What can social workers learn from African proverbs?

Abstract

There continues to be a call on social work education to incorporate diverse teaching and learning resources and strategies to meet the needs of its diverse learners. Proverbs tend to be well known metaphors, which are memorable and are passed on from one generation to the next, and exist in all cultures and in many languages. This paper presents an innovative and creative use of proverbs to facilitate this process, and provides students from different cultures the opportunity to understand and contextualise aspects of social work education and practice. The paper proposes the use of African proverbs to enhance learning for the growing numbers of African students of social work in England.It is hoped that the use of proverbs, which combine cultural heritage and literature as creative arts, will enable students to view the world of social work with an additional lens, making it relevant, interesting and meaningful. The proverbs used in this paper have been translated from various African languages into English.Writing from the perspective of a black female African social work academic, I believe it is important that black people are producers of knowledge and ideas in order to become a part of the writing of their own history.

Full text

What can social workers learn from African proverbs?
17 J. of Practice Teaching & Learning 12(1), pp.xx-xx. DOI: 10.1921/4802120105. © w&b
What can social workers learn
from African proverbs?
Prospera Tedam1
Abstract: There continues to be a call on social work education to incorporate
diverse teaching and learning resources and strategies to meet the needs of its
diverse learners. Proverbs tend to be well known metaphors, which are memorable
and are passed on from one generation to the next, and exist in all cultures
and in many languages. This paper presents an innovative and creative use of
proverbs to facilitate this process, and provides students from different cultures
the opportunity to understand and contextualise aspects of social work education
and practice. The paper proposes the use of African proverbs to enhance learning
for the growing numbers of African students of social work in England.
It is hoped that the use of proverbs, which combine cultural heritage and literature
as creative arts, will enable students to view the world of social work with an
additional lens, making it relevant, interesting and meaningful. The proverbs used
in this paper have been translated from various African languages into English.
Writing from the perspective of a black female African social work academic,
I believe it is important that black people are producers of knowledge and ideas
in order to become a part of the writing of their own history.
Keywords: African proverbs; African students; black students; creative arts; global
social work; teaching and learning.
1. Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Northampton
Address for correspondence: Univ ersit y of N orthamp ton , Bou ghto n Gr een R oad,
Northampton NN2 7AL. Prospera.tedam@northampton.ac.uk
Date of first (online) publication:

Prospera Tedam
18 J. of Practice Teaching & Learning 12(1), pp.xx-xx. DOI: 10.1921/4802120105. © w&b
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
(Ghanaian proverb)
Introduction
In 2008, along with two other academic colleagues, I explored the
experiences of black African students studying social work at our university.
The fi ndings from these studies have been reported (Bartoli et al., 2008).
A key recommendation from this study was that the incorporation of non-
Western world views and perspectives into the social work curriculum was
necessary. These additions and changes to the curriculum are ongoing and
structural, involving members of the wider subject teaching team.
On a personal level, I have sought to develop ideas that might enhance
the teaching and learning experiences of BME students enrolled on social
work programmes. These ideas have been disseminated elsewhere (Tedam,
2012a, 2012b) and were motivated by an observation made by a black
social work student in a large urban university in the United States, who
concluded that students appreciated ‘literature about people of colour by
people of colour’ (Daniel, 2011, p.255). This, in addition to a call for black
academics and researchers to contribute to knowledge creation, has not
gone unheeded.
It is against this backdrop that the current paper is presented, drawing
upon proverbs from across the African continent as a tool to enhance
understanding, knowledge and creativity in social work education and
practice. In addition, Mieder (2004) believes that although most cultures
have and use proverbs, some of the richest proverbs can be found in West
Africa. As the introductory proverb implies, the person who tells their
story is likely to tell it in their favour and not necessarily in the way that
events occur. This will be refl ected upon in the conclusion to this paper.
Walton (2012, p.725) proposes that any art form used for the purposes
of education must be ‘effi cient, purposeful and effective’ in order to avoid it
being viewed as inauthentic or basic. Using this view, the paper will explore
the extent to which proverbs are effi cient and purposeful to students and
practitioners of social work. It is, however, beyond the scope of this paper to
examine the effectiveness of proverbs as this is a theoretical paper and it will
be only after an evaluation is completed that some sense of its effectiveness
as a teaching and learning strategy will be ascertained.

