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Abstract

Social work is a semi-professional academic programme that requires its students to master its primary curriculum. It is crucial to produce knowledgeable, skilled and competent social workers. A survey was conducted to study the level of barriers experienced by social work students in public universities in their effort to master the social work curriculum. The survey used a quantitative approach through questionnaire distribution. The study involved 279 final year students of six public universities in Malaysia which offering social work education programs. The study measured ten components of the basic social work curriculum; which are the social work as professionals, value and ethics of social work, client diversity,  social and economic justice, critical thinking of at-risk populations, human behaviour and the environment, social justice and welfare, social work practice, research and knowledge and skills in practice through industry training. The findings show that the level of barriers to mastering all the ten components was at a moderate level. The results serve as a guide to streamline the existing social work programme curriculum in Malaysia; thus, it can produce competent social work graduates who can meet various challenges.

Keywords

social work education basic social work curiculum barriers mastering competent

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