Not one of us is without bias : identifying and challenging racism and homophobia
Furlong, Mark and Mansel-Lee, Virginia 2006, Not one of us is without bias : identifying and challenging racism and homophobia, Advances in social work and welfare education, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 38-54.
Australian Association for Social Work and Welfare Education
Place of publication
Sydney, N. S. W.
Publication date
2006
ISSN
1329-0584
Summary
This article reviews a teaching process that aimed to prepare final year social work students for critical practice with diverse and marginalized populations. Alongside lecture input, in small group discussions and in the two sequenced written assignments students were encouraged to personalize questions of bias and stigma by recalling both their experiences of being “other-ed” as well as their participation in practices that “other-ed”, such as racist and homophobic imaging and acting. Feedback to the unit’s first iteration in 2004 was generally positive yet a significant minority of students were clearly dissatisfied. Whilst retaining the same formal content in 2005, greater attention was devoted to generating a supportive group process and a positive environment for “negative” self-disclosure. This milieu acted to contain and normalize the students’ struggle with internalized stereotypes, a stage associated with their greater preparedness to identify and challenge their own personal, cultural and ideological locations. Within the context of the unit remaining explicit about its value stance, by adopting an approach to the teaching / learning process that neither collided nor colluded, as teachers we believe the 2005 revision better achieved the units aims. First, the unit received broader positive appraisal from students and, second, it appeared that the unit more firmly promoted the prospects for students carrying forward a capacity for critical self review post graduation.
Language
eng
Field of Research
169999 - Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified
Socio Economic Objective
970116 - Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society
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