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Strengthening critical allyship in social work education : Opportunities in the context of #BlackLivesMatter and COVID-19 Gates, Trevor G.; Bennett, Bindi; Baines, Donna, 1960-

Abstract

COVID-19 has shifted social work education and widened the gaps in services for historically marginalised communities, including people of diverse cultural, sexual and gender identities and social classes. Existing inequities based on cultural differences have been magnified, perhaps most recently evident in George Floyd's slaying and the subsequent #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations across the globe. Learning to be an ally for diverse communities and working towards the betterment of all people is a goal of social work education. We argue that simple allyship is not enough given the structural inequities present in North America and Australia the civil unrest amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Social work education's focus should trend towards allegiance with disadvantaged communities or critical allyship and include a commitment to undertake decisive actions to redress the entrenched colonial, capitalist, systemic and structural inequities that oppress many and provide unearned privilege and advantage to others. We explore strategies used in classrooms to promote allegiance and make recommendations for social work education, policy, and practice in this time of change.

Item Metadata

Title
Strengthening critical allyship in social work education : Opportunities in the context of #BlackLivesMatter and COVID-19
Creator
Gates, Trevor G.; Bennett, Bindi; Baines, Donna, 1960-
Date Issued
2021-09-02
Description
COVID-19 has shifted social work education and widened the gaps in services for historically marginalised communities, including people of diverse cultural, sexual and gender identities and social classes. Existing inequities based on cultural differences have been magnified, perhaps most recently evident in George Floyd's slaying and the subsequent #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations across the globe. Learning to be an ally for diverse communities and working towards the betterment of all people is a goal of social work education. We argue that simple allyship is not enough given the structural inequities present in North America and Australia the civil unrest amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Social work education's focus should trend towards allegiance with disadvantaged communities or critical allyship and include a commitment to undertake decisive actions to redress the entrenched colonial, capitalist, systemic and structural inequities that oppress many and provide unearned privilege and advantage to others. We explore strategies used in classrooms to promote allegiance and make recommendations for social work education, policy, and practice in this time of change.
Subject
#BlackLivesMatter; allyship; allegiance; cultural responsiveness; cultural competency; cultural diversity
Genre
Article; Postprint
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2023-08-18
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0435492
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85533
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Non UBC; Social Work, School of
Citation
Trevor G. Gates, Bindi Bennett & Donna Baines (2021) Strengthening critical allyship in social work education: opportunities in the context of #BlackLivesMatter and COVID-19, Social Work Education, 42:3, 371-387
Publisher DOI
10.1080/02615479.2021.1972961.
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Rights

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International