{"title":"Toward Decolonizing Social Work Practicum: From a Practicum Director’s Perspective","authors":"Kanako Okuda","doi":"10.1080/00377317.2023.2256853","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The social work practicum, also called field education, is the signature pedagogy of social work education and is deeply rooted in the profession’s history. Unfortunately, the practicum reflects hegemonic Eurocentric values and is complicit in enacting oppression, privilege, and structural inequity. Therefore, social work needs to reckon with this history and with the need to decolonize the practicum, which has recently drawn the critical attention of social work educators and students engaged in social justice dialogs. This article argues that in social work education, practicum directors have assumed gatekeeping responsibility; practicum directors and administrators inevitably contribute to professional inequity and are complicit in its oppressive practices. Notwithstanding this fact, practicum education is positioned to play a critical role in decolonizing social work education, and practicum directors’ voices and perspectives are essential to implementing meaningful transformation. By critically examining the practicum process and offering suggestions for future discussions and liberatory action, this article examines the way that the social work practicum participates in oppressive practice from a practicum director’s perspective.","PeriodicalId":45273,"journal":{"name":"SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN SOCIAL WORK","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN SOCIAL WORK","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00377317.2023.2256853","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT The social work practicum, also called field education, is the signature pedagogy of social work education and is deeply rooted in the profession’s history. Unfortunately, the practicum reflects hegemonic Eurocentric values and is complicit in enacting oppression, privilege, and structural inequity. Therefore, social work needs to reckon with this history and with the need to decolonize the practicum, which has recently drawn the critical attention of social work educators and students engaged in social justice dialogs. This article argues that in social work education, practicum directors have assumed gatekeeping responsibility; practicum directors and administrators inevitably contribute to professional inequity and are complicit in its oppressive practices. Notwithstanding this fact, practicum education is positioned to play a critical role in decolonizing social work education, and practicum directors’ voices and perspectives are essential to implementing meaningful transformation. By critically examining the practicum process and offering suggestions for future discussions and liberatory action, this article examines the way that the social work practicum participates in oppressive practice from a practicum director’s perspective.
期刊介绍:
Smith College Studies in Social Work focuses on the vital issues facing practitioners today, featuring only those articles that advance theoretical understanding of psychological and social functioning, present clinically relevant research findings, and promote excellence in clinical practice. This refereed journal addresses issues of mental health, therapeutic process, trauma and recovery, psychopathology, racial and cultural diversity, culturally responsive clinical practice, intersubjectivity, the influence of postmodern theory on clinical practice, community based practice, and clinical services for specific populations of psychologically and socially vulnerable clients.