Social Work Educators As White Allies?: An Integrative Literature Review

Background and Purpose: Social work literature devotes significant attention to helping social work students develop cultural competence and challenge racism. Much of this work presumes, with little supporting evidence, that social work educators are prepared to address racism in their classrooms and model antiracist behavior. This is troubling since White educators represent the majority of social work faculty and benefit from White Supremacy.

To understand how better to prepare White social work educators to address issues of racism and dismantle White Supremacy, we employed an integrative literature review to conceptualize educators as “White Allies.” Our purpose was to synthesize recent literature on White ally educators to inform the development of antiracist White social work educators.

Methods: The integrative literature review is a valuable form of secondary research contributing to a topic’s knowledge base by synthesizing known information regarding theory and practice through a systematic process of review and critique. To identify articles, we conducted academic database searches using the terms White Ally Educators, White Ally Social Work, and White Allies (including Boolean combinations). To be included, articles had to a) contain the term “ally” or closely related content, b) focus on K-12/university educators, and c) have been published between 2004-2019.

Twenty-two articles were accepted for review. Thirteen were conceptual and nine were empirical—one quantitative and eight qualitative analyses. Fifteen came from the discipline of education, two from social work, one from a dual social work and teacher education perspective, and three from other disciplines.

Findings: Through an integrative examination of the literature, we produced a model of an iterative White ally educator identity process consisting of an ongoing cycle of critical self-reflection and reflexive action in and out of the classroom. According to the model, allyship requires attention to the continuum between interpersonal interactions and structures that reinforce and maintain oppression. Critical self-reflection for White educators may include self-education about White Supremacy, redefinition of knowledge centering marginalized voices, and an interrogation of the educator’s traditional role. Reflexive action takes place at interpersonal, classroom, and structural levels.

A critical reading of the literature highlights ways that White allyship can serve the White educator’s self-interests, ultimately recentering Whiteness. For example, ally performers may claim allyship without engaging in antiracist action. Moving beyond performance to action requires undermining pervasive, embedded privileges of Whiteness - something many White educators may not be prepared to do.

Implications: Findings suggest that the concept of the White ally educator may be helpful in preparing social work educators teach and embody antiracist social work. Only two articles were from the social work discipline, suggesting a need for social work to examine the role of White social work educators in dismantling White Supremacy. Additionally, much of the work was conceptual. Further empirical research would help assess key concepts and illuminate the barriers and potentialities of the White educator ally model. Lastly, the concept of the ally implies partnership and mutuality. A deeper understanding of the challenges to developing sustainable educational cross-racial partnerships that decenter Whiteness is needed.