Contract grading provides graduate-level students with greater control and autonomy within the learning process. The contract grading approach requires students to take greater responsibility for achieving course learning outcomes as well as allowing learners to adjust the style and focus of assignments to meet their own unique needs and desires.…

Self-care is receiving increased emphasis in the NASW Code of Ethics, and while social work programs may teach about self-care, it has yet to be embedded in the curriculum. This paper examines the idea of self-care being taught using an embodied framework and integrated throughout social work education programs. Research examining social work…

Social work students are required to take research methods courses because research-informed practice and practice-informed research are essential to professional practice. However, these students are often reluctant to take a research course and can be difficult to engage in the classroom. We used a mixed methods survey-based design to evaluate…

Social work pedagogy recognizes the educational value of experiential learning for the professional development of social workers, with a particularly rich experiential learning literature related to clinical work and field education. This study evaluates an experiential learning activity for large undergraduate courses in another area: social…

This paper uses a modest finding from a research study as a window into the world of social work education in Scotland. The study demonstrated that students believed by their classmates to be most dominant (white, straight men) were in fact the most reluctant to speak out. This finding is woven into an examination of a social work pedagogy…

While psychoanalysis played an important role in social work practice and education as far back as the 1920's, the period from the 1960s through the 1990s led to its diminishing presence. We believe incorporating psychoanalytic theory into social work education is now necessary to prepare students for contemporary direct practice and should be a…

Cultural competence and cultural humility dominate discourses on practice across difference within social work and other helping professions. Despite their prominence, they remain contested constructs, thoroughly critiqued within the literature, and fall short in providing guidelines for intersectional practice across myriad differences. This…

Sexuality is an integral part of human behavior throughout the lifespan, with sexual health and well-being having an important impact on overall health and well-being, including increased life satisfaction and improved quality of relationships. As such, social workers encounter issues related to sexuality in all aspects of practice. However, very…

Technological innovations present new pedagogical opportunities. The use of technology in the classroom may provide an opportunity for social work programs to engage students in a better understanding of policy practice, to get their voice heard on the issues, and to feel empowered about social change at the macro level. This article will discuss…

This paper discusses the utilization of a cultural humility model to educate social work students in understanding the importance of diversity, power, privilege, oppression, marginalization and social and economic justice in an increasingly diverse society. Social work programs are required to teach students to effectively engage a diversity of…

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on people's professional and personal lives is ongoing. The transition to remote teaching has particularly affected social work education due to its experiential methods incorporating a direct experience whereby students "learn by doing." This study examined the impact of the global pandemic and the…

COVID-19 caused massive disruption in education, with most programs shifting abruptly to online instruction. This study, employing a descriptive analytical approach, examined the retrospective and current (fall 2022) perceptions and preferences of undergraduate and graduate social work students, as well as faculty/staff, regarding online classroom…

Social work education fully endorses experiential learning through its field placement component, while experiential teaching methods are only somewhat used in the classroom. This article outlines the utility of action-based mutual aid processes in teaching social work. Three experiential sociometric group tools are presented with their…

Although pedagogical fundamentals of teaching with technology appear in the literature, the use of podcasting in the classroom is primarily documented outside of social work education. This study explored outcomes of an assignment in which students create podcasts meant for consumption by people besides the instructor. The authors theorized that…

In today's society, it is of utmost importance to deliver services with compassion, understanding, and cultural competence. Students' awareness of personal cultural backgrounds, issues, and biases is essential to enhance their ability to serve others, particularly marginalized populations. This study demonstrates how students understood the impact…