Authors: Ashwathi Muraleedharan & Lizy P.J.
Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, India
Edition: Volume 65, Number 3, Special Edition, November 2025
Introduction: While the higher education institutions around the world grapple with a systematic dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and targeted attacks on social justice measures, social work education remains a ray of hope. With its deeply embedded principles of empowerment, the profession is positioned to foster advocacy. And yet, the Schools of Social Work find themselves challenging traditional pedagogies to make space for student-centric learning spaces. The field has been witnessing a disturbing trend of unfair standardisation of social work education and practice that go against its foundational cornerstone of accepting and respecting diversity. This has been resulting in the dilution of social work institutions to mere spaces that focus on employability and measurable outcomes over critical engagement with marginalised communities.
Social workers need to not just reflect but also actively challenge systems of oppression. And to challenge the traditional teaching and learning methodologies, Arangu was born as a part of a minor research project undertaken by the authors in collaboration with first year undergraduate social work students from an urban social work institution in Kerala, India. Arangu was a performance-based learning environment that centred on using theatre for self-awareness and building student agency. Starting off by co-designing how the space should function, the educator transitioned into the role of a facilitator and informed the students about an end of the academic year goal: creating a large-scale student-led event. To meet this goal, the choice was given to them on what and how they wanted to learn to accomplish this goal. Using qualitative reflections from seven student participants, this practice article presents a creative learning space that thrives on addressing the personal and professional ‘identity’ of social work students, encouraging them to view themselves as advocates of change through diverse methods of self-expression.
There is a need to decolonise classrooms by paving the way for more experiential, choice-based and student-centric models that discuss intersectionality, social movements, and real-time policy barriers and empower students to critically analyse power dynamics and social structures. It is time that we reclaim our radical roots and reframe the impact of social work education and practice through lived experiences, storytelling, and qualitative reflections of our students rather than falling victim to neoliberal metrics of success. Therefore, drawing from critical pedagogy, social constructivism, and arts-based education, the paper highlights the impact of creative spaces on student perceptions of social work education and practice. It also supports the reimagination of social work institutions as coowned and collaborative ecosystems rather than a banking model. The students’ desire to be a part of spaces where they could openly champion social issues without the fear of being judged is explored along with proposing flexible classroom designs that expose the students to integrate theory with practical knowledge, respecting the interdisciplinary nature of our profession. The authors conclude this practice paper by offering a practical manifesto that focuses on integrating student-led creative pedagogical strategies into mainstream social work education.
Keywords: creative pedagogy, social work education, decolonisation, learning process, inclusion
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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 65:3 The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.