Photovoice as a Pedagogical Tool: Exploring Personal and Professional Values with Female Muslim Social Work Students in an Intercultural Classroom Setting

ABSTRACT

This article explores a classroom project in which we used photovoice as a pedagogical tool to enhance personal and professional self-awareness among female, Muslim, social work students in an intercultural classroom setting located in the Arabian Gulf. We begin with an overview and discussion of arts-based approaches to education and then provide examples from the literature on the use of photovoice in the classroom. Next, we discuss the necessity for self-awareness and self-reflection of personal and professional values in the social work classroom. We then provide details of our photovoice classroom project, which can be replicated by social work educators. Finally, we present examples of the class project, with a discussion and reflection on the process. We end the article with implications for social work pedagogy and a brief discussion of the use of photovoice for other applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural classroom setting
• pedagogy
• photovoice
• self-awareness
• social work

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the social work students at United Arab Emirates University who enthusiastically participated in our photovoice class project. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their feedback, which strengthened the article considerably.