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The core purpose of internationalisation relates not only to international
students but also to how economic, cultural and social diversity infl uences
learning and teaching and has resulted in innovative ways of thinking
about teaching, learning, the curriculum and assessment (Clifford &
Joseph, 2005).
Defi ning proverbs
A proverb, according to Whiting (1932) is:
a short saying of philosophic nature of great antiquity, the product of the
masses rather than the classes, constantly applicable and appealing because
it bears a semblance of universal truth.
Mieder, perhaps one of the most popular authors in the area of proverbs,
suggests that it is:
a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth,
morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fi xed and memorisable form
and which is handed down from generation to generation. (Mieder, 1993,
pp.5, p.24)
Proverbs have been a part of the African way of life for centuries and, as
Uhuegbu (2006, p.4) suggests, are the ‘lubricant of any good conversation’.
Proverbs, like storytelling and folklore, provide the reader with the
opportunity to visualise and imagine what is being said and to make
inferences of its meaning. They have also been used to resolve confl icts
and arguments and settle misunderstandings, according to Agbaje (2002).
According to the defi nitions offered above, proverbs aim to illuminate
actions or outcomes, and provide succinct and relevant information that is
also memorable and applicable in a range of circumstances and situations.
It is acknowledged that the proverbs presented in this paper may be used
in many other countries in Africa and elsewhere and in different languages
and dialects. Consequently, countries are acknowledged here for their use of
the proverb and not necessarily the development of the proverb in question.

Prospera Tedam
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Learning through proverbs
Learning can be understood as the ‘process of using a prior interpretation to
construe a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience
in order to guide future action’ (Mezirow 1996: 162). Social work education
refl ects this view in that social workers draw upon their understanding
of service users’ contexts and circumstances, measured against a set of
guidance, with a view to determining their decision-making and the
sub se qu en t o utcom es for s er v ice us er s. In rel at ion to s oc ia l work educ at io n,
prior interpretation and understanding of proverbs can be used to create
new meaning when applied to contemporary situations.
Mezirow developed a unique strand of transformative learning based
on Freire’s work in the 1970s. Transformative learning theory, according
to Meizrow, is the process by which adult learners make sense of their
experiences through ‘refl ection, critical refl ec ti on an d c rit ic al sel f r efl ection’
(Dirkx 1998, p .4), and that creativity and the use of one’s imagination can
result in transformative learning. Students of social work, according to
Jones (2009), should view their experiences as a source of transformative
learning; the use of proverbs will enable social workers to critically refl ect
and self-refl ect on how their experiences can be applied to practice.
Some authors have identifi ed the effectivene s s of proverbs in enhancing
teaching and learning in different academic disciplines (Manzo, 1981;
Ibanez, 2002; Tisdell & Tolliver, 2003; Grant & Assimeng-Boahene, 2006)
and a similar approach is being proposed here for social work.
Social work is a demanding profession (Collins, 2008), and in working
with people, social workers are continually engaged in some form of
communication, which can be delivered and received in different ways.
Koprowska (2008) argues that skilled communication makes a difference
to interactions in various settings and also between social workers and
service users, especially in exploring diffi cult and sometimes complex
issues. In this regard, Pepicello and Green (1984) propose that proverbs
locate a real social problem in an art form and that, like art, social work
is involved in clarifying the personal and moral meaning of social issues
and events (Goldstein, 1999).
The intention of this paper is not to simplify the intensity, purpose and
scope of social work education and practice but rather to use light- hearted,
accessible proverbs to capture understanding and subsequently apply this
knowledge to practice domains. Schon (1991, p.66) argues that teachers

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‘must be ready to invent new methods’ and that they ‘must endeavour to
develop … the ability of discovering them’. This view is one of the intended
outcomes of this paper.
Areas for exploration
The author has identifi ed many proverbs that fi t the remit of this paper.
However, in order to enhance clarity and provide some structure, proverbs
will be examined under the broad subheadings of: the social work student;
child and family; and collaborative working and respect for diversity.
The social work student
The journey into the social work profession begins with the student, and
so it is appropriate to begin the application of proverbs to the social work
student. I begin with a call on social work students to learn from the best
and mirror best practice always.
If one imitates the upright, one becomes upright; if one imitates the crooked,
one becomes crooked. (Nigerian proverb)
Social work students are regularly asked to draw from best practice as
one means of developing and improving their own practice. Where there
has been poor practice, there are also opportunities for learning.
Practice educators are tasked with providing suitable learning
opportunities for their students to develop their practice competence, and
st ude nt s h av e a re spon si bi li ty to e ns ur e t ha t t he y m ir ror a nd im it at e s ou nd ,
ethical practice and reject poor or bad social work practice.
Through supervision and other forms of formal and informal
support, social workers and students will refl ect upon their intervention,
relationships and outcomes for service users. This need for supervision
should not necessarily be initiated by the supervisor or manager and is
captured thus:
If a baby does not cry, he will die on his mother’s back. (Zimbabwean proverb)

