Decolonizing School Social Work Practice: The Delicate Dance Around Power, Privilege and Oppression

ABSTRACT

School social work is a specialized area of clinical social work practice. Like any aspect of social work, it can be: at its best, used to support and uplift students, families and communities; and at its worst, used to oppress children, youth and their caregivers in both obvious and tacit ways. School social workers need to develop critical consciousness and think critically about their positionality within these institutions, as they have a voice and role in shaping social justice and well-being in schools. This paper reflects upon the notion of decolonization and its meanings within elementary and secondary school contexts, particularly as it relates to students from minoritized groups and cultures. I examine the ways in which school social workers may be drawn into becoming complicit in dominant ideas about academic achievement, behaviors and development, based on my own experiences as a racialized person working in predominantly white spaces. Using the metaphor of a dance, school-based relationships are highlighted as a means to disrupt the systemic structures that are designed to maintain the status quo.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonization
• school social work
• racism
• clinical social work practice
• social justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I use the term “racialized” here to reflect the notion that people of color are most usually subject to the social processes and often negative assumptions involved with being categorized by their race (Process of racialization, n.d.).

2 Dr. Nakash is the Director of the Smith College School for Social Work doctoral program, and is one of the co-editors of this special issue.