Are Social Work Educators Bullies? Student Perceptions of Political Discourse in the Social Work Classroom
- 25 January 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Journal of Teaching in Social Work
- Vol. 33 (1), 59-74
- https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2012.750259
Abstract
Social work's professional commitment to working toward social justice for vulnerable groups is well known. However, as a profession, social work has been criticized for proposing professional perspectives that may be interpreted by some as political indoctrination. The purpose of the current study was to examine social work students' perceptions of political debate in the classroom. An additional goal was to examine whether students believed that colleagues who hold certain sociopolitical beliefs should be prohibited from receiving a social work degree. Four hundred and ninety-seven undergraduate and graduate social work students from 10 programs were surveyed. Results show that a majority of respondents were comfortable with the discussion of sociopolitical content in the classroom. Nevertheless, students who self-identified as politically conservative were more likely to report that they perceived the classroom environment as less open and hence less conducive to debate. Finally, overt racism was identified as the only attitude that should prohibit someone from receiving a social work degree. Implications for social work education are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- PROMOTING THE SOCIAL JUSTICE ORIENTATION OF STUDENTS: THE ROLE OF THE EDUCATORJournal of Social Work Education, 2011
- FROM THE EDITOR: POLITICAL TOLERANCE, SOCIAL WORK VALUES, AND SOCIAL WORK EDUCATIONJournal of Social Work Education, 2009
- Liberal and Conservative in Social Work Education: Exploring Student ExperiencesSocial Work Education, 2008
- Reinventing Social Work AccreditationResearch on Social Work Practice, 2008
- The CSWE and Social Work Accreditation: Not Guilty on All ChargesResearch on Social Work Practice, 2008
- Integrating Spirituality, Faith, and Social Justice in Social Work Practice and Education: A Pilot StudyJournal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 2007
- MOVING TOWARD A MORE INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT? A MULTI-SAMPLE EXPLORATION OF RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF STUDENTS FROM VARIOUS FAITH TRADITIONSJournal of Social Work Education, 2006
- The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice: Views and Experiences of Social Workers and StudentsThe British Journal of Social Work, 2005
- ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND OUTCOME IN SOCIAL WORK FIELD EDUCATIONJournal of Social Work Education, 2005
- SAFE SPACE: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES ON CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTJournal of Social Work Education, 2005