Group Work and Social Justice: Designing Pedagogy for Social Change

Abstract

In this article the authors explore the gap between education and action in putting the social work core value of social justice into practice. Describing how their School of Social Work has taken up this challenge, the authors analyze how a new social action course helps bridge this gap and draw on student reflection on their experiences and assignments in the course to show how students concretize and interiorize the meaning of social action and social justice. Learning by doing social action through a case study, group work becomes the vehicle through which students act on social issues and work for social change.

Keywords:

• structural social work
• social action
• social movements
• social justice
• social work education
• experiential learning
• social work ethics
• social action placements
• reframing group work in social action

INTRODUCTION

Social work associations, federations, and codes of ethics espouse a commitment to social justice. The Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Social Workers (2005) holds the pursuit of social justice as a core value whereas the Code of the National Association of Social Workers of the United States (1999) states that social workers are ethically obligated to pursue social justice. Reflecting the growing internationalization of social work, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW; 2004) defined social work as a profession that has “a responsibility to promote social justice.” This includes challenging negative discrimination, distributing resources equitably, challenging unjust policies and practices, and working in solidarity (IFSW, 2004). Furthermore, our conceptions of social justice now not only encompass structural change in our social institutions, policies, processes, and practices (Mullaly, 1997, 2006) but also have expanded to include ecological and environmental justice. In relation to our ethical obligation to pursue social and environmental justice, some social work educators have called for social work education to provide students with the foundations necessary for promoting social change (Mary, 2001; Wehbi, 2008). Nevertheless, despite social work's emphasis on social justice as a core value, social work education has generally neglected to provide future social workers with the foundational knowledge and skills needed to effectively engage in social action and social change efforts. Such education is particularly critical in our present context of neo-liberal globalization, expansion of the “free market” into the public sector, managerialism, deprofessionalization, and the deskilling of social work.

With respect to equipping social workers with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective social justice work, social work curricula are often rooted in assumptions that severely undermine student preparation for social action. The first assumption made by educators is that given an adequate generalist social work education, future social workers will automatically know how to do social action. Educators also presume that motivation based on values is sufficient to propel social workers into action. If students espouse a value commitment to social justice, then somehow they will instinctively or magically translate this into action. Furthermore, there is an assumption that people will act once they become aware of social injustice; however, we know that action does not automatically follow education or “awareness.” Therefore, social work students require a solid theoretical and conceptual foundation for engaging in social action for social change that illustrates theory and practice.

In this article, we explore the gap between education and action when it comes to putting social justice into practice and discuss how our School of Social Work, St. Thomas University, has taken up this challenge. In the context of major curriculum change in our Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program, our social work education now includes a mandatory social action placement for all students. To prepare students for this placement as well as accompany them in it, we have developed two new courses: Organizing for Action with Diverse Groups and Integration Seminar for Social Action Placements. Specifically, we offer an analysis of what has made the preparatory course on organizing for social action successful in bridging the gap between theory and practice. In both courses, we place a significant emphasis on group work as the mode through which most social action occurs inside and outside of the classroom. First, we discuss the context for the Organizing for Action with Diverse Groups course and its operation and then analyze how the gap between education and action is bridged by drawing on insights derived from student reflection on their experiences and assignments in the Organizing for Action course.

THE CONTEXT FOR CURRICULUM CHANGE

The mission statement of our School of Social Work emphasizes that the causes of much inequality and suffering in society are rooted in our social, political, and economic order. Therefore, social work practice ought to be concerned with the immediate needs of individuals and families and engaged in ways to address social issues affecting them. Our decision in 2005 to offer the BSW program only to students with an undergraduate degree precipitated a major curriculum review that provided us with an opportunity to engage in extensive critical reflection on the strengths and limitations of our program.

Congruent with our School's mission statement to promote a structural approach to social work, we had previously developed six core elements that together articulated our vision of a structural social work approach: values and ethics, foundational knowledge, critical consciousness, critical self-consciousness, community, and skills. These core elements provided a framework for us to assess the effectiveness of our curriculum, identify gaps, and address key issues. One such issue was the discrepancy that we perceived between structural theory and practice. Students had too few opportunities to put structural theory into practice and to experience what it meant to work for social justice, thus becoming effective actors for change as social workers.

