ERIC Number: EJ1464436
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0884-1233
EISSN: EISSN-1540-7349
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Out of Balance: Moving beyond Anti-Racist & Anti-Oppressive Education
Jordan the Social Worker1
Journal of Teaching in Social Work, v45 n2 p216-232 2025
Debates over the nature of social work education are not new. What is new, however, comes from the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) injection of critical pedagogy into social work education through "anti-racist" and "anti-oppressive" competencies laid out in the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). As a result, social work classrooms have become dedicated to fostering moral directives at the cost of practical skills. Students' hard-earned money is now thrown away as they sit through lessons of stereotyped, pessimistic "moral education" rooted in "luxury beliefs," leaving them unprepared for the complexities of practice and failing thousands of clients across the United States in the process. I speak from experience: I am part of the first cohort of MSW students educated under the new 2022 EPAS framework. Indeed, I neither close my eyes to the grave realities and suffering associated with social disadvantage, nor do I deny the enduring realities of racial difference in the United States. However, I hope this paper illuminates how my MSW education was hollowed out at a state university. I also offer several recommendations to rebalance anti-racist and anti-oppressive education, grounding future training in principles of cognitive liberty, adversarial collaboration, and substantive tolerance.
Descriptors: Racism, Social Justice, Social Work, Values Education, Graduate Students, Masters Programs, Social Bias, Course Content, Curriculum, Social Problems, Power Structure, Civil Rights, Language Usage
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Social Work, A State University, USA