Tools for Centering Blackness in Social Work Field Education: An Anti-Racist Agency Learning Plan and Evaluation

Abstract

ABSTRACT As part of their field education, social work students develop and implement change agent projects to influence positive change. Faculty and students, however, have identified a lack of placement options for Black students to allow them to both learn and feel supported in their racial identity. To ensure that Black students have placement options where they can thrive both professionally and personally in one setting, they developed a collective change agent project that holds white students, field agencies, and the school of social work accountable for de-centering whiteness and white supremacy, and centering Blackness and anti-racist ideals. To reach these goals, students developed a Centering Blackness/Anti-Racist Agency Learning Plan and Evaluation Tool. Learning Plans identified goals and action steps for agencies to center Blackness. Evaluations rated the agency’s willingness and ability to center Blackness. The Learning Plan and its concrete action steps allowed students to support implementation of strategies and to have intentional conversations about how to center Blackness. The Evaluation Tool provided useful information about agencies to determine their appropriateness as settings for future student fieldwork.