scholarly journals Decentering Whiteness in Social Work Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 801-820
Author(s):  
Stephanie Odera ◽  
M. Alex Wagaman ◽  
Ashley Staton ◽  
Aaron Kemmerer
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education

The social work profession has historically been dominated by the presence and perspectives of whiteness. The centering of whiteness in social work education is reflected in course offerings, course content, assignment construction, and inherent racialized assumptions about who clients and social workers will be in practice spaces. Critical race theory (CRT) and liberation theory provide a framework for considering how to make visible the ways in which white supremacy is embedded in social work education, and to identify strategies for disrupting its presence by decentering whiteness. The purpose of this project is to foster critical thought about ways to dismantle racism and white supremacy in social work educational spaces. Using the reflexive methodology of collaborative autoethnography, the four authors - two course instructors and two students - with varying racial identities and positionalities, reflected on the experiences of coming to, being in, and transitioning out of the course. Areas of convergence and divergence in the autoethnographic reflections revealed strategies such as embracing vulnerability, promoting authentic relationships, and normalizing emotional as well as cognitive engagement for decentering whiteness in social work education. Implications and recommendations for social work educators and students committed to engaging in anti-racist practice are also discussed

Implementing Mastery Learning in the Social Work Classroom

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Aviles
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Mastery Learning ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education

This article describes how the essential elements of the teaching method called mastery learning can be structured in the social work classroom. Mastery learning is a behavioral teaching method successfully used in social work education. Research studies on teaching rarely describe teaching methods in enough detail for instructors to discern how the teaching methods were implemented or how they may have been implemented differently. This can give social work educators a limited picture of what a teaching method could look like in their classrooms. The essential elements of mastery learning can be implemented in whole or part and can be structured in either simple or complex ways. Ways in which social work educators can implement mastery learning to better fit their classrooms are presented in this article.

scholarly journals Faculty as a Barrier to Dismantling Racism in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 500-521
Author(s):  
Ebony N. Perez
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Work Education

Facilitating learning around race and racism is often uncomfortable for faculty as well as students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the experiences of undergraduate social work educators who teach about race and racism in social work programs. I employed a qualitative case study design to understand the lived experience of undergraduate social work educators who teach race specific content. I employed a combination of purposive sampling and snowballing methods to identify nine participants from the Southeast region of the United States. Utilizing a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework to analyze interviews, several key findings emerged revealing faculty as barriers to facilitating learning around anti-racist content in the classroom. These findings were a) their own racial identity; b) insufficient formal preparation around race and racism; c) lack of faculty comfort with anti-racist content; and d) lack of skill in teaching anti-racist content. Recommendations include the implementation of scaffolded antiracist content throughout social work curricula that would be required by the Council on Social Work Education as part of the accreditation process.  

scholarly journals Wrestling the Elephant

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 545-565
Author(s):  
Carolyn Mak ◽  
Mandeep Kaur Mucina ◽  
Renée Nichole Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
Institutional Policies ◽  
Classroom Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Whiteness As Property

White supremacist ideology is the elephant in the social work classroom, negatively impacting educators’ abilities to facilitate discussion and learning. One of the most effective ways to dismantle and organize against white supremacy is to politicize the seemingly benign moments that occur in the classroom that can create discomfort for students and instructors. Politicization includes identifying and addressing both the racial (micro-) aggressions that occur in the classroom and the processes and institutional policies that create complacency and lull us to sleep. In this conceptual piece, we use a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework to understand how white supremacy perpetuates itself in the classroom, with a particular focus on whiteness as property. As well, we explore what it means to decolonize the classroom. Using a vignette based on our teaching experiences, we use these two frameworks to analyze classroom dynamics and interactions, and discuss how implications for social work education include waking from the metaphorical sleep to recognize the pernicious effects of whiteness and white supremacy. Included are practical individual teaching, relational, and systemic suggestions to enact change.

scholarly journals Dismantling White Supremacy in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. i-vii
Author(s):  
Charla Yearwood ◽  
Rosemary A. Barbera ◽  
Amy K. Fisher ◽  
Carol Hostetter
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Work Education

We are excited to share this special edition of Advances in Social Work with you. When we distributed a call for abstracts, we were inundated – in a good way – with proposals. The need for social workers to discuss the role that white supremacy occupies within our history, education, and practice was obvious. Because of the number of abstracts received, we made the decision to publish a double edition so that the important information contained in these articles can be widely shared. The submissions fell into three general themes--historical, instructional, and institutional examinations. Each set of articles offers much for us to reflect and act upon moving forward. There is a reckoning happening and we are thrilled that this special edition is part of that reckoning. In all, we hope that this special issue will help advance our conversations in social work education around white supremacy and how it influences our practice, research, and education. Recognizing that our Code of Ethics calls us to “pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups”, we believe it is important for social work as a profession to consistently evaluate its own institutions for ways we can practice what we preach. As social work educators, we have the ethical and moral responsibility to learn, grow, and challenge ourselves. We can do better. We must do better.

scholarly journals Dismantling Privilege and White Supremacy in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 374-395
Author(s):  
Taniko King-Jordan ◽  
Karina Gil
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Social Work Faculty ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mainstream Society ◽  
Work Education