Curriculum Change

As a School, we took two important steps to advance notions of collective action and solidarity. Upon entering the BSW program, all students were required to take a course in group work. Group work had been an important part of our curriculum for more than 20 years. From a structural social work perspective, the group work course helped students to normalize working together. It also prepared them for many group assignments throughout the program. Last, group work fostered the notion of community building that has been a fundamental value in the culture of our program. Building on these strengths, the group work course that had previously been optional for students now became mandatory.

The second step we took involved creating a new component to the program focused directly on facilitating social change through social action. We decided to allocate 250 hours of the BSW field placement requirement to social action. Unlike the first placement (450 hours) based on practice as individuals, this second placement would be undertaken in small groups of two to four students and organized in a project format. The course Organizing for Action with Diverse Groups would prepare students for their social action placement, and the Integration Seminar parallel to their placement would facilitate the integration of knowledge and skills and provide a space for students to share practices.

Overview of Organizing for Action Course

The course situates social action for social change in the context of progressive social movements. Beginning with an historical look at the Canadian labor movement and subsequently, the women's movement, it then moves into an examination of these movements in the present day. Students analyze the social, political, and economic contexts of these two movements, their phases and shifts, their key issues, and the strategies and actions that they employed, and currently use, to effect social change.

The framework employed to examine social movements serves as a schema for small groups of students to use in their major course assignment. This assignment requires students to undertake a case study of social action linked to a social movement. Near the end of the course, students present their case study to each other in class, and the following week, they engage the university community through a Social Action Fair held on campus (usually the university community plus social workers from the larger Fredericton community). For this assignment, students choose an issue, situate it in a social movement, analyze the strategies and actions used by the movement to effect change, participate in a current action related to the issue and connected to a social movement, and finally, prepare an action in which the public can participate. As part of their learning about social movements, students are expected to make contact with local organizations or groups in researching and planning their action initiative.

An early course assignment also fosters student reflection on where they see themselves in terms of preparedness and readiness for social action. In this assignment, we ask students to reflect on an experience of social and political involvement in light of the six core elements of the BSW program. After their experience at the Social Action Fair, we ask them to write a short individual reflection on their case study. It is from these reflections and the collective reflection that we carried out with students at the end of the course that we draw our material and analysis for this article.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

We have taught the Organizing for Action course for 4 years now to approximately 180 students, and in their feedback, students consistently express an enthusiasm for wanting to engage in further social action. To examine how and why this might be the case and some of the learning that occurs for them, we have extracted comments, with informed consent, from students' final reflection papers. We have used the six core components of our BSW program noted above as a framework to organize their comments. What follows is a qualitative thematic analysis of the key insights we perceive to be instructive in terms of advancing learning for social action when viewed through the lens of group work.

The Role of Social Movements

In terms of core preparatory knowledge, student reflections clearly show that understanding the role of social movements in effecting social change is of critical importance to their learning. Students are able to connect to the various dimensions of social action as part of a necessarily bigger picture in addressing social inequality and power structures:

I am now able to understand what is going on in social movements—the political side and the inequalities that existed and still exist. Before I would not have been able to do that, for example, in the past when I watched [the film] Harvey Milk, I would never have questioned why the gay and lesbian movement was even necessary.

Comprehending that there is a history of social struggle behind every issue helps students to situate issues in the present-day context and to locate themselves as actors in a story of many actors before them.

Issues that we are struggling with today are found in the social movements of long ago. Our past has major effects on our present society and it is so important to learn about the history that makes us what we are today—the strategies and actions that people have tried to overcome the oppression—so that we can develop a path to act and achieve our goals now.

When I think about the labour movement and other movements, I am amazed at the persistence of those seeking change. I worked for the government for a year and a half and recently discovered that my union had been renegotiating my contract based on pay equity and I understand that I am to receive a cheque shortly. After learning about all of the history surrounding the labour movement and the struggles that occurred, the cheque is of much more significance to me.

