ABSTRACT
Social work education and practice is still developing in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The education programme was introduced in the early 1970s at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). The current social work curriculum reflects a replica of the Western model, and the provision of social work education generally reflects concepts and theories not firmly rooted in the local setting. Therefore, this chapter signifies a shift in the indigenisation-internationalisation debates to a more appreciative inquiry for both perspectives and contributes towards culturally relevant knowledge development in social work education in PNG. The focus is on examining social work field education and the role of related global standards, from the perspectives of social work educators and students. In examining social work field education, the study utilises survey questionnaires to gather data on international standards and a case study approach, along with a dominant qualitative paradigm, allowing for the examination of factual and descriptive knowledge bases. The findings show that a culturally relevant social work curriculum is strongly linked to localisation, local-global connectedness, and the appreciation of both universal and local social work knowledge.
