Schools are seen as primary contributors to the social development of learners. Apart from the questionable quality of education in South Africa, the developmental and social challenges faced by learners and educators within schools in South Africa are diverse. These challenges fall within the domain of social work practice. For more than a hundred years, school social work has been a specialized field of social work practice in developed countries and it is also practiced in quite a few developing countries such as Ghana, China, Mongolia, and India. On the other hand, in South Africa, social work in schools is intermittently incorporated as part of the education system. This article calls for school social work to be acknowledged as a specialized field of practice in South Africa and included as a collaborative partner by the Department of Education in working toward excellence in education in South Africa.