The primary aim of social work is eliminating social inequalities by advocating for racial, social, and economic justice for individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. This commitment and promise starts in the classroom by providing opportunities for students and faculty to interact with each other and promote the core tenets of the profession. As the social work practices are shaped by the values promoted by the mainstream society, many argue that the profession is biased and does not meet the needs of Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC). This issue is explored in the present study by interviewing six Black female social work faculty, aiming to elucidate their experiences in academia and the social work educational environment when interacting with their White counterparts, their students, and the administration. The findings yielded by this investigation have implications for academia, as well as social work education programs and their leadership.

scholarly journals Interracial Team Teaching in Social Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 730-749
Author(s):  
Luis O. Curiel
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Team Teaching ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Work Education

This article aims to explore anti-racist social work education through interracial team teaching, where one instructor is White, and the other is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC). This pedagogical approach is presented as an emerging conceptual model to consider in anti-racist social work education. As an anti-racist approach to teaching, this model aims to engage students and faculty in a more active and accountable role in dismantling systemic racism and White supremacy through social work education. A close examination of published articles on interracial team teaching revealed an absence of theoretical frameworks to guide this teaching method. Critical Race Theory (CRT) emerged as a compatible theoretical framework for teaching anti-racism within an interracial team-taught model. Five CRT tenets from Sólorzano et al. (2005) align with previous studies to support this emerging pedagogical approach as a viable option. Findings suggest that anti-racist education requires explicitly naming terms like White supremacy, racism, and colonization within the social work curriculum. Interracial team teaching necessitates shared power and authority between instructors and calls for White educators to examine their White identity and resist performing allyship. Academic institution hiring practices need a greater representation of BIPOC faculty to reduce overburdening faculty of color.

Internationalizing Social Work Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurid Aga Askeland ◽  
Malcolm Payne
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
International Association ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Work Education

This book explores the aims and priorities of trends to internationalize social work education, in the context of wider processes of economic and cultural globalization. Its analysis draws on interviews with leading social work educators who have been recipients of the Katherine Kendall Award of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, for their contribution to international social work education. Three phases of internationalization are identified: a foundation phase before World War II, an establishment phase until the millennium and a subsequent shift towards international advocacy on issues of concern to the social work profession. Interviews and in three cases biographies illustrate the concerns and internationalizing activities of leading educators during these last two phases. A focus in the 20th century on achieving the adoption of social work education and practice throughout the world led to a concern for practice education and community and social development. An important project in the 1970s involved family planning as a focus of social development. Social justice, political and social conflict and more recently green issues have engaged educators' commitments. Even though women are in a majority in social work, women leaders and leaders from the Global South often faced considerable struggle to assert their research and development priorities. The analysis shows that most Kendall awardees came from Europe and the US, where finance and linguistic and cultural hegemony facilitated educators in playing international roles.

An Early Planning Model for Increasing International Content in Social Work Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Joanne Riebschleger ◽  
DeBrenna LaFa Agbényiga
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Curriculum Planning ◽  
Planning Model ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Planning Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Globalized World

Social work educators are challenged to prepare social work students for practice in an increasingly globalized world. They may respond to this situation with a broad-spectrum planning approach, but knowledge is limited about how to begin. This conceptual analysis proposes an early curriculum-planning model that can be used to increase international content within social work education programs. Educators can prepare, scan, and plan for increasing international curriculum content. They can consider student learning opportunities within classrooms and field sites of their institutions, as well as those of international host institutions, as shown in examples drawn from the social work education literature. The model provides a place for social work educators to begin the journey of international curriculum planning and enhancement.

scholarly journals Social Work Education: A Future Of Strength Or Peril

10.18060/72 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Watkins ◽  
Dean Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Changing World

In a dynamically changing world and one in which higher education generally is challenged by a scarcity of resources and the ever present need to justify the results of its mission and purpose, social work education faces an uncertain and perhaps perilous future. But rather than succumbing to pessimism, one should consider the strengths that social work education brings to the academy. The authors suggest the major challenges that face the social work educators in shaping a positive dynamic future within the academy.

Critical Pedagogy in Online Social Work Education: Changing Conceptions of Time in the Neoliberal University

Somatechnics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Kristin Smith ◽  
Donna Jeffery ◽  
Kim Collins
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Recent Graduates ◽  
Work Education

Neoliberal universities embrace the logic of acceleration where the quickening of daily life for both educators and students is driven by desires for efficient forms of productivity and measurable outcomes of work. From this perspective, time is governed by expanding capacities of the digital world that speed up the pace of work while blurring the boundaries between workplace, home, and leisure. In this article, we draw from findings from qualitative interviews conducted with Canadian social work educators who teach using online-based critical pedagogy as well as recent graduates who completed their social work education in online learning programs to explore the effects of acceleration within these digitalised spaces of higher education. We view these findings alongside French philosopher Henri Bergson's concepts of duration and intuition, forms of temporality that manage to resist fixed, mechanised standards of time. We argue that the digitalisation of time produced through online education technologies can be seen as a thinning of possibilities for deeper and more critically self-reflexive knowledge production and a reduction in opportunities to build on social justice-based practices.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document