Social Work Education in Post-Soviet Countries: Progress of Azerbaijan

The article presents the findings of a qualitative study that was conducted in Azerbaijan to identify achievements and issues of social work education in the country. As in many former Soviet Union (fSU) countries, social work education in Azerbaijan is in its infancy. Formal education was established in 2005. Currently, sixteen universities offer social work education at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. Despite a relatively high number of graduates from these programmes, the country lacks professional social workers in the field. Thus, with financial support from the Ministry of Education, the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union explored this paradox. Data were collected via focus groups and in-depth interviews. The sample size was thirty-nine key informants, which included representatives of the government and non-government agencies, universities, social work students and alumni. Data were analysed by NVivo software. Themes such as the high number of social work education programs, strong commitment to launch social work programmes, wrong image of social work, need for resources in the local language, need for social work teachers, need for the minimum national quality standards for social work education and an uninformed selection of social work education by students have emerged. The study aims to contribute to the literature on social work education in former fSU countries. Are there countries without educated professional social workers? Yes, at least until recently most former Soviet Union (fSU) countries had no social work education system for almost a century. The social work profession was abolished, and its duties were carried out by nonprofessional social assistants, members of the Communist Party, Trade Union and nongovernment organisations. This legacy continues in some fSU countries, but others started developing indigenous social work education programmes. In Azerbaijan like all the fSU countries, social work education reemerged after the collapse of the USSR. Azerbaijan, which is at the diverse crossroads between Europe and Asia, has had conditions for unique configurations of social work education since 2005. What lessons can be drawn from the policy and practice experiences of Azerbaijan's path in developing its social work education? In this empirical article, the author discusses the emergence of social work education in Azerbaijan. The article outlines social work education's historical development before, during and after the Soviet times and analyses the current achievements and challenges of social work education in Azerbaijan. The article concludes with recommendations for the development of social work education in Azerbaijan.