Between student and emerging academic: research assistants’ experiences of graduate social work education in Türkiye

Research assistants in Turkish universities hold a dual position. They are graduate students in social work and, at the same time, junior staff in the departments that teach it. This qualitative study explored how 16 research assistants came to choose an academic career, how they plan their academic futures, and how they evaluate the graduate program outcomes set under the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework (TYYÇ). Semi-structured online interviews were analyzed using codebook thematic analysis within a hermeneutic-phenomenological orientation; the framework method was used to organize accounts of eight outcome domains. Three themes were developed. First, academic careers were chosen through a mix of curiosity, mentorship and dissatisfaction with state-employed practice. Second, participants hoped to develop culturally situated social work theory and to work internationally, yet some had been advised to avoid socially sensitive research topics. Third, outcome attainment was uneven: foreign-language, digital and applied research competencies were described as the weakest, while ethics and theory were evaluated more positively. The findings suggest that individual mentor relationships currently do much of the work that curricula and institutions should do. We discuss implications for field education, language and digital provision, academic freedom and the preparation of future social work educators.