Social work the ‘white way’: Helping white students self-reflect on a culture of whiteness in the classroom and beyond

ABSTRACT

The continued dominance and perpetuation of white supremacy has created the need for the profession of social work to teach white students how to identity and to understand how a culture of ‘whiteness’ influences their interactions in the classroom and beyond. As the National Association of Social Workers, British Association of Social Workers, The South African Council for Social Service Professions, and the Australian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics calls on social workers to promote social justice and to end racial discrimination in society, social work educators must learn how to help white students critically reflect in social work classrooms in order to fulfill this professional mandate. Guided by critical race theory, cultural humility, and intergroup contact theory, the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Matrix provides a useful framework for understanding how to assist white students in this lifelong journey towards a social work career rooted in anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and anti-colonial practice. Specific recommendations are provided on how to create this type of classroom with white students that moves away from colorblindness, microagressions, disconnection, and mistrust towards a classroom environment focused on neurodecolonization and unfreezing the body, trust, and connection.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work education
• hegemony
• whiteness
• microaggressions
• reflective practice
• white fragility
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) matrix
• anti-colonial practice
• anti-oppressive practice
• decolonization
• neurodecolonization

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Justin Evan Lerner

Justin Evan Lerner is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work. Lerner teaches courses on social justice and equity as well as anti-oppressive clinical classes focused on working with individuals, families, and groups. He has co-authored several articles on social justice for transgender people and on creating a social justice agenda in the classroom. Additionally, Lerner works in a social justice group therapy practice that focuses on providing anti-oppressive counseling that creates healing and resilience.