The Rise of Wildfires in Social Work Education: Understanding Student-Initiated Confrontation As Experienced By Social Work Educators

Background and Purpose: Over the past three decades, there is mounting evidence to suggest that post-secondary educators are the objects of increasingly concerning behaviours initiated by students both in and outside of the classroom. These student-initiated confrontations (SICs) can range from incidental rude and disruptive behaviours to more intentional ongoing hostile, aggressive, and even violent behaviours. SICs can pose personal and professional challenges for post-secondary educators, and are often exacerbated by a lack of guidance and support by institutional administration, as well as inadequate training with respect to SIC and classroom management. However, limited research exists pertaining to SIC within post-secondary social work education. This paper aimed to fill a void in social work literature, and to gain an increased understanding of post-secondary social work educators’ experiences with SIC, as well as their experiences and identified needs in regards to the necessary training to prevent and mitigate this phenomenon.

Methods: Fifteen post-secondary social work educators were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Interview questions pertained to the participants’ experiences with SIC, factors they felt contributed to this phenomenon, whether they reported their experiences and their perception of leadership’s response. Participants were also interviewed about previously received training related to SIC and mitigation needs for the future as well as implications on social work education and the profession. Anti-oppressive practice and intersectionality were the theoretical underpinnings of this study, as they helped to understand the connections between power and SIC. Participants were recruited via fliers and emails sent to accredited social work programs across Canada as well as provincial professional social work associations. Interview data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological approach.

Findings and Implications: Four themes emerged from the data: (a) what SIC is, (b) what the responses of the institution are, (c) the level of preparation and training regarding SIC received, and (d) the overall implications on social work education and the social work profession. Findings suggest that SIC is a present and serious problem within post-secondary social work education that has implications for social work educators, social work education, and the profession itself. Unlike previous studies positioning SIC as occurring with a student-educator dyadic relationship, this study suggests SIC is a triadic phenomenon. Much like a fire that has three elements (heat, fuel, oxygen), SIC also consists of three elements: student behaviours, educator vulnerabilities, and institutional leadership’s response and failure to respond. The interplay between these three elements can either fuel or extinguish the SIC fire. Findings specific to social work education suggest that increased mandatory training for educators on classroom management and SIC, as well as increased support for educators by institutional leadership are imperative in preventing and mitigating this phenomenon.