Abstract
Although the field of social work education has only existed for about fifty years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it has attracted considerably more students than the fields of science and the Arts. However there remains a very real challenge for the social worker graduate to meet the needs that exist today.
This chapter will consider social work education at Saudi Universities with specific focus on the expansion of social work education at the Bachelor's Degree level, the increasing student enrolment in the field, the number of Universities that offer post graduate programs in the field and whether or not the curricula offered and the faculties provided at these universities are in line with the qualifications needed in the field.
The chapter will also discuss at the syllabus used at Universities for graduate students and field training in relation to the total time students spend in training, supervisor techniques, and the qualification of supervisors.
The final part of the chapter will focus on challenges that face social work graduates at the work place, and consider the demand for social workers, whether there is any other specialty that could fulfill their role or they are uniquely skilled and hard to be replaced by others. Also, determine if there is a gap between the theoretical and practical application as it applies to social work, especially with the fast pace of social and economic changes taking place in Saudi society that created a wide variety of complicated problems requiring intervention by the social worker specialist. The chapter will also discuss the organization umbrella under which the social worker operates including licensing requirements, code of ethics, professional associations and the future of social work and the social worker in the Saudi society.