Professional Identity and Role Perceptions of Social Workers in Morocco: An Exploratory Ethnographic Study in the Field of Disability and Child Welfare

This article presents an exploratory qualitative study on the professional self-understanding and societal positioning of social workers in Morocco. Focusing on practitioners working with children with disabilities, the study examines how social workers perceive their professional roles, institutional constraints, and social recognition. While social work has been widely theorized in Western contexts, empirical research on its development and everyday practice in North African societies remains limited. The analysis draws on ethnographically oriented fieldwork, including semi-structured in-depth interviews with social workers employed in both state institutions and civil society organizations. Findings show that social work in Morocco operates within a complex environment shaped by ongoing professionalization efforts, limited institutional resources, and the persistence of traditional solidarity networks. Social workers express strong commitments to advocacy and care but face structural barriers, ambiguous professional boundaries, and restricted decision-making authority. By foregrounding practitioners’ perspectives, this study contributes to comparative social work research and highlights the importance of context-sensitive approaches to understanding professional identity in non-Western contexts.