Assessing Antiracism as a Learning Outcome in Social Work Education

Abstract

The current political climate and reversals of gains made during the Civil Rights Movement underscore the urgent need for preparing emerging social workers to effectively address white supremacy in social work practice. Antiracism education in social work aims to ensure competent antiracist social work practice towards the goal of eradicating white supremacy in all its forms. Given the widening racial disparities evident in income, health and educational outcomes, it is essential to examine the degree to which social work education adequately prepares emerging social work practitioners to engage in antiracist social work practice. This paper presents findings of a systematic review of social work research assessing antiracism as a learning outcome. After reviewing more than 150 studies published between 2008 and 2018, none of them focused on assessing antiracism as a learning outcome. Our review demonstrates that despite the importance of antiracist social work practice, published research on assessment of antiracism as a learning outcome is sparse and is not antiracism-focused as much as it is antiracism-inclusive. More attention to identifying and disseminating best practices for assessing student competence in antiracism practice is required to defeat white supremacy.

Experimental studies testing interventions to promote cultural safety, interculturality or antiracism in healthcare: protocol for a systematic review

“…75 In healthcare education, more recent reviews report an emphasis on skills to address cultural conflicts rather than antiracist approaches. 45 They report interventions for training nurses and social workers, [46][47][48] but with some overlap in the operational definition of antiracism and culturally safe or sensitive approaches. 49 We have not found systematic reviews exclusively focused on experimental studies to measure changes from interventions inspired by either of these approaches.…”

“We started talking about race and racism after George Floyd”: insights from research into practitioner preparedness for anti-racist social work practice in England

“…Social work education (both in the classroom and on placements) has been positioned as a potential space to learn about and disrupt racism in society; however, failure to address race and racism in these spaces has the potential to leave social workers unprepared to engage in anti-racist practice and could result in minoritised social workers underprepared to challenge racism directed at them from others (Copeland and Ross, 2021).…”

“…I don't think it's something that's not been known about; I think it's been known about a long, long time" (MDFG4). The suggestion of tokenism explored by Copeland and Ross (2021) highlights the importance of being anti-racism-focused in social work learning spaces.…”

“…From the data, it is clear that 'one-off ', 'bolted-on' sessions were not considered effective. Consequently, Copeland and Ross (2021) found that a dedicated course on anti-racism is more effective than a model that integrates anti-racism within the course as a whole.…”

“…Critical to these recommendations is the need for institutional and organisational support by all stakeholders (Ladhani and Sitter, 2020) to ensure that anti-racism knowledge, cognitive and affective processes, values, and skills are assessed in practice situations requiring ASYE candidates to make professional judgements that demonstrate not only an understanding of oppression, marginalisation and racism, but also the ability to challenge microaggressions (Copeland and Ross, 2021).…”