Social work education in the making of a welfare state: South Korea’s experience

This chapter examines the development and status of social work education in South Korea. It focuses on the impact of political, socio-economic and cultural environments over the last 80 years. The development of welfare policies and social work fields led to the expansion of social work education as a resource for supplying professional human resources. However, there are several challenges, such as oversupply of licensed social workers, low salary levels of social workers and lack of quality control in educational programs. Therefore, social work education should provide theoretical perspectives and practice models that can improve Korean society and overcome these challenges.