Social Work Classroom Research Articles

Photo-voices from the classroom: photovoice as a creative learning methodology in social work education

ABSTRACT Studies have demonstrated the need for innovative and creative teaching methodologies in the field of social work education; some have pointed to the photovoice model of qualitative research in the social work classroom as a model that embodies these criteria. This paper presents implementations of the photovoice model used in three different courses for social work students: 1) International Social Work; 2) Community Work; 3) Orientation to Social Work. The paper presents four different examples, demonstrating photovoice’s potential as a creative tool in student learning processes. These examples are discussed with reference to the value of creativity in the social work education framework: facilitating the internalization of the values, professional goals, modes of action of the social work; and phenomenological examination of social realities, in a way that allows the student to “freeze” certain moments in the learning experience, and to critically examine different interpretations and meanings of these realities.

Cross-Cultural Social Work: A Critical Approach to Teaching and Learning to Work Effectively across Intersectional Identities

AbstractAll relationships in social work education and practice constitute sites of cross-cultural exchanges. In keeping with the profession’s social justice mandate and anti-oppressive principles, it is fundamental for emerging social workers to begin the life-long learning process of developing a congruent composite of awareness, values, knowledge and skills essential for working effectively across diverse social locations and intersectional identities. Grounded in a social justice framework, this article engages critically with the concept of cultural competence in social work pedagogy, explores the significance of diversity and intersectionality in social work education and proposes a multidimensional model for teaching, learning and evaluating cross-cultural sensitivity and responsivity in the social work class-room.

Microaggression, Macroaggression, or Mistake? Exploring BSW Students’ Perspectives

Social work students from marginalized backgrounds commonly experience microaggressions in social work education. This qualitative study explored how BSW students and recent graduates from diverse backgrounds perceived microaggressions in social work classrooms. Through semi-structured interviews, participants (N=20) responded to five vignettes of microaggressions based on real-life examples. They shared their perception of whether each example was a microaggression and why, as well as their expectation for how an instructor should address these incidents. A thematic analysis was carried out with the transcribed interviews. Although participants felt prepared to identify microaggression, there was disagreement about whether each vignette was an example of a microaggression. Four themes arose in their criteria: intention, marginalization, stereotyping, and power dynamics. Three themes arose in their expectations for faculty responses: taking action, repairing the relationship, and preventing future microaggressions. Implications for social work education are discussed.

Incorporating Trauma-Informed Educational Practice into the Baccalaureate Social Work Classroom

BSW students are often exposed to traumatic material in social work education programs. MSW programs have addressed this need by creating trauma-informed educational practice and curriculum for students. However, BSW students should be able to understand and recognize trauma to be competent, knowledgeable, and responsive in their generalist social work. This teaching note intends to inform and motivate BSW educators to consider integrating trauma-informed educational practices into their own teaching. First, we outline the importance of trauma-informed educational practice in social work education. Then, we illustrate the incorporation of this model specifically in the BSW classroom through sharing several classroom strategies that we use in our BSW classrooms. Two specific case vignettes are offered, and the importance of support for faculty to implement and continue to use these strategies is also addressed.

Contemplative Practices for Self-Care in the Social Work Classroom.

Social work educators prepare students for the demands of the profession by teaching them the skills, knowledge, and values graduates will use in their work with various clients within the context of varied practice settings. It is crucial that we pair these educational objectives with techniques to take care of themselves as they experience the emotional, psychological, and physically taxing work of being with people whose life circumstances carry trauma, grief, and stress. This article illustrates how contemplative practices in the social work classroom can facilitate self-care during and after the intensity of formal education and better prepare students for wellness in professional settings after they graduate. Specific examples of three contemplative practices used in the authors' classrooms are provided as is an illustration of student reactions to these practices. Precautions and safety considerations associated with intense personal reflection are referenced and resources for instructors and practitioners are cited.

Naming and Addressing Homophobic and Transphobic Microaggressions in Social Work Classrooms

ABSTRACT Classroom-based microaggressions are a critical problem, associated with a range of negative impacts for students in targeted groups. Central to the problem of microaggressions is that they are often unacknowledged or unaddressed by educators in their own classrooms. Findings from the Social Work Speaks Out! mixed-method survey demonstrate that LGBTQ+ undergraduate and graduate students experience a range of microaggressions in social work classrooms, as they would in classes in other fields. This article draws on qualitative data to examine the experiences of homophobic and transphobic microaggressions by social work students across the United States and Canada and introduces a new tool, grounded in the data, to guide educators in recognizing, naming, and effectively addressing microaggressions in their own classrooms.

Teaching Note—Beyond the Binary: Addressing Cisnormativity in the Social Work Classroom

ABSTRACTSocial work educators are responsible for ensuring their students are equipped to rise against social injustice. Therefore, the marginalization of transgender, genderqueer, and nonbinary people and communities must be addressed in the social work classroom. Contextualizing the social work classroom within cisnormativity, this article reports on the ways social work classrooms may perpetuate the marginalization of transgender, genderqueer, and nonbinary populations. Practical recommendations for recognizing cisnormative practices and creating transgender-inclusive classrooms are provided.

