Reframing Social Work Education in Nigeria: Decolonisation, Curriculum Theory, and the Production of Critical Practitioners

Social work education in Nigeria reproduces colonial knowledge structures and produces practitioners poorly equipped to engage the structural dimensions of Nigerian social problems, necessitating a fundamental theoretical and curricular reorientation. This doctoral study develops a decolonial curriculum theory for Nigerian social work education, drawing on empirical data from social work programmes across six universities representing all geopolitical zones. A critical transformative paradigm employing critical curriculum theory and decolonial research methodology underpins the study, combining documentary analysis of social work curricula, 40 in-depth interviews with social work educators, and 30 focus groups with undergraduate and postgraduate social work students. Critical discourse analysis and decolonial analytical frameworks developed from Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Quijano, and Wa Thiong'o are applied. The study's original theoretical contribution is the development of the Nigerian Decolonial Social Work Curriculum Framework, which integrates African communal epistemologies, post-colonial social analysis, and critical praxis as foundational curriculum elements replacing Eurocentric practice models. Methodological contributions include the first application of decolonial research methodology to social work curriculum analysis in Nigeria. The study's practical implications engage the National Universities Commission and Social Work Council on curriculum reform directions. Keywords: decolonisation, social work education, curriculum theory, critical practitioners, Nigeria