Spirituality and social work students in their first year of study at a South African university
President Mandela poses a challenge for social workers and educators with his call to heal old wounds and build a new South Africa. This paper focuses on the identification and development of the internal resources which need to be mobilised for this process: spiritual commitment; experiences of suffering; and interconnectedness with others. These issues were investigated with social work students. The fmdings have shown that students are committed to values of justice, compassion and hope, and have a profound sense of interconnectedness with others. This can be explained by notions of personhood (botholubuntu) in Africa. This has implications regarding what is taught and how it is taught; the kinds of relationships social work educators have with their students and how they assist students through their educational journey; and the contributions social work educators themselves make to the development of justice and peace.
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- In Collections
-
Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Date
- 1996
- Authors
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Sacco, Terry
- Material Type
-
Articles
- Publishers
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School of Social Work (Harare, Zimbabwe)
- Language
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English
- Pages
- Pages 43-56
- ISSN
- 1012-1080
- Permalink
- https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5765dh8m