Navigating Student Self-Disclosure Through a Relational Lens: Examples of Increased Self-Awareness from a Social Work Classroom

Self-disclosure is a nuanced practice issue that often generates complex questions for even the most seasoned clinicians. While the social work literature has grappled with this intricate topic as it pertains to clinicians, field supervisors and social work instructors, there is little discussion about student self-disclosure within the classroom. Despite the focus on self-awareness within social work education, there is a gap in the literature regarding how to best prepare students for appropriate engagement in self-disclosure. This paper offers a relational perspective for navigating student self-disclosure in the classroom and posits that carefully attending to students’ disclosures offers profound opportunities for grasping concepts pivotal to the process of social work practice: transference-countertransference responses, self-other boundaries, and relational vulnerability. Such a perspective also informs the manner in which instructors respond to and work with students’ disclosures. Case examples from a social work classroom are offered to illustrate the value of a relationally-informed approach to student self-disclosure.

Challenging ‘ableism’ and teaching about disability in a social work classroom

Social work programs in Canada teach emerging generalist practitioners about the consequences of oppression in the lives of the clients they work with. More emphasis within social work education could be placed on practical ways of contextualizing forms of oppression as each relates specifically to practice. The following provides a description of the oppression of ‘ableism’, and offers an applied training module to help prepare generalist social workers (i.e. current students or direct practitioners) to work with issues of disability as they emerge in their direct practice with clients. The training module helps to facilitate learning specific to the leading theoretical discussions and the social context of disability within society. Through these discussions students might then become more aware of their role as practitioners in challenging the oppression of ‘ableism’, rather than maintain outdated modes of service delivery and intervention with those people disabled by the social environment.

Does it get better? LGBTQ social work students and experiences with harmful discourse

Although the field of social work is grounded in social justice, the social work educational experience, including classrooms, may not live up to this value, especially for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, this study examined the experiences of harmful discourse in social work classrooms for LGBTQ students. Findings indicate that students experienced being misgendered, tokenized, and erased through cis-/heteronormative language and classroom teachings. Although social work is guided by frameworks of social justice, microaggressions and discrimination may be vaguely glossed over, if addressed at all. This study highlights the gap between the values social work teaches and how social work education is delivered.

Infographics as an assignment to build digital skills in the social work classroom

According to the theory of experiential learning, ideal learning happens in contexts that offer concrete experiences and active experimentation alongside abstract and reflective learning. Bloom’s Taxonomy suggests that higher-order thinking skills include creating, designing, and producing information, whereas, classroom assignments often reinforce lower-level thinking such as interpreting, explaining, and comparing. Higher-order learning assignments include situations in which students can experiment with product generation for real-world situations, reflect on the relationship between theory and practice, and receive specific feedback about their efforts. Social work educators can create these situations by incorporating infographics in the classroom. This research finds that social work students assigned an infographics project in three different universities say it improved their engagement and learning, and offered opportunities for creativity and decision making.

A Scoping Review of Feminism in U.S. Social Work Education: Strategies and Implications for the Contemporary Classroom

ABSTRACTPurpose: Feminism has an agenda to advance equal opportunity, inclusivity and justice for women and to reduce gender-based oppression. Though this reflects social work's grand challenges, it is unclear whether feminist teaching strategies are utilized in social work education.Methods: We conducted a scoping review to identify and better understand feminist teaching strategies employed in social work classrooms. We reviewed articles between the years 2000 and 2016 in four databases including U.S. peer-reviewed journal articles.Results: Our review included 27 articles. Though authors presented diverse feminist teaching methods, some common themes were apparent among the articles. Those included empowerment, power/privilege, intersectionality, reflexivity, inclusivity and activism.Discussion: The implication for social work educators was that feminist teaching methods can include and empower women of color in classrooms. Specifically, intersectional feminism helps to set the stage for those students’ future activism in the field of social work.

Oasis in a concrete jungle: arts-informed methods in social work classrooms

ABSTRACTThis article presents a qualitative arts-informed inquiry on teaching and learning in social work education. Using arts-informed research methodology and grounded theory methodology, the research analyses ten interviews of social work educators in two Canadian provinces. This article focused on how university educators use arts-informed methods of teaching about social justice through anti-racist and decolonizing lenses; also discussed are the educators’ personal and professional transformation and development within this process. The main findings discuss the importance of creating an ‘artful’ space as a platform for experiential, embodied and emotive learning, which offers an innovative, more holistic and comprehensive way of teaching social justice. This way of teaching emphasizes personal transformation, giving space to marginalized voices and expression; as well as collective co-creation of meaning and creating practical tools for future social change. The study also touches upon challenges and gaps in using an arts-informed approach, which include student resistance to alternative ways of education, expressed specifically by racialized educators and ambiguity related to assessing artful works in an academic setting. The paper ends with recommendations for social work education.