Prospera Tedam
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Social work is a demanding and stressful profession (Collins, 2008) and
its complexity means that social workers require good levels of supervision
and support and opportunities to be able to refl ect and share any emotional
impact with others. It i s only through t his for m of suppor t that employers,
managers and supervisors come to understand the day-to-day world of the
social worker and how they are managing in their role. The importance
of social work supervision has been extensively reported (Payne, 1996;
Kadushin, 2002; Tsui, 2005; Cooper, 2002). However, in recent tragedies,
it has come under immense criticism in terms of being of poor quality,
ineffective, inadequate and in some cases absent (Laming, 2003).
According to Morrison (2006, p.88), ‘the supervisee plays a part in the
creation of his/her own supervision history’ and so it is crucial that they
are encouraged to proactively seek supervision support, formally and
informally, to ensure they continue to provide sound support and service
to people who require various forms of intervention. The Standards of
Profi ciency for Social Workers in England produced by the Health Care
Professionals Council (HCPC) validate the use of supervision as a quality
assurance and refl ective tool and an opportunity to evaluate outcomes of
services (HCPC, 2012, Clauses 11.2, 12.1 and 12.2).
In the proverb above, the social worker is likened to a baby whose every
slight move and expressions of discomfort should be felt by the parent to
whose back they are strapped. If the social worker keeps silent about how
they are feeling and coping, they are unlikely to access the support they
require. If they ask for help openly, honestly and in a timely manner then
they are more likely to be supported through whatever diffi culties they
might be facing through supervision. Indeed, Curtis et al. (2010) have
suggested that the working life of a UK-based social worker is on average
eight years, which is much shorter than pharmacists (28 years), doctors
(25 years) and nurses (15 years).
Social workers expect vulnerable families to feel confi dent to seek help
a nd a ss is ta nc e w he n n ec es sa ry. Ho we ve r, i f t hey do no t mo de l go od pr ac ti ce
by acknowledging their own requirements in terms of nurture and support
to satisfy their professional needs then they are unlikely to convey the
message to their service users that it is acceptable for them to ask for help.

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Child and family
The author’s social work practice experience and expertise has been
in the area of child and family social work. Consequently, the discussion
that follows provides readers with some insight into the family through
the use of proverbs.
A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside
you see that each tree has its place. (Ghanaian proverb)
This saying captures not only the complexities in understanding
modern-day families, but also the collectiveness and individuality of
families and family members. The density of the forest described refers
to the ‘family’, which, according to McKie and Cunningam-Burley (2005),
continues to be a dynamic concept, experienced and defi ned variably.
Families are perceived as fl exible social categories and include nuclear, step,
lone-parent, same-sex , extended and adopted families. In addition to this,
children’s construct of families can sometimes include close friends, and
this adds to the fl exible nature of the concept and formation of families.
Offering further discussion about the various family forms, Segrin
and Flora (2005) suggest that families can be defi ned according to the
functions that they perform. They cite, for example, a task-oriented family,
in which an adult and two or more other people engage in the development,
nurturing, emotional and fi nancial support of each other. This defi nition,
they argue, has as its main function the socialisation of children by their
parents, although there exists what Peterson and Hann (cited in Segrin &
Flora, 2005) refer to as ‘reciprocal socialisation’, where children can and do
socialise their parents. Families can also be defi ned through the structural
lens, with the starting point the make-up of a family.
In addition to the family, the importance of support and other social
networks cannot be overemphasised. These networks can provide support,
advice, strength and energy which can be perceived as the glue holding
families and their networks together.
Families generally tend to be united, and this is the view of the forest
from without, bunched together. When social workers begin to work with
families, they interact with the individuals who constitute the family – that
is what is seen by being inside the forest. This proverb presents ideas around
the importance of the family as a collective whole and the individuality of
its members.

