Pedagogical approaches for social justice and diversity in Canadian social work education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore social justice and diversity education in Canadian schools of social work. Using an online survey, we invited faculty members to share their teaching experiences in social justice and diversity courses. Participants included 24 faculty members who have taught either undergraduate or graduate students in accredited social work schools across Canada. Using descriptive synthesis and content analysis, the findings revealed various characteristics of social justice and diversity courses, as well as several categories around challenges and supports in teaching social justice and diversity courses. Three challenges are noted: (1) insufficient time to cover social justice and diversity topics with enough breadth and depth; (2) addressing students’ affects and preconceived ideas; and (3) increased burden for faculty members identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teaching social justice focused courses. Participants described three areas that need to be strengthened to teach social justice and diversity courses including (1) integrating social justice content across all micro and macro courses, as well as practicum; (2) creating a space and culture of community of practice (CoP) for social justice education and ongoing faculty training; and (3) institutionalizing social justice education for the professional accreditation of social work education.