Undergraduate Social Welfare Policy Debates: An Assessment of Outcomes Using the Policy Debate Rating Scale

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Stan Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Future Policy

This research empirically assessed the learning outcomes of structured debates in an undergraduate social welfare policy course. The longitudinal mixed-method study represents the only one in the literature on social policy debates in undergraduate social work education. For the five cohorts of students surveyed, the Policy Debate Rating Scale assessed learning outcomes on cognitive, behavioral/affective, and comparative perspective dimensions. The results showed strong evidence of higher level learning and supports the use of active learning to promote critical thinking, public speaking, and policy practice skills among social workers. Implications for future policy practice such as the need for more instruction on dialectics, differential perspectives, and improved designs for future research are discussed.

Active Learning: Academic Debate and Student-Led Peer Debate Workshop in Social Welfare Policy Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-309
Author(s):  
Nicole Saint-Louis
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Course Evaluations ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Academic Debate

This article describes the use of structured classroom debates over four consecutive spring semesters and a student-led debate workshop in the context of an undergraduate social welfare policy course. In all, 29 students from diverse backgrounds participated in these experiential activities. An inductive thematic analysis of student feedback about participation in the debate workshop indicated (a) enjoyment of learning experience, (b) recognition of importance of organization and preparation, (c) appreciation for alternative viewpoints, (d) understanding of social welfare policy, (e) value of teamwork, (f) development of debate and leadership skills, and (g) motivation to apply skills. Course evaluations yielded similar themes: (a) increased appreciation for alternative viewpoints and (b) improved understanding of concepts and their application. Student responses indicated that the use of debate is promising as an active learning tool for BSW students to engage in policy practice and to learn about social welfare policy.

Social Welfare Policy

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Carl Rom
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Redistribute Income

This article examines social welfare policies and policymaking, which concern programs that either redistribute income or provide services to individuals to improve the quality of their lives. The author explains major social welfare policy areas, their history, and their content. The article then explores the politics of policymaking in this policy area, with particular attention to the roles of institutions, federalism, and reform, as well as the politics of policy implementation and the important role of race in this policy area. Avenues for future research are discussed.

Framing Inequality at the Ground Level

2019 ◽  
pp. 144-179
Author(s):  
Matt Guardino
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Issue Framing ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Policy Debates

This chapter demonstrates that neoliberal news coverage of economic and social welfare policy can shape public opinion in politically consequential ways. It presents an analysis of media content during the 2010 debate over extension of the George W. Bush tax cuts that largely confirms the coverage patterns of earlier economic and social welfare policy debates. It follows this analysis with an online survey experiment. This experiment demonstrates significant effects on public opinion generated by narrow issue framing in news coverage of corporate tax policy. The chapter ends by discussing implications of these findings for public opinion, political knowledge, and socioeconomic inequality.

Social Welfare Policy in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horman Chitonge ◽  
Ntombifikile Mazibuko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Welfare Policy

Don’t You be My Neighbor: Support for Racial-Exclusion Constitutional Provisions in Mid-19th Century Indiana and Illinois

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110153
Author(s):  
Jac C. Heckelman ◽  
John Dinan
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Welfare Policy ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Racial Threat ◽  
Southern State ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
Racial Exclusion ◽  
Constitutional Conventions ◽  
Levels Of Support

Racially discriminatory provisions in the U.S. Constitution and southern state constitutions have been extensively analyzed, but insufficient attention has been brought to these provisions when included in northern state constitutions. We examine constitutional provisions excluding blacks from entering the state that were adopted by various northern states in the mid-19th Century. Previous scholarship has focused on the statements and votes of the convention delegates who framed these provisions. However, positions taken by delegates need not have aligned with the views of their constituents. Delegates to state constitutional conventions held in Illinois in 1847, Indiana in 1850 and 1851, and Oregon in 1857 opted to submit to voters racial-exclusion provisions separate from the vote to approve the rest of the constitution. We exploit this institutional feature by using county-level election returns in Illinois and Indiana to test claims about the importance of partisan affiliation, religious denomination, social-welfare policy concerns, labor competition, and racial-threat theory in motivating popular support for entrenching racially discriminatory policies in constitutions. We find greater levels of support for racial exclusion in areas where Democratic candidates polled better and in areas closer to slave-holding states where social-welfare policy concerns would be heightened. We find lower levels of support for racial exclusion in areas (in Indiana) with greater concentrations of Quakers. Our findings are not consistent with labor competition or racial-threat theories.

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