Prospera Tedam
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What the child says, he has heard at home. (Nigerian proverb)
This proverb reinforces the idea that children learn and are infl uenced
by things that happen around them. It implies social learning theory to
some extent, in that behaviours whether desirable or undesirable can be
attributed to the mirroring of attitudes and behaviours witnessed.
The okra does not show its seeds through its skin. (Ghanaian proverb)
In social work education and practice, attention is given to understanding
and interpreting non-verbal cues and actions that might arise during
interactions with peers, colleagues and service users. This proverb, one
could argue, suggests the opposite is true. Rather, the okra needs to be cut
in order for its seeds to be visible to the human eye. It is also possible to
see the seeds after the okra has been cooked and softened. My personal
interpretation of this proverb is that if you are seeking to fi nd something,
then one has to look and try hard. It is unlikely to be delivered to you on a
silver plat ter. Wh en o ne refl ects on the circumstances leading to the deaths
of Baby Peter, Victoria Climbié and Jasmine Beckford, for example, social
workers needed to have asked more questions, looked harder, and tried
harder. In effect, they should have assessed the situations more critically
and thoroughly. Ferguson (2009, p.477) suggests a ‘skilful use of good
authority’ on the part of the social worker to be able to explore the lives
and circumstances of service users in depth and to be able to see and hear
what could otherwise remain invisible to the social worker.
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped. (Ghanaian proverb)
People tend to learn from their mistakes in order to prevent a
reoccurrence of events. We all make mistakes, some minor and others
major. In social work practice, mistakes can lead to tragic consequences
for service users and their families and can result in unwelcome media
attention and intrusion. This proverb urges social workers to trace and
examine the stages and processes involved in any intervention and to
evaluate their effectiveness, success or failure along the way. Examining
the end result (outcome) of an intervention may not provide social workers
with a realistic and comprehensive understanding of what went wrong,
nor address additional questions of where, why and how?
Using the Victoria Climbié case as an example: the Laming inquiry

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examined the life of Victoria from the time she arrived in Britain,
the agencies and professionals she came into contact with and the
opportunities that were missed to intervene and save her life. The inquiry
concluded that the social worker involved ‘slipped’ right from the start of
the process. Although the outcome of her slipping was an eventual fall, it
would have been insuffi cient to concentrate on the outcome without fully
addressing the process that led to the death of Victoria. This proverb urges
us to examine the roots of a problem as a way of trying to understand the
problem and how we might avoid it in the future.
Collaborative working
Collaborative working, sometimes referred to as partnership or multi-
agency working, is a core requirement of contemporary social work
practice (DfES, 2006). Its centrality has been refl ected in the raft of
legislative and policy guidance (Frost, 2005). The Laming inquiry cited
poor communication among professionals as a central factor in the fatal
outcome for Victoria. Research into the strengths and challenges associated
with multi-agency working has been widely documented (Cameron &
Lart, 2003; Frost, 2005; Simkins & Garrick, 2012).
In multi-agency working, there is the sense of working together towards
a common goal, which is captured succinctly below:
When the right hand washes the left hand and the left hand washes the right
hand, both hands become clean. (Nigerian proverb)
One gets the sense that one hand might be able to wash itself. However,
its cleanliness might be dependent on the use of two hands. Along similar
lines is the proverb which argues that:
You cannot pick up a pebble with one fi nger. (Malawian proverb)
This suggests the importance of a number of fi ngers working together
to pick up a pebble, which can be small and elusive.
As a social work academic with strong anti-oppressive and anti-
discriminatory values, it would be disrespectful not to acknowledge that
the proverbs used to highlight collaborative working might be offensive

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to persons with certain disabilities and/or injuries. The intention here is
to enhance learning through creativity and not to cause offence or appear
insensitive.
In the following proverb, the intention is to promote accountability
and assertiveness on the part of social work students and practitioners.
There is acknowledgement that standing with others can be easier as the
spotlight, so to speak, is not on any one person. To stand on one’s own
can feel isolating and frightening, not least when being encouraged to
work in partnership with others. Standing alone requires one to know and
appreciate one’s strengths and to be accountable for one’s decision-making.
It is easy to stand in a crowd; it takes courage to stand alone. (Zambian
proverb)
Working in and as part of a team has the potential benefi t of providing
a supportive, nurturing and mixed-ability environment conducive to
positive outcomes for service users. It also involves being a part of any
successes or failures associated with the team or group. On the other
hand, recognising the level of accountability associated with standing
on one’s own can be daunting and requires courage, self-discipline and
self- awareness.
Diversity
Understanding, respecting and celebrating diversity is a crucial
ingredient in sound, ethical social work practice. The Professional
Capabilities Framework (PCF) (TCSW, 2012) requires social workers
to engage effectively with people from diverse backgrounds and life
experiences. This requires an understanding that people are different and
consequently exhibit behaviours, attitudes and views that are different
from the majority’s. This difference should not result in discriminatory
or oppressive practice but should be used to enhance social workers’
understanding and respect for difference.
A donkey’s thank you is a kick. (Kenyan proverb)
This proverb crystallises the idea that, for example, appreciation can be