In the Organizing for Action course, students analyze the history of social movements with a view to understanding the processes at work and articulating the phases and dynamics at various stages of action. This helps students to recognize that social change is an organized process that proceeds through ebbs and flows, often over long periods of time. Similar to the roles people play in a family or group, people engaged in social action also adopt different roles at different points in time, for example, citizen, rebel, reformer, and change agent (Moyer, McAllister, Finley, & Soifer, 2001).

When viewed from the lens of group work, it becomes readily apparent that social movements comprise small and large groups of people coming together for a common cause. Although social workers are familiar with the dynamics and phases of small groups, often in the context of therapy, rarely do they extend that knowledge to large social groups or movements. In fact, Jacobson (2009), drawing on Andrews (2001) historical analysis of group work in social work, states that “social group work was a movement well before it became a field of practice and one of social work's core generic methods” (p. 179). Although group work in the context of therapy/support has been privileged in social work since the 1950s, there is a rich social group work tradition of social change oriented groups encompassing political activism, social action, community change, and participatory research (Andrews, 2001; Andrews & Reisch, 1997; Breton, 2006; Jacobson, 2009; Jacobson & Rugeley, 2007; Paquet-Deehy, Hopmeyer, Home, & Kislowiez, 1985).

Interestingly, advocates of social justice–oriented group work assert that as social work claimed professional status and the notion of professional helping, group work as a politicized strategy for social change waned whereas therapeutic group work gained ascendency with its attendant practice of professional power and control (Andrews, 2001; Andrews & Reisch, 1997; Breton, 2006; Finn, Jacobson, & Dean Campana, 2004). Nevertheless, as McNicoll (2003) documented, inspiring social justice–oriented group work examples do exist in current practice inside and outside the profession of social work. With this reflection on designing pedagogy for social change with social work students, we want to underscore the importance of small groups and small-group dynamics in social action and social change efforts as well as the indivisibility of social work and ethical-political practice.

Challenging Myths

One of the major differences between social work with small groups that have a therapeutic function and groups organized for social action concerns engagement in the political realm. Social action has political aims and impacts that many social workers often prefer to avoid. In preparing future social workers to be effective political actors, critical consciousness-raising about social work as political work becomes essential. The Organizing for Action course identifies assumptions about social action that unmask dominant conceptions that operate to prevent people from acting (Jones, Haenfler, & Johnson, 2007). Once understood, students are able to reflect on how these myths have influenced their thinking and ability to act.

It's too big, too abstract! It's too overwhelming!

At the first of the semester, social action was something that I was nervous about because I thought it was unfamiliar territory. However, this class taught me that social action and social movements are not some abstract ideal. They are actually concrete and tangible and something I can participate in, or [I can] even initiate the process.

I am more prepared to be an active citizen. I feel more confident as a social activist. I do not feel overwhelmed anymore and even if I start small, I know that I will be making a difference.

Social action is negative! It's too radical! It's only protests!

Social action is more than protesting at a big rally - there is so much more to it. I think this is one of the most valuable things that I have learned this year.

Before the social action case study I had labeled social movements as intimidating and radical in their motions towards justice. My eyes were soon opened. What I realized is that it is about marshaling all forms of help towards the eradication of the cause of an issue.

In the course, we challenge the underlying subtext that politics and the use of power are negative. Rather than a force that repels, we reframe power as a constructive energy for change that moves us toward others in solidarity with them. We encourage students to use their creativity as a positive force to engage others in their efforts to make change. In demonstrating that social action can be positive, fun, and creative, the Organizing for Action course provides an opening for students to connect with their core motivation to help people, and it does so in a way that transforms the very notion of helping. Helping is now constructed as doing social justice. This may be a key insight particular to motivating social workers to become change agents.

We were able to combine the practical, for example, handing out condoms for safer sex, with education and action about government cuts to AIDS funding. We were able to make education fun and exciting such as demonstrating how to make a huge dental dam out of condoms.

