Translanguaging and Pedagogic Pathways to Culturally Relevant Social Work Education

Coloniality which symbolises the legacy of imperialism remains vividly visible in African education. The curriculum content, languages, and traditions remain dominantly White and Western. Such outcries were exposed in student protests in South African higher education such as #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall. Student movements have been calling for the uprooting of colonial practices in African universities and education. Social work education is not immune from such criticism since its professionalisation has been governed by the legacy of colonial structures which created a lack of culturally relevant and inclusive education. This chapter unpacks a way forward through engaging with decolonial approaches that provide examples of ways to develop context-based social work. We present two pathways for developing culturally relevant social work education, focused on language and knowledge, both demonstrate the role of pedagogy in decolonising and achieving change: 1) Translanguaging and the use of African languages in social work education; 2) Epistemic injustice, experiential knowledge, and epistemological access in social work education.