‘Resistant to change?’: using critical reflection to analyse positionality within a neoliberal academic environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Robinson ◽  
Selma Macfarlane
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Western World ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Prescribing Practices ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Work Education

A growing body of literature has outlined the deleterious impacts of neoliberalism on higher education in the Western world. These critiques are far-ranging and include effects on students, curriculum, educators and the purpose of higher education itself. Some of this literature has focused specifically on social work education, highlighting ways in which neoliberal agendas run counter to the profession’s focus on social justice and a critical approach to education. In this article, as social work academics based in Australia, we use a structured process of critical reflection to deconstruct and reconstruct a challenging incident that embodies and reflects key tenets of neoliberal discourse. The authors draw on a combination of theories that inform critical social work, such as feminism, critical theory and postmodern thinking. We argue that critical reflection can enable us to name and unpack the discourses and power dynamics at play within academic and other settings in order to more clearly and consciously resist managerial processes and to generate alternative discourses based on social work values. The endeavour is aimed not at prescribing practices of resistance, but rather at considering possibilities for creative responses in subtle spaces.

The Controlled Arena of Contested Practices: Critical Practice in Israel’s State Social Services

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shachar Timor-Shlevin
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Critical Practice ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Critical Practices ◽  
Structural Levels ◽  
Critical Social

Abstract Scholars claim that the integration of critical social work into public social services is impossible considering its weak position in the managerialist context of these services. Consequently, critical practice is mainly described as covert and reflective of the hierarchical power dynamics between managerialism and critical professionalism. Thus, the option of integrating critical social work into the institutionalised operation of the profession, which involves engaging in critical practice to the extent possible in the context of public services beyond micro and covert practices, has not been sufficiently described. This study addresses this gap, exploring the process of implementing the critical professional ‘Poverty-Aware Social Work Paradigm’ (PAP) into the Israeli public welfare services. Based on twenty-five interviews with field-level social workers in the PAP programmes, the findings describe critical practices as operating simultaneously at the interpersonal and structural levels, mainly through covert actions. The discussion illustrates the significance of merging the interpersonal and structural levels of critical practice and describes the limited arena in which critical professionalism operates in public services.

Lewis, Harold

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Reisch
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Work Values ◽  
Hunter College ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
School Of Social Work ◽  
Work Education

Harold Lewis (1920–2003), social worker and activist, was Dean of Hunter College School of Social Work for twenty years. He published widely on social work values and ethics, epistemology of practice, child welfare, social welfare administration, and social work education.

Critical Questions on Critical Social Work: Students’ Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 2130-2147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Barak
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
A Priority ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Critical Social

Abstract This research study explored the perspectives of social work students (n = 118) in the final semester of their studies regarding the implementation of critical social work in their future practices. Using performance ethnographies to collect data, students were asked to share their perspectives about implementing critical social work both in individual interventions and as a way to change the practice of mainstream social work organisations. Research ethnographies were analysed using a descriptive phenomenological approach, in an attempt to describe the shared essential experience of participants. Results demonstrated that students are influenced by several lines of thinking that come into direct conflict with one another: (i) they feel that critical social work is essential for individual interventions while also feeling that critical social work is not a priority for individual interventions and (ii) they feel that critical social work should and could change mainstream social work organisations while also feeling that critical social work should not and could not change mainstream social work organisations. These results contribute to a better understanding of the barriers in implementing critical social work, as well as the dilemmas and questions that should be addressed in social work education. Implications for social work education are outlined.

Social Work Education and Service Learning

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. King
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Master's Level ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Student Skill ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Schools Of Social Work

In order to increase the collaboration between communities and schools of social work, this article urges educators at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to consider the benefits of including service learning in social work curricula. An approach to social work education via service learning places an equal emphasis on meaningful community service and student skill development, in contrast to other forms of experiential learning. An empowering approach to integrating theory and practice, service learning embodies specific social work values, such as respect for diversity, self-determination, collaboration, social justice, a person-in-environment focus, and accountability. Drawing on recent examples from baccalaureate and master's-level programs, empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of service learning in the field of social work is offered.

Human Capital and the Case for Undergraduate Social Work Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-128
Author(s):  
Mary R. Weeden ◽  
Frederick W. Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Work Education

Higher education, from an economic perspective, functions as an investment in human capital. It requires time, effort, and money by the student as an investment with the resulting benefits of acquiring skills, knowledge, and values that promise a stream of future tangible and intangible benefits by earning a living in a chosen field or profession. Education viewed through this lens assists educators to articulate the case for their academic programs to stakeholders, including prospective students and their parents, university administrators, government regulators, benefactors, alumni, and the general public. This perspective has previously not been discussed in the social work education literature and provides new insights into several issues affecting social work education. These include the cost of higher education, the multidimensional benefits of education for the student and society at large, the role of the Council on Social Work Education, and the current challenges to the profession.

Applying Indigenous Knowledge to Innovations in Social Work Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Locklear Hertel
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Transdisciplinary Education ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Scientific Integration ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

Grounded in an indigenous holistic worldview and borrowing from the four Rs (values of relationships, responsibility, reciprocity, and redistribution), this article supports the inclusion of translational science and the integration of core metacompetencies into social work doctoral education as innovations in the field of social work science. The author argues that these innovations will enhance the ability of social–work–trained researchers to serve on transdisciplinary research teams, which are necessary to address complex metaproblems found in the natural world. Further, the author asserts that transdisciplinary scientific integration is helpful to social work science, as it builds awareness and appreciation of social work scholarly inquiry, promotes the inclusion of social work values in scientific research, and helps erode the scientific hierarchy that has traditionally existed between the natural and social sciences. By leveraging personal experiences in transdisciplinary education, the author offers a conceptual framework for innovations in doctoral education.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document