shown by the schools of social work in studying social
work situation in Karnataka.
Social Policy Formulation
Social workers, not only in
Karnataka, but also in all the states are least interested in participating in
the formulation of public (social policy, and present it to the stated) Central
Governments for consideration and implementation. Therefore, I urge you to take
up the issue for discussion of formulating welfare policies by the social
workers through their organisations.
Thanks
I express at the end, my sincere
thanks to every one of you for having given me an opportunity to say what I
desired to say. n
Sincerely Yours
H.M.Marulasiddaiah
Dr.H.M.Marulasiddaiah
Professor of
Social Work (Rtd.)
No comments:
Post a Comment