'We Taught You How to Teach Us': An Autoethnography of Decolonising of Social Work Education in a Programme for Bedouin-Arab Social Workers in Israel

The need to decolonise social work education has become prominent in curricula developed over the past years. The curriculum in social work schools defines and shapes ways of knowing largely in terms of privileged Western knowledge. It is therefore necessary to change it and adopt pedagogical approaches more suitable for populations from different cultures. This article presents a study on a dedicated training programme for Bedouin-Arab social workers in Israel. Its pedagogies are informed by decolonised and culturally adapted social work education. This qualitative study was conducted in a teacher-researcher reflexive autoethnography approach, based on documentation of thirty-six lessons and reflections by the programme lecturers and on a thematic analysis of their experiences as social work educators. The findings present several pedagogies in terms of 'bridge': the pedagogic, the cultural sensitivity, the theory-practice and the safe space bridge. These expand the knowledge base in social work education beyond Western knowledge, demonstrating how knowledge practices unique to different cultures and identities may be adopted and adapted within it. Based on these findings, it is suggested to transform and enrich social work education by decolonising it to include new knowledge from diverse populations. This study explores an initiative for decolonising social work education-Connecting Bridge, a training programme for Bedouin-Arab social workers in Israel. The article analyses the programme's curriculum and pedagogies, culturally adapted prior to and during the programme by its two lecturers, one of whom is a member of the Jewish-Israeli majority culture and the other a member of the Indigenous Bedouin-Arab culture. The findings suggest that the programme expanded the knowledge base in social work education, demonstrating how approaches and practices unique to different cultures and identities may be adopted and adapted within it. Based on these findings, it is proposed to transform and enrich social work education by decolonising it to include knowledge from diverse populations.