Teaching Community Organizing in a BSW Curriculum

Abstract

The article describes a community organizing course that was as dynamic as community organizing itself. By employing a combination of teaching approaches, community organizing philosophy, and pedagogical and andragogical techniques for student training, the course challenged students to discover their beliefs and the role of the community and the community organizer in promoting social change. Though focused on the community organizing course, the article offers insight into the broader potential of the teaching approach for social work educators.

Keywords:

• community organizing
• social work education in regions of conflict
• mixed teaching methods

Notes

¹ All of the public colleges that were established in Israel originally were linked to university academic departments, eventually receiving autonomy from the Committee for Higher Education in Israel.