Queering the Social Work Classroom: Strategies for Increasing the Inclusion of LGBTQ Persons and Experiences

ABSTRACTThe inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) perspectives and experiences in the social work classroom is necessary to adequately include LGBTQ students and prepare graduates to practice effectively. Drawing from queer theory as a theoretical framework and the authors’ experiences in practice and teaching/learning spaces with LGBTQ youth, this article offers practical strategies for creating classrooms inclusive of LGBTQ persons. Queering the classroom builds skills in students beyond practice with LGBTQ people and communities, thereby enhancing their capacity to engage diversity in practice more generally and to advance human rights and social justice.

Microaggressions in social work classrooms: strategies for pedagogical intervention

ABSTRACTWe present an in-depth example from a faculty development and peer consultation seminar to illustrate pedagogical strategies for intervening when microaggressions occur in social work classrooms. We provide a framework for social work educators to conceptualize such microaggressions within the context of larger historical and structural oppression and societal dynamics based on differential power and privilege to foster student learning and professional development. We demonstrate how using a mutual-aid model encourages heightened awareness, reflection, and teaching skill development. It also serves to illuminate how instructors might elucidate, interrupt without alienating, and transform microaggressions in the classroom into a learning opportunity.

The impacts of processing the use of derogatory language in a social work classroom

ABSTRACTClassroom content focused on diversity often includes dialogue and student use of derogatory language, as well as opportunities for self-reflection, modeling, collaboration, and continuous development. This article is a critical reflection by a White teacher, a White student, and a student with Mexican American heritage on a critical incident involving student use of racially derogatory language in a story. The experiences are framed with Mezirow’s accidental disorienting dilemmas and a decolonizing teaching pedagogy, which create an opportunity for transformative learning.The approach resulted in a strong process and storytelling orientation for the class and a deeper appreciation for the power of language.

Photovoice as a Pedagogical Tool: Exploring Personal and Professional Values with Female Muslim Social Work Students in an Intercultural Classroom Setting

ABSTRACTThis article explores a classroom project in which we used photovoice as a pedagogical tool to enhance personal and professional self-awareness among female, Muslim, social work students in an intercultural classroom setting located in the Arabian Gulf. We begin with an overview and discussion of arts-based approaches to education and then provide examples from the literature on the use of photovoice in the classroom. Next, we discuss the necessity for self-awareness and self-reflection of personal and professional values in the social work classroom. We then provide details of our photovoice classroom project, which can be replicated by social work educators. Finally, we present examples of the class project, with a discussion and reflection on the process. We end the article with implications for social work pedagogy and a brief discussion of the use of photovoice for other applications.

From the Teachers Perspective: Exploring Ways to Navigate Transformative Dialogues about Microaggressions in Social Work Higher Education

Graduate social work education is a fertile context for microaggression encounters. Because a core concept of the discipline is social justice advocacy, social work pedagogy is steeped with instruction, reading materials, activities and dialogue regarding diversity, intersectionality, oppression, power, and privilege. Students enter graduate school from a plethora of backgrounds, maturity levels, and exposure to justice informed critical thinking. As a result, learning opportunities take place not only in classrooms and field placements, but also in social, interpersonal exchanges. Therefore, it is imperative that social work educators teach academic concepts while modeling and managing the process in which microaggressions proliferate. Drawing from auto-ethnographic data obtained through instructors’ observations of microaggressions occurring in social work classrooms, the authors posit that uncontained microaggressions can have a deleterious impact on students, faculty and the larger social work climate outside of higher education. Pedagogical tactics and strategies to navigate the nuances of micro, mezzo and macro microaggressions within the constructs of social work higher education are provided.

Concurrent Infusion of Integrated Behavioral Health Practice Into Social Work Field and Classroom Instruction

ABSTRACTThis administrative case study describes a concurrent infusion of integrated behavioral health (IBH) practice into social work field and classroom instruction using the same manualized IBH treatment as the core treatment content. The infusion was applied to youth/young adult and older adult populations in field instruction and classroom instruction. Diffusion of innovation theory provided the framework for the infusion process and analysis. Quantitative data were extracted from Web-based learning platforms and administrative data sets and analyzed using descriptive and univariate statistical methods. Qualitative data were extracted from de-identified transcripts of student session segments and Web-based learning platforms and analyzed using phenomenological methods.

Teaching Note—Tweeting Macro Practice: Social Media in the Social Work Classroom

ABSTRACTDespite its ubiquity, social work educators are just beginning to harness social media in teaching. In this teaching note, we discuss our use of Twitter in a bachelor’s-level macro Human Behavior in the Social Environment course. We present results from a survey of 45 students designed to assess their perceptions of Twitter use in the classroom and, in particular, as a macro social work learning tool. Students appreciated using social media in the course and reported that Twitter was a valuable professional social work tool. We explore how social work educators can provide an innovative classroom experience that incorporates ethical and professional use of social media and demonstrate how we used Twitter to apply macro practice competencies.