Indigenous People in a Landscape of Risk: Teaching Social Work Students About Socially Just Social Work Responses

Abstract

The need for social justice in social work practice is particularly apparent in work with indigenous populations. In spite of the social work profession's commitment to social justice, social workers have often done significant harm in their work with indigenous peoples. Social work educators are ideally positioned to close this gap between social work values and practice by teaching how principles of social justice can be applied with indigenous peoples. This article provides social work educators with background knowledge and specific tools for teaching about indigenous populations from a social justice perspective.