The Intrepid Elective

The field of social work has a professional and ethical commitment to social justice. However, scholars have identified potential dangers that may threaten that commitment. To transform dangers into opportunities that strengthen social justice service, schools of social work could incorporate critical pedagogy within the Master of Social Work (MSW) curriculum. By training future social workers in critical social work practice, social work education becomes an advocate for marginalized populations. If not educated from an anti-oppressive framework, social workers have the potential to harm, oppress, and control rather than support and serve. The weight of this responsibility and firsthand social work education experiences led to the development and implementation of an elective course in critical social work informed by the Critical Transformative Potential Development (CTPD) Framework. The course follows a method that puts the CTPD theory into practice to bridge the micro-macro divide by engaging students in actively dismantling ideologies and practices of dominance. The course aims to produce anti-oppressive social workers who can better navigate social justice terrain. A student’s perspective on the course highlights strengths and areas for improvement. Future iterations of this class or similar courses of study could be adapted by and adopted for other social work education institutions. Because social work education is fertile ground to plant seeds that will grow social workers rooted in anti-racism and anti-White supremacy, there is the opportunity, with a radical education, to transform the field in a critical direction, better prepared to overcome the social justice challenges of the era.

”Du förstår, men du förstår ingenting.”

In the following article, based on two years of participatory ethnographic fieldwork with the No Border musical, as well as interviews with 16 of the musical’s 30 participants, community theatre is investigated in a context of deportability. We analyse the working process in the theatre group, in which actors with and without resident permits participated, through the concept of politics of translation. We show how inequalities due to the constant threat of deportation for several members were brought to the forefront during the work process of creating the musical. It concerned risks of detection for the undocumented participants as well difficult living conditions related to deportability (for example insecure access to livelihood, healthcare, housing etc.). The article conceptualizes various dimensions of working together in a group where participants live in unequal conditions as a politics of translation. This concept includes the work of language translation, and also captures translations of the different experiences mentioned above, and how different positions of power can be handled and understood, within a group with the ambition to work together, in this case on a theatrical performance. Our analysis shows how theatre in a context of asylum rights activism can challenge and create alternatives to the conditions of deportability, while these simultaneously condition the activism and translation. The article contributes to knowledge about mobilization in the context of vulnerability and inequality. We hope to also contribute to a development of critical social work both within and outside academia.

Dekolonialt socialt arbete

The purpose of this article is to identify and analyze the conditions and strategies for creating a critical and decolonial social work in the urban periphery. IIn this article we explore Save the Children’s program ”On equal terms”, that during the past decade created a space for local mobilization in several areas in Sweden, with the purpose of resolving communal problems. The article identifies three elements as central for their critical social work: the empowerment of a new generation of social organizers grounded in the urban periphery; the forming of alliances for the purpose of developing new languages and strategies to address problems and solutions in alternative ways; and the construction of counter-publics through the appropriation of space for the establishment of citizen-driven meeting places. Through these strategies and conditions, a decolonial social work was formed. Inspired by theories of resistance and mobilization, we interpret the work of ”On equal terms” as an expression of the politics of public-making and border work that transcends the separation between activism and social work, giving space for new alternatives and horizons.

Beyond a Sugarcoated Pill: Critical Approaches to Social Work Field Supervision

Critical pedagogy seeks to link education to social change and often forms a basis for social work curriculum in some university courses. However, less of this emphasis is given to understanding critical supervision practice for social work students while on placement in terms of the development of a critical praxis. We believe critical approaches to supervision are an overlooked and crucial aspect to maintaining critical social work practice in current neoliberal welfare contexts. This article presents key approaches that we have found useful in constructing and realizing a critical approach to social work field supervision and ultimately, the future practice of students in their respective fields. This article contributes to an ongoing discussion and strengthened engagement in critical approaches to field supervision and supports the development of social work students as critical thinkers and practitioners.

Theorien für die Soziale Arbeit

he now second, updated and expanded edition of the textbook first establishes the importance of theory for social work research and practice After offering an outline of the historical development of theory in this field, it presents the most important theories used in social work at the moment. The book presents approaches related to systems theory, power and discourse analysis, and psychoanalysis, plus lifeworld-oriented and feminist approaches as well as those related to coping strategies and to a materialistic–dialectical theory of critical social work, including elements provided by the capability approach. It is rounded off by a systematic comparison of the theoretical approaches and an outlook on theory development in social work. With contributions by Maria Bitzan, Margret Dörr, Cornelia Füssenhäuser, Fabian Kessl, Michael Klassen, Michael May, Arne Schäfer, Silvia Staub-Bernasconi, Michael Winkler and Holger Ziegler.

AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC VIEW OF SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: HIGHLIGHTING SOCIAL (IN)JUSTICE

COVID-19 has exposed the inequalities and polarisation of South African communities and institutions of higher learning on the continuum of privilege. As nine social work educators, we share our reflections on how we traversed the higher education space during the beginning of the pandemic, using an autoethnography lens, with the pedagogy of discomfort and critical social work theory as the threads in the complex tapestry of our stories. We describe our orientations as social work educators, the successes, challenges, and recommendations on reimagining and reframing learning and teaching in relation to student-institutional relationships, boundaries and support.

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

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.

Public-private interaction in child welfare: lessons for critical social work from Chile and the United States

This article discusses the public-private partnership that exists in Chile and in the United States to collaborate on issues of child welfare. By comparing both countries, we look at ideologies and economic issues that have historically shaped the contemporary perspective of public-private partnerships in child welfare. Additionally, we probe the role of social work in this area to see its current position within the public and private sectors in child welfare provision. Some conclusions are that neoliberalism and a residual worldview about childhood have shaped this public-private partnership. Also, social work has historically played a relevant role in advocacy and development of child policies and in both countries, private sector primarily implements child welfare policies and public sector funds them. Some of the lessons for critical social work include the importance of promoting a change in the way we address social phenomena in child welfare, and demanding an effective installation of the human rights approach to guide public-private partnerships on child welfare in both countries.