{"title":"Linking Social Work Licensure Examination Pass Rates to Accreditation: The Merits, Challenges, and Implications for Social Work Education","authors":"Dawn Apgar","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2112809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2112809","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Unlike other disciplines, social work has made accreditation decisions about undergraduate and graduate programs independent of licensure examination pass rates of graduates. While education, regulation, and practice are heralded as the three pillars of social work, there have been few meaningful linkages between them. Despite recognition that licensure impacts employment opportunities and salaries of social workers, the academy has been resistant to bridge the divide between educational assessment and licensure outcomes, resulting in hardship for some graduates. Students choose social work programs without knowing whether their education is adequate to pass “high stakes” licensure exams. In an era of greater accountability, and questions about the value of higher education, making licensure examination pass rates public and linking them to decisions when accrediting programs, seems prudent. However, this policy shift would likely change market demands and the stability of accreditation decisions enjoyed by social work programs to date.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"335 - 353"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47958866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Student and Faculty Perceptions on Feedback in a Graduate Social Work Distance Education Program","authors":"K. McCarthy, David J. Wilkerson, G. Ashirifi","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2102103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2102103","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Online social work educators are responsible for fostering high quality academic growth experiences for their students. Feedback instructors provide to students aims to further this goal. The purpose of this study is to understand how social work instructors and students in an entirely online MSW program value instructional feedback. Open-ended survey questions were used to gather instructor and student perspectives. Qualitative analyses revealed similar themes. Faculty felt the main purpose of feedback was to facilitate learning, improve effectiveness of learning, enhance student social work capability, and foster engagement and connection. MSW students felt the main importance of feedback was that it fostered student development, assessed student progress, facilitated interaction and communication with instructor, and clarified misunderstandings. Contrary to the traditional role of feedback in on-the-ground programs, both MSW faculty and students felt that feedback in the online modality not only increased content comprehension but also influenced the student and instructor relationship. This study highlights the need to train faculty to deliver feedback that is consonant with distance education students’ desire to experience connection and support as a part of their online education.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"392 - 408"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41556417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Field Instruction: A Relational Model to Promote A Positive Professional Identity for Social Work Students","authors":"Dolly Sacristan, M. Lalane","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2103228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2103228","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The development of a social work professional identity is an element of social work education. It is not clear how students in social work programs develop this identity; its development seems to be dependent on the integration of various learning experiences and exposure to curriculum content in the classroom, and in the fieldwork assignments. Teachers and field instructors play important roles in this process. In this paper, the authors argue that a positive professional social work identity can be fostered through the relationship with instructors in fieldwork supervision. Using Kohut’s theory of Self Psychology, the authors present a model that highlights the application of the concept of self-object needs to the field instructor-student relationship. One of the central premises of his theory is that individuals from childhood and throughout adulthood internalize the experiences provided by self-objects to meet the emotional needs of the self. The authors propose that field instructors provide self-object experiences that can sustain and foster the development of a positive professional identity for social work students in training. The application of this model underscores students’ affective changes associated with students’ professional development in social work programs.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"303 - 315"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47726529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Incorporating Community Based Participatory Action Research in Social Work Graduate Education","authors":"Sarah Moore, L. Donaldson","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2117761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2117761","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Grounded in a framework of high-impact educational practices, this article offers a model for incorporating Community Based Participatory Action Research (CBPR) into the social work graduate curriculum. The authors review the history of CBPR in social work and social work education and identify challenges and gaps when CBPR has been used in university settings. Two case studies are then examined: a MSW course that conducted a study on youth experiencing homelessness and a doctoral course centered on a study of HIV in the Ethiopian immigrant community. Implications for social work education at both the MSW and PhD levels are discussed.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"409 - 422"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49475737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing Student Learning and Engagement Using Digital Stories","authors":"C. Fisher, L. Hitchcock","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2113492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2113492","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT To prepare students for competent practice in increasingly technology-enabled settings, social work curricula must provide ample opportunities for developing digital literacy. Incorporating digital stories as course assignments offer educators one promising approach. Despite the fact that digital stories can provide a powerful teaching strategy and meaningful learning experience for students, they have received little attention in the social work education literature. This study explored implementation of a digital story assignment in three social work courses and examined undergraduate and graduate students’ appraisals of the assignment and learning outcomes. Qualitative findings indicated high satisfaction and learning associated with key social work competencies such as digital literacy, group work, and advocacy. Students valued the novel opportunity for creativity and collaboration, and were challenged in positive ways to produce high quality work that could be shared with a public audience. Key challenges identified by students included a steep technology learning curve, some technology resistance, and limitations associated with group projects (e.g., group dynamics). Overall, however, these exploratory findings suggest that digital story assignments can offer a timely and useful tool for social work educators to enhance engagement and learning, foster advocacy practice skills, and build digital literacies needed in the 21st century practice landscape.