Sharing the Mic in Domestic Violence Program Leadership: Expanding on Dr. Perlmutter’s Call for Social Work Administration

Domestic violence (DV) work in the United States emerged as a grassroots collectivist movement and grew into more formalized programming within nonprofit social service organizations. In this commentary, co-authored by DV program leaders along with DV scholars and social work educators, we apply and extend the work of Dr. Felice Perlmutter as we reflect on the role of professionalized social work in DV program leadership. Narratives of DV program leaders highlight models of anti-oppressive, feminist and empowerment-focused leadership emerging from diverse sources of experience and education. We promote an anti-oppressive stance of “sharing the mic” to include diversity of voices and ways of learning and leading. We assert that formal social work education and training provides valuable preparation, as do lived experiences, survivor voices, and community membership. A theory of effective leadership emerges that promotes mutual

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-88
Author(s):  
Spencer James Zeiger

Former social work educators, and social work educators standing on the threshold of The Next Chapter, have wisdom to share regarding the future of social work education. We must pay attention to their ideas; our profession is at stake. Topics covered in this chapter include doctoral preparation (with the growth of social work education programs in the United States and a large wave of social work educators retiring, attracting well-prepared new faculty has never been greater); online concerns (most study participants were reluctant to give online programs a ringing endorsement); and the need for increased content on aging (as baby boomers progress through their lifespan, and as life expectancy increases with medical advances, the number of older adults requiring social services will continue to rise).


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 500-521
Author(s):  
Ebony N. Perez

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.  


2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Raiz ◽  
Susan Saltzburg

Homophobia and heterosexism are inconsistent with social work values but have been reported in studies of social workers and social work students. This study analyzed and compared the responses to qualitative and quantitative items of 147 heterosexual undergraduate social work majors from twelve institutions throughout the United States. One open-ended item explored attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and support for relationship rights for this group. Herek's Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men scale (ATLG) and a relationship rights scale, constructed for this study, provided quantitative data. Analysis of the open-ended item identified three thematic categories that represented acceptance; non-acceptance; and tolerance, but with conditions. The uniqueness of each of the three categories was supported by significant differences among them on Herek's ATLG and on the relationship rights scale. Numerous quotes from respondents underscore the subtle prejudice that can be missed by social work educators who are unaware of the nuances of language in this area. Implications for social work education are presented.


Somatechnics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Kristin Smith ◽  
Donna Jeffery ◽  
Kim Collins

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.


Author(s):  
Kwaku Osei-Hwedie ◽  
Doris Akyere Boateng

As the discussions and debates rage on about the content and direction of social work in Africa, the challenges associated with weaning the profession off its Western and North American roots become apparent. The desire to indigenise or make the profession culturally relevant is well articulated in the literature. Some efforts have been undertaken toward achieving this desire. However, it is evident that despite the numerous discussions and publications, it appears that efforts at indigenising, localising, or making social work culturally relevant have not made much progress. While what must be achieved is somewhat clear; how to achieve it and by what process remain a conundrum. The article, therefore, revisits the issue of making social work culturally relevant in Africa and its associated challenges. Despite the indictment of current social work education and practice in Africa, it appears that many academics and professionals have accepted that what is Western is global, fashionable, and functional, if not perfect. Given this, perhaps, “we should not worry our heads” about changing it. Instead, social work educators and practitioners in Africa should go back to the drawing board to determine how current social work education and practice can be blended with a traditional African knowledge base, approaches and models to reflect and align with the critical principles and ideals within the African context. This is with the hope of making the profession more relevant to the needs of the people of Africa.


1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Pauline Jivanjee ◽  
Susan Tebb

Experiences traveling in Kenya provide a backdrop to an examination of the principles and practices of the Harambee and women’s movements in Kenya as they compare with feminist social work practice in the United States. Concluding remarks address the implications of our learning for our work in social work education.


Affilia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 088610992110682
Author(s):  
Heather Witt ◽  
Maha K. Younes ◽  
Erica Goldblatt Hyatt ◽  
Carly Franklin

Despite social work's stated commitment to abortion rights, research on this topic is not prolific within the discipline (Begun et al., 2016). If we are to live up to our ethical principles, this should be changed. The authors posit that increasing students’ exposure to and understanding of abortion is necessary in the preparation of competent social work practitioners. Using Begun et al.’s (2016) Social Workers’ Abortion Attitudes, Knowledge, and Training questionnaire, the authors expanded the survey by creating additional questions about social work curriculum coverage and training experiences, as well as further content on abortion. Findings indicate that most social work students believe abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances, and also that abortion laws should be less restrictive in the United States. Reported religion and political affiliation had significant effects on several of the abortion attitude statements. Only 7.2% of respondents indicated that abortion is regularly discussed in social work classrooms, and only 2.7% of respondents report they have received training on the topic of abortion in their field placement. The results suggest that social work curriculum coverage on reproductive justice is tenuous and inconsistent at best, leaving students to grapple without the necessary professional foundation.


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