This podcast emerged from a scoping review that explored what decolonisation means in the context of social work field education. Decolonisation is both a journey and a commitment. It’s a way of challenging colonial legacies and affirming self-determination, both globally and locally.

Over 24 to 36 months, a culturally diverse team of social work academics, practitioners, and students met regularly online to design and carry out the review. Guided by a social justice lens, the team used both systematic and decolonising methods including relational searches and thematic, deductive analysis through critical frameworks.

The review included 43 studies, most post-2010 and from English-speaking contexts. The findings pointed to an urgent need to integrate Indigenous knowledge, challenge White dominance, reconstruct learning spaces, and promote critical reflection grounded in political and cultural contexts. The review also made clear that if cultural and epistemic injustices in field education go unaddressed, harmful practices will continue to be reproduced, particularly for non-White social work students.