Re-designing social work courses for care and authenticity: Reflections of South African educators

Abstract

In the post-COVID-19 era, we have gone back to business as usual. This paper questions this status quo and reports on the co-creation of a learning design framework from a Southern African authentic learning (AL) perspective, developed collaboratively by nine purposely sampled educators from seven South African higher education institutions who collaborated in an NRF‑funded project. The paper argues that an AL framework must emphasise elements that differ from, and sometimes go beyond, those of the Global North, with care, contextual relevance, and situatedness being key to authenticity. Our collective efforts aim to challenge the dominance of (Northern) perspectives and privilege, creating spaces for diverse ways of thinking, doing, and being. Methodologically, the paper reports on the first phase of the Educational Design Research (EDR) project, which will inform future design iterations in the second phase. Data were collected through a focus group and analysed using thematic analysis. The framework used the four A’s as a heuristic to organise the data: authenticity (aligned with ten AL principles); agency (student voice and choice, promoting freedom in learning); autonomy (student self-regulation); and accountability (professional responsibility). This paper is valuable because it examines how course re-design can foster care and authenticity by exploring the intersections of cultural identity, community dynamics, and social challenges. The article offers a novel perspective to support the development of a professional curriculum focused on self-awareness in a world increasingly dominated by technocratic course design processes and practices.