What’s All the Fuss about Social Work Syllabi? Action Speaks Louder Than Words in Addressing the Silence of Whiteness in Social Work Curriculum: A Game Theory Perspective

Abstract

A cursory review of the mission statements of progressive Canadian schools of social work reveals that most have a commitment to anti-oppressive education. That is a commitment to social justice and the amelioration of multiple forms of oppression using a broad range of praxis-oriented approaches. In practice, questions remain regarding these schools' commitment to transformative education. To what extent do the pedagogical promises of a-progressive‖ education match the actions of education administrators? Can a school or curriculum be progressive if devoid of a critical analysis of the operation of Whiteness at the root of social injustice? The first author's experience teaching an elective undergraduate course and the curriculum tension experienced by students over the lack of content on Whiteness in their core courses are examined. We analyze two different events experienced by them using solution concepts drawn from game theory, to answer the question: Is the non-disclosure of course syllabi evidence that a school has something to hide? Action-oriented efforts-and difficulties encountered-in raising consciousness about the students' need for curriculum change to address this issue are discussed. Pedagogical implications and recommendations are included for transformative practice that might support the integration of content on Whiteness in mandated social work courses.

Transforming Social Work Field Education

“…As is often the case with conversations about racism, much of the research has been descriptive of anti-racist social work education as an area of study defined by fear (Cox et al, 2021;Giwa & Mihalicz, 2019;Singh, 2019). This has served a silencing purpose whereby social work programs leave conversations about racism to the discretion of educators.…”

“…Yet, even as the silence persists, so too do incidents of racism and white supremacy in continuing to permeate all aspects of social work practice settings. This is evidenced by documented discrimination of racialized persons within health settings, education institutions, justice systems, housing and homelessness, employment opportunities, salary gaps, interactions with police, experiences of poverty, child and youth welfare systems, immigration and refugeeness, infant and adult mortality, and it is demonstrated in every social determinant of health (Fultz & Kondrat, 2019;Giwa & Mihalicz, 2019;Weinberg & Fine, 2020). Given the prevalence of racism, it is safe to assume that social workers in any field of practice, knowingly or unknowingly, encounter persons affected by racism.…”

Interracial Team Teaching in Social Work Education

“…To conceptually define anti-racism, it is necessary first to define racism. Giwa and Mihalicz (2019) offer the following definition "Racism, in its simplest sense, is the expression of racial prejudice by a White-dominant society against racial minorities based on phenotypic differences (e.g., race or skin color)" (p. 46). Other researchers propose a more elaborate way to define racism within a socio-political context that provides additional details on how racism manifests: Racism is a system of privilege, inequality, and oppression based on perceived categorical differences, value assigned to those differences, and a system of oppression that rewards and punishes people based on the assigned differences.…”