Assembling Pieces in the Diversity Puzzle

Abstract

Schools of social work have long struggled with issues of diversity and how best to train students to work effectively with diverse populations. This article offers a model that infuses multicultural content into the field curriculum and enhances faculty diversity. It describes how diversity has become one of the major objectives of one school's field practice seminars through three unique features: (1) the pairing of community facilitators with faculty facilitators to increase instructors' awareness of diversity, (2) the use of ongoing workshops to train facilitators to address issues of diversity, and (3) the conscious inclusion of diversity content in the seminar curriculum through a variety of methods. This article describes the initiative, its development and key features, evaluation methods, and implications for its adoption at other schools of social work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gail Walters

A version of this article was presented at the Council on Social Work Education's Annual Program Meeting, March 1997, Chicago.