The Specifics of Teaching Social Work at Universities in Arab Countries

Abstract

The processes of democratization, observed in recent years in the traditionally conservative Arab world, actualize the need for social workers, so the aim of the study was to study the features of teaching social work in Arab communities. Twelve universities with undergraduate programs in social work were randomly selected to compare these universities' curricula and social work programs and Ajman University. One conclusion is that social work programs in Arab communities should rely on traditional values of Islamic culture and legal literacy to achieve professionally necessary competence. Improvement of curricula and social work programs following international standards of the profession and taking into account the ethnocultural and religious characteristics of the Arab world will provide the Arab communities with highly qualified social workers who can competently provide support to the needy population categories.