In this course, I have found elements of social action that are more comfortable for me. I wrote the short performance piece that my group did in class and at the Fair concerning perceptions of those who are sexually abused. I think that drama is a strong medium through which experiences and thoughts can be expressed in order to bring about change. … This awareness for me of drama and the use of creativity in social work greatly impacted my initial impression of social action. Previously, I had viewed it as mainly angry protests but now my scope of social action is much wider. I know that it will be much easier for me to engage in social change as I now see it with a much wider lens.

When students construct helping as doing social justice, they appear to move from “a primarily educational perception of problems [social issues] to a primarily political perception” (Breton, 1993, p. 258). In other words, they understand that educating people who are oppressed to participate and become good citizens of democracy is not enough for liberation from oppression to occur (Breton, 1993). Systems of structural social oppression must be identified and social action is thus perceived as a strategy for effecting structural and social change. In this way, social action is political action.

Learning in the Doing

In addition to providing information and support at an interpersonal level, social work groups often teach direct skills or indirectly model constructive behaviors. In preparing students to engage in social action, it is important to understand that there are a wide variety of skills required if a group is to be successful in achieving its social and political goals. For example, analytical, framing, planning, organizing, motivating, networking, communicating, and media skills are all indispensable in social action. Thus, social action group members need to understand what their strengths and skills are and how to enlist the skills of others. Just as social workers rely on “practice wisdom,” most social activists cite the knowledge gained through experience as invaluable. Our students did as well! Practice wisdom in social action requires “going out” to people as distinct from waiting for people to come to us.

During the Social Action Fair I found that people in the cafeteria were not motivated unless we went to them. It gave us a real taste of what movements experience in their efforts towards change. Throughout the Fair, the group reassessed the way we were addressing people to come forward to make their handprint on [our poster] for change. … We would not have done so well if we had not made ourselves visible in both buildings and reached out to publicly educate our university community.

I learned how to reach out to people and get them interested and excited about an issue.

On the morning of the Social Action Fair, I emailed the host from CBC Radio [public radio station] who interviewed me earlier on another matter and he announced the Fair within minutes. I learned quickly how sometimes media can work in your favour and that if you build these relationships early and maintain them, they can be there for you in the future.

It's important to speak from the heart using the knowledge you have to engage others.

I learned how to counter arguments and break through the barriers presented by your audience, for example, Oh, it's too much work to listen to such heavy issues.

It was a tremendous learning experience to confront male students who made inappropriate comments about the trafficking of women for sex. I maintained my composure and presented the issue to them from our framework and belief system.

I learned that the key is to present ‘choices’ and to formulate alternatives and solutions. My values changed as a result.

We worked hard to raise awareness about the need for breakfast programs. We quickly realized that by targeting social institutions such as school systems, we could have a larger impact. The schools were quick to find reasons for not implementing the program such as the lack of staff to operate it. However, we realized that persistence pays off. We began to recruit volunteers … We wrote to government. … We went to local stores and put “warning labels” on potato chips to make people think… . Our small group had a positive effect on whether hundreds of children eat healthfully and what adults choose to feed their children.

Groups organized for the purpose of social action focus preeminently on “doing.” The task-oriented nature of such groups can create problems when group process is overlooked in favor of getting the job done. In this regard, social action groups can learn from the dynamics of more conventional groups. For example, social action groups need to be aware of what strengths and resources members bring to the group and what skills and/or resources have to be sought from outside the group. Applied to social action, this brainstorming of “what's missing” often leads to engaging others to volunteer their time and skills. Discussion of issues such as how decisions are made and how leadership will be exercised in the group are important to resolve at the outset and evaluate continuously.

In all our courses in our BSW program, we employ a form of participatory democracy based on decision making by consensus. We consistently use rounds in class to make decisions and to ensure that the voices and perspectives of everyone are heard (The Women's Self-Help Network, 1995, p. 5). This approach is congruent with our particular vision of structural social work. The important point here is that we model in practice what we teach in the classroom. The modeling and practice of such processes are made explicit and students have a unique opportunity to experience the strengths and weaknesses of an alternative approach to participating in groups.

