(Converted as ePoster, See Poster Gallery) Strengthening Social Work Education through Anti-Racist Teaching: A Case Study of a Social Work Community Change Course

Background and Purpose

Many scholars agree that social work as a field has perpetuated colorblind rhetoric in its approach to issues related to race and racism in policy, practice, education, and training. While anti-oppression and diversity course work and competencies extend through the fields’ accrediting institution and professional association, few programs engage explicit racial justice and equity lenses (Aldana & Vasquez, 2020; Abrams & Mojo, 2013).

Anti-racist frameworks are a powerful tool for social work training and education. These frameworks emphasize the process of learning among students by promoting vulnerability, interrogating power relations, confronting privilege, imagining transformative futures, and engaging in action (Wagner, 2005). One key component within anti-racist frameworks is dialectical thinking, which situates the process of engaging, reflecting, and challenging perspectives in the development of one’s thinking and understanding. Dialectical thinking represents a powerful tool for challenging students, especially community organizing students, to critically reflect on their own understanding of social justice and systemic racism in communities.

Methods

This paper presents a single case study analysis of a social work community change course within an undergraduate social change minor run by a graduate school of social work. The course engaged students in semester-long dialectical inquiry developed in partnership with a living-learning community and the Boggs Center, a Detroit-based community organization. The case study draws on two years of course materials, including student and course evaluations, assignments, reflections, and ten semi-structured interviews among students, to understand the learning experiences and outcomes. Data analysis is conducted through qualitative data analysis using an inductive coding method and thematic analysis to draw connections between students’ experience and antiracist education, and dialectic thinking.

Findings

Findings from the case study highlight key strategies and approaches of anti-racist pedagogy in addition to lessons learned from students, grouped by aggregate themes. Key strategies include: (1) developing experiential co-curricular opportunities that are embedded in courses to promote accessibility and sustained learning about racism and injustice, (2) collaboration with critical partners including community organizations and social justice campus departments, and (3) shifting the learning environment, by teaching in spaces where change has happened, and where activist organize. Preliminary thematic analysis from students includes themes related to individual narration and intentional critical reflection, theorization and learning from history, conversation and deep listening, and the promotion of transformational social action.

Conclusions and Implications

In light of NASW (2020) call to action to eradicate racism and promote racial equity, anti-racist approaches to social work education are necessary tools to foster student awareness, efficacy, and action, in community contexts. This study examines the power and promise of dialectic thinking as a critical tool for the future of anti-racist social work education. Findings from this case study align with contemporary scholarship on the imperative of antiracist frameworks and pedagogies within social work education toward a socially just future by advancing conceptual research on critical pedagogies.