Graduation Year

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Adult, Career and Higher Education

Major Professor

J. Michael Denton, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Tonisha B. Lane, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Vonzell Agosto, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jennifer Wolgemuth, Ph.D.

Keywords

pedagogy, preparation programs, teacher experiences, undergraduate

Abstract

Race and racism have proven to be a core concept of U.S. society that impacts People of Color through a set of challenges which have created and maintained enduring racial disparities and inequities. The social work profession has a time-honored commitment to working with and advocating historically marginalized populations. Social workers work with individuals, groups, and communities to help assess needs, strengths, support networks, respond to crisis situations, and advocate for social justice. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the experiences of undergraduate social work educators (BSWEs) who teach to encourage the development of students’ knowledge, values, skills and cognitive and affective processing to engage in anti-racist social work praxis. Critical Race Theory framed the research design and the analysis for this study. The three major findings that emerged were 1) the specific strategies employed; 2) challenges faced when teaching anti-racist content; and 3) the preparation taken to engage in effective teaching of anti-racist content in undergraduate social education. This study contributes to the research on critical perspectives in social work preparation programs with implications for social work education policy and practice as well as social work curricula recommendations.

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