Moving Beyond the Comfort Zone

As students become comfortable in their learning and experience with social action, they are able to reflect on the changes going on within themselves. For many students, there appears to be an internal shift that occurs when they name their initial emotional stance and move out of their comfort zone through course assignments and experiences. This seems to result in a new self-confidence about themselves as social actors: “I broke through the fear of not knowing everything that I needed to know in order to act,” “It pushed me outside my own boundaries and comfort zone, something that I did not know I could do,” “I confronted my own fear of educating and acting through observing and learning from others at the Fair. I am less afraid to act,” “I feel better prepared to become more socially and politically involved, to educate others, and to overcome my passivity. I feel much less likely to leave it to others to take care of. I will turn my anger into something productive,” and “When you put it all together in the Fair and then do it, you come to believe in it and in your own capability.”

“In my first reflection, I touched on my feelings of hopelessness, that many individuals do not seem to care about social issues and that concrete changes do not often occur. After completing the course, I understand that hopelessness is not the way to approach social justice issues. The best motivation to act is that it will take time. That means we have to act now and continue to act until the individuals in power respond.

While reflecting on my past involvement in social action, I was unable to step outside my comfort zone to take the risk and face the consequences of my actions. I was a naïve citizen believing the ‘official’ policies. I did not realize that power holders and institutions serve special elite interests at the expense of the common good. As I became more knowledgeable, I began to think differently about social action and how to promote positive change.

The ability to move beyond fear, passivity, hopelessness, and naiveté, described above as moving out of one's comfort zone, captures a process of empowerment. As McKinlay and Ross (2008) observed:

When we feel empowered, we feel some sense of authority about our ability to make a difference. We also feel confident and appreciated for our individuality. We feel heightened self-esteem and are clear about what we are capable of and are willing to do. (p. 125)

It is important to point out that students experience this empowerment in the context of engagement with group members (and classmates) who influence and support one another through the case study and the Social Action Fair. In identifying their strengths and areas where they need to grow, they learn about themselves through the process of responding to the experiences and needs of fellow group members. This interchange is central in mutual aid (Kurland & Salmon, 2006). Furthermore, as Breton (2006) underlined, mutual aid can constitute more than an intragroup phenomenon; it has a liberating power that can extend beyond the intragroup to extragroup and intergroup solidarity. Such solidarity is vital to collective social change efforts.

The internal process that is occurring as people engage in social and political processes is an important source of knowledge. The popular saying of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see,” has particular resonance here (B'Hahn, 2001, p. 6). We become social actors by moving out of our comfort zone and paradoxically we are empowered. We learn that social action can be a positive humanizing activity and that social activists are not a unique species; each of us is capable of becoming more human by being more fully engaged.

Becoming Part of a Community

One of the core strategies for sustaining energy and commitment in social action is working with others in groups and recognizing that we are part of a larger community committed to similar values. This strategy is rooted in a philosophy and practice that has much in common with the group work tradition of the settlement movement (Breton, 2006). Accordingly, people are perceived as members of social groups and cultures affected by current social, political and economic arrangements, as social actors in changing unjust conditions, and as “active subjects rather than objects of help” engaged at the political level (Breton, 2006, p. 110). Joining with others as fellow citizens includes joining with “clients” or “service users,” recognizing that people who are oppressed have the right to participate and share in the life of the community (Breton, 1993). Working with others becomes a necessity on a personal and political level. Solidarity becomes reciprocal and mutually beneficial: “Social action is integral to social work practice. We need to form allies since it is not something you can do alone,” “Engaging in action with others gives you more energy and motivation. Being part of a group effort buoys you up and supports you in your action - you can't do it on your own,” and “I learned the importance of acting within a larger collective of people concerned about an issue.”

When engaging in what appears to be insignificant or unproductive struggles, we must keep in mind that these are the necessary and key steps to the creation of a movement's foundation. I was also amazed at the sense of collective identity that emerged from the movement – it is the heart and soul of the movement, providing people with the realization of a shared experience that enables people to endure feelings of defeat and persist. Membership mobilization and collective identity are crucial strategies for maintaining the strength of a movement.

