Revitalizing Social Work Education Using the Arts

ABSTRACT

Social work education has increasingly used small groups and the arts as a strategy to enhance learning and teaching, raise critical consciousness in terms of self, and inspire social justice. This study highlights the use of creative and expressive arts, within groups, in undergraduate social work education. Global Well-Being, Encounters in Human Diversity, and Grief and Bereavement in a Diverse World are the three courses whose assignments were examined. Results reveal the effectiveness of using expressive and creative arts in teaching social justice issues, self-awareness, and transformation. Implications for teaching, practice, and research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Experiential education
• expressive arts
• group work
• social work education