Preparing Social Work Faculty to Teach Financial Capability: Where We Stand

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from a national online survey of social work faculty (N = 1,039) that examines financial and economic content in the current curriculum, gaps in coverage, and strategies for improving social workers’ academic preparation to work with populations living in extremely financially vulnerable circumstances. We sent the survey to all full- and part-time social work faculty listed on social work degree program websites. We find that nearly all respondents (92%) perceive financial and economic content as useful for their students. However, just more than half (54%) teach it. Faculty with some financial education, and who perceive it to be useful, are more likely to include financial content in the curriculum. Social work faculty are most likely to teach about financial-related public policies and programs, and least likely to teach about financial products and services, and financial management and practice. This article discusses implications for social work research and education, including the importance of rigorous research to understand the gap between coverage and perceived usefulness of financial and economic content. It concludes with suggestions for including more financial and economic content in the curriculum.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ For example, University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Social Work has a Financial Social Work certificate program. More information can be found at https://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/cpe/certificate-programs/financial-social-work-certificate-program/.

² Minority serving institutions include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).

³ The Council on Social Work Education (2017b) reported in its 2016 annual survey that there were 13,503 faculty in social work degree programs (5,793 full-time and 7,793 part-time), however, there is no comprehensive list of social work faculty in the United States.

⁴ “Financial and economic” content, rather than only “financial” content, was used because of overlap and possible confusion about the differences. Some items addressed broad issues that might be interpreted as economic (e.g., how race and class affect financial well-being); other items referred to narrow financial issues (e.g., bank products, taxes, identify theft); and other questions focused on practice, that could be understood as either economic or financial (e.g., having money conversations).

⁵ We used a conservative approach in assessing usefulness, excluding the slightly useful response category, because such classifications may provide a stronger justification for teaching financial and economic content than the responses of faculty who deem those topics to be only slightly useful.

⁶ In multivariate analyses, we combine Hispanic (4%), Asian American (5%), American Indian/Native American (1%), and members of multiple or other races (4%) into one group.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

Notes on contributors

Jin Huang

Jin Huang, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Saint Louis University and an Associate Research Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Margaret Sherraden

Margaret Sherraden, PhD, AM, is a Research Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

Lissa Johnson

Lissa Johnson, MSW, LCSW, is Associate Director of Center for Social Development, Co-Director of Financial Capability and Asset Building Initiative, and Adjunct Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Julie Birkenmaier

Julie Birkenmaier, PhD, MSW, LCSW, is a Professor of Social Work at Saint Louis University.

Vernon Loke

Vernon Loke, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean at Eastern Washington University.

Sally Hageman

Sally Hageman, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor of Social Work with the Sociology, Social Work and Criminology Department at Idaho State University.