Cross-cultural student assessment: Issues facing white teachers and black students

Abstract

This article sets out to discuss some issues facing white teachers and black students when assessments are made at the selection and final evaluation stages of social work courses. The context of this discussion is concern about the need for more black social workers and current black disaffection with mainstream social work education. Three central concerns are raised for discussion, namely that of white selectors and black applicants at selection interviews; different conceptions of the social work role; conceptual and linguistic competence.

It is argued that the process of making these judgments is one of tension for white teachers and wariness for black students, and these are as much a source of concern as the actual nature of the judgments made.