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Professional knowledge of cultural competence and diversity allow social workers to understand the strengths inherent within culture and the social oppression of marginalized groups, hence enabling them to promote cultural practices. While social work professionals have put an emphasis on diversity and cultural competence, there have been a lack of dialogues on more challenging topics, such as race and racism. The social work grand challenge entitled Achieving Equal Opportunity and Justice calls for social work education's focus on race and ethnicity to achieve social justice.
This study aims to examine the extent to which social work master’s programs include race and ethnicity within courses, mission statements, and certificate programs. This study also examines the relationship between social work program rankings and race content in the program. Finally, this study also seeks to illustrate the need for social work courses that go beyond diversity and provide information about specific racial and ethnic groups.
Methods
We conducted a content analysis of the curriculum, mission statement, and concentrations of the 264 Council of Social Work Education’s accredited master’s of social work programs. Data for the coding was derived from each program’s respective websites. Programs were selected based upon: (a) their location within the United States and the territories, (b) a curriculum reflective of the Master of Social Work degree, (c) accreditation under the Council of Social Work Education, and (d) having a website for their master’s program. The coding of the programs concentrated on identifying content on race and ethnicity in class titles, certificates or concentrations, and mission statements. The authors coded for the presence of race and ethnicity when the text indicated the words “race” “ethnicity” and/or specific racial and ethnic groups (e.g., Asian, African American, Latino). Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted utilizing Stata statistical software.
Results
The findings from this study indicate that there is a lack of concentration in race and ethnicity in the master’s of social work programs throughout the United States. Likewise, only some programs included race or ethnicity in their mission statement and had concentrations or certificates on race or ethnicity. Diversity content was more prevalent in schools of social work, including diversity content in their mission statement. When comparing the top 50 ranked social work programs with the rest, we found that the top 50 universities were significantly more likely to have courses and certificate/concentrations specific to on race and ethnicity.
Conclusion
A specificity to culture and an in depth conversation about race are lacking in many school of social work curriculums. This dynamic makes it difficult for the emerging social worker to properly assess and serve diverse client populations. It also does not allow social workers to understand the complex impact of historical events and structural barriers on specific racial and ethnic groups. The authors of this study propose a need for more class content specific to different racial, cultural, and ethnic groups to better understand the mechanisms which separately affect them.