Social justice as a unifying theme in social work education: principles to realize the promise of a new pedagogical model

Abstract

As Mohan notes, social justice can potentially serve as a unifying theme in a new articulation of social work education characterized by inclusion and civil discourse. Yet, historically, social work has often operationalized social justice in a manner that engenders exclusion, rather than inclusion, raising concerns the profession will repeat such mistakes in the future. Building upon Mohan's extensive work in the areas of epistemic pluralism, social justice, and human rights, this article proposes three principles to help realize the promise embedded in the social justice framework while circumventing past problems. These three interrelated guidelines can be summarized as: an affirmation of epistemic pluralism; that creates space for bottom-up, client-centered conceptualizations of social justice; which in turn are congruent with fundamental human rights. Practical pedagogical strategies are provided to foster movement toward a new educational model characterized by inclusiveness and peaceful coexistence.

An Exploration of Human Rights and Social Work Education in the United States

“…(pp. 48-49) Another way to understand human rights is from a bottomup perspective, in which human rights are understood from firsthand experiences, and individuals are recognized as experts in their own lives (Hodge, 2010;Ife, 2009). These approaches contrast with the top-down approach of the UN.…”

“…Twenty-two of the 32 articles contains suggestions for how to integrate human rights into social work education (Acquaye & Crewe, 2012;Barbera, 2006;Chiarelli-Helminiak et al, 2018;Davis & Reber, 2016;Gammonley et al, 2013;Gardella, 2000;Hawkins & Knox, 2014;Hodge, 2007Hodge, , 2010Kaiser et al, 2015;Lewis et al, 2016;McPherson & Cheatham, 2015;McPherson & Mazza, 2014;Melekis & Woodhouse, 2015;Nesmith & Smyth, 2015;Patterson, 2004;Reichert, 2011b;Richards-Desai et al, 2018;Steen & Mathiesen, 2005;Steen et al, 2017;Witkin, 1994Witkin, , 1999. Many of the articles provided examples or case studies where a human rights integration model was used.…”

Racial equity and school social work

“…One line of this work places significant emphasis on the concept of social justice. Specifically, it elaborates on competing and, in some cases, incompatible definitions of the concept itself, articulates the philosophical and theoretical traditions shaping this definitional variability, and considers how conceptions of social justice vary over time, cross‐nationally and cross‐culturally (Bonnycastle, ; Chatterjee & D'Aprix, ; Gil, ; Hodge, ; Morgaine, ; Reisch & Garvin, 2016; Wakefield, , ). Recent scholarship integrates this conceptual work.…”

“…Social justice is a core value undergirding the mission and practices of the profession (Marsh, ; National Association of Social Workers, ). As such, considerable prior scholarship attends to both the meaning of social justice (Bonnycastle, ; Hodge, ; Reisch, ; Reisch & Garvin, 2016; Wakefield, , ) as well as how these values may or may not be reflected or enacted in practice (see Finn & Jacobson, ; Sakamoto & Pitner, 2005; Sue, Rasheed, & Rasheed, ).…”

The Meaning of Social Justice to Social Work Students in Guangdong, China

“…Social justice is constantly regarded as "a unifying theme" (Hodge, 2010) for social work education. Scholars advocate different approaches to promoting social justice in social work education, such as advocating fundamental principles for social justice educators (Adams, 1997) and developing social justice curricula (Reeser & Leighninger, 1990) or research method courses (Longres & Scanlon, 2001;Vincent, 2012).…”