Autoethnographic View of South African Social Work Educators During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Highlighting Social (In)justice

Abstract

COVID-19 has exposed the inequalities and polarisation of South African communities and institutions of higher learning on the continuum of privilege. As nine social work educators, we share our reflections on how we traversed the higher education space during the beginning of the pandemic, using an autoethnography lens, with the pedagogy of discomfort and critical social work theory as the threads in the complex tapestry of our stories. We describe our orientations as social work educators, the successes, challenges, and recommendations on reimagining and reframing learning and teaching in relation to student-institutional relationships, boundaries and support.

Adapting the Social Work Curriculum for Relevance in a South African University: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Social Work Academics During the KZN Floods

“…However, the process of adapting the thematic contents of the module called for a pedagogy of discomfort, which is described by Zembylas and McGlynn (2012) as an approach to social justice education that unsettles the cherished beliefs of teaching. It posits that evoking discomforting feelings is important when challenging the dominant discourses of social work education (Perumal et al, 2021).…”

When uncertainty becomes the norm: The Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s Speech Therapy and Audiology Department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Roy and Uekusa ( 2020 ) asserted that COVID-19 has allowed groups a unique opportunity to turn their everyday experiences, daily routines, activities and emotions into rich qualitative data in a collaborative and systemic way. Many studies published during the COVID-19 pandemic have utilised an autoethnographic approach to reflect on the lived experience of various healthcare professionals and patient groups (Das Nair et al, 2021 ; Hannam-Swain & Baily, 2021 ; Perumal et al, 2021 ; Wasdan, 2021 ; Zheng, 2021 ).…”

Educator Narratives on Student Success Through Enacting a Humanising Pedagogy and Care: A Transformative Approach

“…Educators become mediators when they see social justice as part of their value base with a clear recognition that the playing fields are not equal, and that often students do not feel comfortable in these higher education spaces (Leibowitz et al, 2010). While higher education was understood as an equalising force the socio-economic inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic has made the learning space even more unequal (Czerniewicz et al, 2020;Perumal et al 2021), posing a real threat to a reimagined HE space.…”