Viewed from the perspective of the collective, students begin to critique the individualism that is so prevalent in our society and in ourselves. In our neo-liberal world that increasingly emphasizes individual responsibility and choice to the exclusion of notions of the collective and public good, we need to encourage students to think about the whole and the interconnectedness of social, political, and economic issues: “In the past I have only participated in activities that have directly impacted my life, unaware that there are many social issues that need my attention and support.”

As a citizen I do not feel as though I have been prepared for social action. Prior to this class, I had not even been sure that I had participated in social action. Overall, I felt as though I had been taught in society to stand up for issues that greatly impact my life but to hold back when they only impact others. From this program I have learned the importance of acting on social issues even if I am not directly impacted.

Last, students see that social work can build community and contribute to empowering people to stand up for their rights and use their insights into injustice to act: “My involvement in social movements is about standing up and adding your voice to the pile of voices that makes that movement stronger – it's not feeling good about yourself.”

I will encourage clients to become involved in social action; invite clients to take action for themselves and the human rights of others; get clients to take part in fighting the oppression that is systematically ingrained in our lives; and guide them to see that no matter how much control they don't have over their lives, they still have a voice they can use.

Doing Justice as a Priority

The doing of social action coupled with consistent opportunities to reflect critically on those experiences often result in a new or deepened awareness by students of why social justice is a core social work value. As articulated below, social justice becomes an internalized priority and spoken of as a kind of imperative: “If I believe that there are social injustices that exist, then I cannot turn away from them and do nothing. I feel that social work and social action are inseparable,” “As a social worker it is my moral and ethical obligation to respond not only to the immediate needs of oppressed populations but also to help alleviate the structural injustices that affect individuals so deeply,” “Social work can play a key role in social and political action to change social policy. There is a need to foster the involvement of ‘clients’ in social action.”

Social movements, social action and social work cannot and should not be separated. In order to practice fully as a structural social worker, I must be involved in some form of social action, combatting the very issues that keep individuals and groups trapped in the social structures of society that are perpetuating oppression.

As a social worker I strongly believe that we have an ethical duty to participate in social action. We cannot turn a blind eye to something that we believe is wrong. We can take inspiration from social movements and attempt to achieve justice in our society.

Without action there can be no change. … I believe in social action's potential to ignite change, which is something I did not fully believe in before completing the case study assignment. That lesson is the most valuable for me of them all.

An important shift here is the movement from seeing ethics as primarily a personal responsibility concerned with one-on-one social worker–client relations to conceiving of ethics as concerned with social justice, power, privilege and penalty. As Weinberg asserted (2010), “questions about privilege and perquisites should be fundamental parts of the social construction of ethics, not sidebars viewed as political difficulties” (p. 41). In this stance, the notion of ethics then shifts from what interactions are ethical or not to the roots of social issues (Weinberg, 2010)

In addition, students' new insights about themselves as social actors also result in new ethical concerns. As social justice becomes internalized as a value, students assume it as a responsibility and commitment: “I hope that I won't lose my motivation. I need to maintain a network among students and use a web forum to support our continuing on with social action. It's a form of self-survival.”

I am without a doubt much more prepared than I was. I am ashamed to say that it was not that I did not feel strongly about social issues but I often assumed someone else would look after it. I now feel compelled more than ever before to get involved in the things that matter to me.

I'm afraid that I will slack off and not take more action.

I hope I will not turn complacent to political forces that might work against me just because I think it might compromise my job. I am aware of this possibility though. It is possible that others do not realize that social action stays with you. It is not like a nine to five job that you leave behind at the end of the day. It's a way of life and once you truly believe in the purpose, it becomes natural to keep supporting it, to live the purpose.

Reframing Group Work

From the student reflections above, we as instructors have learned that the road from passive individual to active citizen leads through group work as a means and an end. One way to reconceptualize group work in a social work practice committed to social justice is to view it as inherent in all social work activities. Labonte (1993) provided a useful framework titled the “empowerment holosphere” (p. 68). The term holosphere connotes a particular theoretical conceptualization: holons are a whole and a part of another whole. “As holons maintain their own autonomy, they also exist in the context of interlinking relationships” (Larkin, 2005, p. 4). This framing derived from integral theory can also help to move us beyond dichotomized notions of group work as either for interpersonal growth or for social action.

Originally developed for public health workers to address the social determinants of health, Labonte's holosphere can easily be adapted for social work purposes. The holosphere identifies five components that intersect and form a continuum: personal care, small-group development, community organization, coalition building and advocacy, and political action (see Figure 1).

FIGURE 1 The empowerment holosphere (Labonte, 1993, p. 60).

Although social work activity can end at the group work stage and most often does, it can be used as the opening for greater social connection and involvement in communities, with coalitions, and in political advocacy and action. ¹ Viewing issues as “social” allows groups to critically reflect on individual effects, look at who else is affected, link to groups and communities of the affected, and make common cause through advocacy and action. As our experience in teaching the Organizing for Action course demonstrates, there is far greater potential for social justice to be realized in social work than is currently the case. Group work has the capacity to be a transformative activity when viewed from the perspective of the “whole” of social work activity and specifically, when viewed through the lens of social action.

With respect to the dichotomization of group work as either for interpersonal growth or for social action, several group work authors have challenged such binary notions. Considering our experience teaching the Organizing course, it is useful to reflect on them here. Jacobson and Rugeley (2007) noted that social justice oriented groups blur “the boundaries between the traditional, fragmenting conceptualization of micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice” (p. 26). From another vantage point, Breton (2006) argued that social change and political commitment must be integral to all our practice models and that there is a dialectical relationship between social action and personal healing (Breton, 1995). Furthermore, Cohen and Mullender (1999) found that while social action groups pursue social change goals, they also do address personal and interpersonal issues (individual and interactional content) far more than has been suggested in the literature. Certainly, feminist theory and practice has illustrated the interdependence and inseparability of personal and political growth through consciousness-raising groups and collective action for social change (Profitt, 2000). Analyzing student learning in the Organizing course, we understand that the personal and political—the self and the social—are an integral part of the whole in the process of change.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Reflecting on student learning from the Organizing for Action course, we believe that social work education that provides future social workers with opportunities to undertake social action in a social movement context constitutes an effective pedagogy by reinforcing learning by doing. The case study format gives students a space in which to exercise the multiple skills needed for organizing such as creative, analytical, planning, and engagement skills. Working in small groups to do research, make contacts with local organizations, and design actions that they and others will carry out in the public sphere offers students a rich opportunity to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of social justice work. Students internalize a notion of acting for change that surpasses the individual social worker–client relationship and extends into the realm of social justice.

In learning about the process of creating social change, students work in small groups and come to recognize groups as essential in community organizing and social action. Group work becomes the means to work for change and to act on social issues of concern to them and others. Thus, group work helps students to concretely take stands for human rights and equity and find their own place as citizens and social workers in struggles for social justice. Through group work in the case study assignment, students experience the shift from knowing into acting into being in an embodied way. In other words, they concretize and interiorize the meaning of social action and can then translate that into practice in their own communities as social worker and citizen.

From our experience teaching this course, we have learned that bridging the gap between education and action has to be an explicit goal and a consciously planned process on the part of social work educators. As educators, we must provide students with a strong theoretical political framework for social change that translates theory into action if we are to claim an ethical commitment to social justice. We must provide the modus operandi for taking action and group work can provide that vehicle when reframed as “social” and “political” work.

Notes

1. Labonte (1993) cautioned: “There is a grave risk in not pushing into other spheres in the Empowerment Holosphere. Our experiences of empowering/empowerment (for our clients/ourselves) at the interpersonal and intragroup levels of society, levels where empowerment is experienced in a very essential way, may render us complacent to the more difficult processes of working politically to challenge structural power relations. Certainly, our bureaucratic places of practice often support such complacency. One can see this is the attention being given to concepts such as self-esteem, social networks and social support. Improved self-esteem, social support and self-help may be promoted as solutions to long standing health inequities, as immediately empowering experiences that nonetheless mask political motivations to reduce social service or health service expenditures.” (p. 60).