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"371 - 391"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47123979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Black in the Classroom: Teaching Anti-Oppressive Practice in White Spaces","authors":"Alicia Boatswain-Kyte, Syndie David, Nicole Mitchell","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2070578","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2070578","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In 2019, three Black social work instructors simultaneously taught a required anti-oppressive practice (AOP) course to a cohort of undergraduate social work students. Through collective autoethnography (CAE), we sought to deepen our understanding of our experience within the classroom and how our identity as Black women was negotiated within the space. We used personal narrative essays and data from three autoethnographic conversations as the basis of our analysis. Three overarching themes emerged from the data and are discussed throughout the article: vulnerability and precarity, disembodiment from Black identity, and neutrality and objectivity. This study has special implications for Black female social work instructors teaching AOP. Its findings are relevant in determining how to dismantle anti-Black racism in social work education and practice.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"157 - 174"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44631725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenging Anti-Black Racism across the Curriculum: Situating the Social Work Legacy and Moving Forward","authors":"Laura Curran, DuWayne Battle, Samuel Jones","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2074766","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2074766","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As an introduction for a special journal volume on Challenging Anti-Black Racism across the Social Work Curriculum, this paper situates the volume’s contributions within a larger anti-racist tradition in social work including the often overlooked legacy of the profession’s Black leaders. It discusses multiple strands of anti-racist social work scholarship that provide scaffolding to support current and future anti-racist practices and thought. These include the paradigm shift from cultural competence to critical race theory; interpersonal and behavioral science approaches; Afrocentric perspectives; and decolonization theory. The article previews the volume’s contributions which both reflect these traditions and move beyond them. We argue that the endemic nature of anti-Black racism in the U.S. demands special attention in the social work curriculum.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"102 - 119"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48928010","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Addressing Systemic Anti-Black Racism in Social Work: A Plan of Action","authors":"Patrina Duhaney, Kaltrina Kusari, Ebony Morris, Akin Taiwo","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2053925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2053925","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Historic and systemic anti-Black racism are rooted in political, economic, ontological, epistemological, and cultural foundations of Canadian society. The normativity of whiteness and white supremacy are prevalent in social work programs across Canada despite the profession’s commitment to social justice and anti-oppressive practice. Advancing conversations which seek to eradicate anti-Black racism are necessary to create equitable spaces for Black people in schools of social work. Using an environmental scan methodology, this article identifies and discusses strategies that can be utilized across schools of social work in Canada and the U.S. to address anti-Black racism. These strategies relate to the collection of race-based data, curriculum development, support for Black students and faculty members, field education, anti-racism training, research and scholarship, and provision of financial resources. We caution that these changes may be ineffective or unsustainable without addressing and abolishing deeply engrained systemic and institutional racism.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"280 - 302"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45745885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andre P. Stevenson, Kendra P. Alexander, Kenisha Thomas, Sonyia C. Richardson, B. Turnage, A. Clarke, Zionna Wood
{"title":"Shamed into Action?: The Historical Avoidance of Pursuing Anti-racist Educational Policies and Content in Social Work Education","authors":"Andre P. Stevenson, Kendra P. Alexander, Kenisha Thomas, Sonyia C. Richardson, B. Turnage, A. Clarke, Zionna Wood","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2058675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2058675","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Linguistic norms concerning issues of social injustice, racism specifically, vary by discipline. In this study, the authors used content analysis to examine discourse in the social work profession related to racism and anti-racist action. Our investigation found that the usage of forthright terms such as racism, white supremacy, and oppression in the description of social work courses, authoritative disciplinary statements, and educational standards, was uncommon prior to the uprisings that occurred worldwide following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. In contrast, we find the pervasive promulgation of anti-racism as an explicit social work priority across multiple high-profile educational venues since this time. In our discussion, we interrogate the implications of this contrast as it relates to the ability of social work students and practitioners to both conceptually and practically engage in effective anti-racist action.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"247 - 264"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44932528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Trajectory of Awareness: A Tool to Dismantle Anti-Black Racism in Social Work Education","authors":"LaTasha L. Smith, Carolyn Mak","doi":"10.1080/08841233.2022.2048337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2022.2048337","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article addresses the concerns brought forth in this special issue by offering a detailed and conceptually focused description and rationale for future plans of addressing anti-Black racism across the social work curriculum. We focus on a less-discussed experience of anti-Black racism – the experience of internalized racial oppression and how it might be integrated into the social work curriculum. Although internalized racial oppression has detrimental effects on mental health functioning, there is little research that examines how this phenomenon is understood by clinical social workers who might observe these effects in their clients. In this article, we introduce a theoretical framework for understanding internalized racial oppression that came out of a larger qualitative study which explored how Black women psychotherapists understand the phenomenon. The authors will explain the framework and use pedagogical examples to illustrate how the model taught social work students about internalized racial oppression. Emphasis is placed on how implementing this framework in direct practice courses facilitates integration throughout multiple other areas of social work education. The framework may provide social work educators and students with a means to conceptualize internalized racial oppression. This aspect of anti-Black racism has psychologically damaging consequences, persists within the Black community, and is currently under-researched.","PeriodicalId":51728,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Teaching in Social Work","volume":"42 1","pages":"120 - 141"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46505173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}