Advancing critical race pedagogical approaches in social work education

ABSTRACT

The recent COVID-19 pandemic drew a sharp focus on existing inequities for racialized communities in Canada and globally. A paucity of research-informed transformative learning models in social work has resulted in the persistent centering of Western ways of knowing. Current efforts do not adequately address the nuances of systemic and structural racial inequities, leaving students unprepared to deal with these issues in the classroom and in practice. We propose critical race pedagogy as an essential framework to promote and enrich social work learning environments where students can engage in courageous conversations about race, racism, power and oppression.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical race theory
• critical race pedagogy
• liberatory pedagogy
• social work education
• anti-racism

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Ebenezer Belayneh for contributing to the literature review and Ebony Morris for reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

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

Prior publications

This paper has not been published online or in print and is not under consideration elsewhere.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was provided by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary