Factors of Development Social Work Education in Contemporary Egypt

Abstract

The development of social work in any country around the globe has its own context that is significantly different from one environment to another. For example, Walton (Williams, 1975) has identified the role of British women and their contributions as one main factor affecting social work development in the British context along with three other factors: the influence of U.S. trends, international events, and patterns in British social work. The current article has identified a set of different factors affecting the development of social work education in Egypt. These factors are the influence of nongovernmental and private education of social workers, the efforts of the early Egyptian social reformers, political factors, and efforts of social work educators. It is concluded that private social work education, the strong practitioners-established and -led professional organizations, the contributions of indigenous social reformers and the Egyptian people, and the institutional and collective efforts of social work educators are cornerstones of the development of social work education in Egypt. As Watts (1995) said: when social work education in a specific country has been examined, a great deal about social work education elsewhere will be learned. Through comparisons, some fresh ideas on social work education have been gleaned. For example, an idea or program in this specific country could be adapted for use in another country. Other countries could learn from the social work education experiences of Egypt.