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expressed in different ways, and in the case of the donkey, in a way that
perhaps might hurt and is far removed from what a social worker views as
the standard or norm for expressing appreciation or gratitude.
For the enquiring mind, the question would be, ‘How do we know
for sure a donkey is showing or has the ability to show gratitude?’ The
recommendation is to understand motives and to recognise that in our
work with information, ideas and reports that can be open to interpretation
and subjectivity, we need to keep refl ecting on how different service users
present in terms of their understanding, acknowledgement and reactions
to the various social work processes and stages.
A second proverb which highlights the importance of acknowledging
and respecting difference is captured below:
It is not only the fox; even the snail arrives at its destination. (Nigerian
proverb)
The fox is a fast, adept animal which uses its speed to catch smaller and
other weaker animals and cannot be compared to a snail using criteria
such as speed. Here again, we acknowledge difference and the richness it
brings to our interactions with service users, colleagues and peers. There
is the need for social workers to continue to be aware of the differences
in capacity when working with service users. This refl ects Clause 13.4 of
the Standards of Practice for Social Workers, which tasks professionals
with understanding the impact of social inequalities and injustice (HCPC,
2012). Some service users will arrive at their destinations sooner than
others, who might take a detour or stop along the way but could eventually
arrive at the same destination as others. This proverb reminds us about
how unfair it is for comparisons to be made about others – whether service
users, colleagues at work or students. The fox and the snail cannot and
indeed should not be compared. Their physical appearance, aptitudes for
survival, dietary and reproductive traits are vastly different. Consideration
of these differences should not result in undermining either of them, or
unfair treatment, labelling or any other form of prejudicial treatment, but
rather encourage dialogue about the inherent benefi ts of an inclusive,
non-discriminatory and non-oppressive approach to people we come into
contact with.

Prospera Tedam
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Figure: Summary of proverbs
Social work student If one imitates the upright, one becomes upright;
if one imitates the crooked, one becomes crooked.
(Nigerian proverb)
If a baby does not cry, he will die on his mother’s
back. (Zimbabwean proverb)
Child and family A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is
dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has
its place. (Ghanaian proverb)
What the child says, he has heard at home. (Nigerian
proverb)
The okra does not show its seeds through its skin.
(Ghanaian proverb)
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
(Ghanaian proverb)
Collaborative
working
It is easy to stand in a crowd; it takes courage to
stand alone. (Zambian proverb)
You cannot pick up a pebble with one fi nger.
(Malawian proverb)
When the right hand washes the left hand and the
left hand washes the right hand, both hands become
clean. (Nigerian proverb)
Diversity A donkey’s thank you is a kick. (Kenyan proverb)
It is not only the fox, even the snail arrives at its
destination (Nigerian proverb)

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Final refl ections
I position myself in this paper as the historian for the lion and hope
that the proverbs I have drawn upon have been appropriately and fairly
examined and have been instrumental in enhancing the learning of all
who engage with its content. I also seek to answer the question I set
at the start of this paper, which is, what can social workers learn from
African proverbs? The answer is dependent on what social workers believe
to be applicable to contemporary social work practice. The sample of
proverbs examined within this paper speaks to individual traits, qualities
and collective wisdom examining concepts of assertiveness, resilience,
honesty, perseverance, use of supervision and working together. For
social work educators, drawing upon proverbs from around the world
could enhance students’ cultural competence and provide opportunities
for debate and critical refl ection and has the potential to create a relaxed
and respectful learning environment for teachers and students. Proverbs
provide insight into a range of cultures and for students from specifi c
ethnic groups, further acknowledgement and celebration of their heritage.
Conclusion
This paper has offered the use of proverbs as a useful addition to the
repertoire of learning and teaching strategies with students. The College
of Social Work (2012) proposes to academics and providers of social work
education that learning through a range of strategies and in different
formats is as important as the curriculum content itself.
This has been presented as a conceptual paper and there are plans to
progress these ideas with students and social workers in the future.
In highlighting the breadth of learning about social work practice and
education that can be achieved through the use of proverbs, the author
has actualised a number of relevant outcomes such as internationalisation
of the curriculum, creativity and innovation in learning and teaching as
well as contributing to ways of know ing and the construction of meaning.

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