Teaching in Social Work, 2nd ed. by Jeane W. Anastas (preface)

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

the “practice wisdom” of today’s social work educators with current theories and knowledge about students’ learning and effective teaching methods. It is designed for newcomers to teaching in social work, for those who want to refresh their approach to their work, and for those in social work doctoral programs and educational administration who want to enhance their students’ education. The book, which grew out of teaching aspiring social work educators, summarizes the existing literature on teaching and learning in social work. It also draws selectively on the literature in the field of higher education to show how what has been learned about effective teaching in general can be applied to social work education specifically. However, the literature on teaching in higher education is typically addressed to teaching in the academic disciplines and not in the professions.

Thus, we must consider how this knowledge can best be applied to social work education, whose goal of nurturing student growth must be combined with ensuring that graduates will be effective and ethical service providers.

In some ways, I have tried to write the book I wished I had when I began to teach students and then to teach the teachers.

Like all dynamic institutions, higher education and social work education have evolved rapidly since the first edition of this book was published in 2010. Social work education remains a growing enterprise in the United States and globally. BSW and MSW education both continue to grow. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) reports that enrollments in BSW programs have increased over 12 percent in the past ten years and the number of accredited BSW programs has increased about 16 percent. MSW enrollments have increased more than 35 percent in the past ten years, while the number of accredited MSW programs has increased about 50 percent.

As in higher education generally, the number of “contingent” or contract

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faculty (full-time faculty members who are not eligible for tenure but are employed on time-limited contracts) teaching in social work programs has grown. More and more courses in BSW (33 percent) and MSW (45 percent) programs are taught by part-time or adjunct faculty (CSWE 2020).

It has been more than ten years since the first edition of this book was published. In preparing this new edition, I have reviewed the literature on teaching and learning in social work with the same parameters used in the previous edition. Well-known and well-regarded books from the general higher education literature published since then have also been used.

However, I cannot claim to have exhaustively searched the vast literature on teaching and learning in higher education as a whole as I did when it came to the social work education literature.

Because of ongoing changes in social work education, much of the content of this edition has been changed. First, field education is now termed the “signature pedagogy” of the profession, so there are now many excellent books and new articles on the topic. In addition, it is hard to fully cover the topic in any one chapter, so the previous chapter on field instruction has been removed, and recommended resources for learning more about it have been provided at the end of chapter 3. However, education in the field context is touched on briefly in other chapters as needed.

As of 2019, the use of educational technology in social work education had grown and changed. Almost half of BSW programs (47 percent) and 62 percent of MSW programs were hybrid, meaning that at least some of their curriculum was offered online (CSWE 2020). CSWE now accredits BSW and MSW programs that are wholly online. Many colleges and universities went to partial or wholly online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many predict that this move will only increase the use of online classes in the future. Therefore, the previous chapter on technology in social work education has been replaced by one devoted to online teaching and learning (chapter 7). In the face of the pandemic, I like so many others have begun teaching online. Prior to that, I took an asynchronous online course in philosophy to experience firsthand what it was like for students to learn in this way. I also developed online modules in my courses and in some circumstances had students participate remotely in a face-to-face class. My own experiences and the growing literature on online teaching in social work inform discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of online learning.

Another aspect of social work education that has changed dramatically since the first edition is a greater emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. New concepts include critical race theory, racism, antiracism,

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whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy. Cultural competence is no longer the only framework used for understanding issues of difference; an added concept is cultural humility. Addressing power and oppression and/or addressing antioppressive practices more generally has also become part of how many schools and departments of social work orient their thinking and teaching. These new theories and concepts will be explicated in chapter 4 along with more familiar ideas like cultural competence.

Race and ethnicity have received the most attention in higher education and social work education, but, as in the first edition, other dimensions of diversity will also be discussed. In chapter 4, the section on older students, now a commonly accepted group, has been replaced by attention to international students, whose numbers have been increasing in social work. There is now a greater understanding of the particular challenges international students face while studying social work in the United States.

In higher education and in social work education, calls for accountability through documenting learning outcomes and the quality of teaching have increased. Therefore, this second edition divides the previous chapter on assessing learning and teaching into two separate ones: assessing learning (chapter 5) and assessing teaching (chapter 6). There have been significant changes in the assessment of student learning, as in the new emphasis in CSWE’s accreditation standards on assessing student competencies, both those required of all students and those defined by the program’s own goals and objectives. New technologies for student assessment, such as the use of standardized clients, have been developed as well. Some critiques of this outcomes approach will also be briefly described.

Outcomes-based evaluation of student learning is an increasing component of both regional and professional accreditation. In recent sets of accreditation standards for both BSW and MSW programs (CSWE 2008, 2015), the evaluation of student learning outcomes is required, as is making the results of program assessments available on program websites. On a daily basis, often one of the most worrisome tasks facing a beginning teacher is evaluating students’ learning, generally expressed as grading. In addition, the gatekeeping function of social work education typically competes with the helping impulse that faculty feel toward students. The premise of chapter 5 is that student assessments provide important opportunities for learning beyond what happens each day in the classroom, and examples of ways to assess learning are presented.

Chapter 6 considers how faculty are evaluated in their teaching by students and others. This chapter considers common evaluation techniques, such as

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student satisfaction surveys, along with other techniques. It also covers resources that faculty members can use for both evaluating and improving their own performance in the classroom. However, as suggested by the shorter length of this chapter, less has changed in how teaching is assessed, perhaps because in many settings one’s performance in teaching can be less salient than it once was.

Some topics in the book have not changed. The framework provided in chapter 1 for understanding teaching and learning in social work education remains relevant and continues to inform my conceptual approach to understanding social work education. In addition, the need to understand both learning (chapter 2) and modes of teaching (chapter 3) remains; these chapters have been updated. Since the first edition, the two leading social work education journals have published many more articles on how students learn and how best to teach; many of them, however, address how to teach specific content matter such as research, social policy, or clinical practice.

The chapters on learning and teaching will not include all such articles but incorporate the new scholarship on each chapter’s topic in general.

Whatever the context, learning in the end is a personal enterprise, and any significant educational experience is always, to some extent, transformative for the learner. Chapter 2 compares some of the major theories commonly used in thinking about how students in higher education learn; these theories emphasize that social work education is adult education. It also takes the position that our teaching should be aimed at helping students think in more complex and nuanced ways. Learning styles are important not only for what they say about variations in student learning but also in informing inclusive and effective teaching styles. In fact, enabling students to use a wider range of ways of knowing and styles of learning is itself an important educational outcome.

Chapter 3 considers the range of teaching modalities that can be used in social work education. Social work education, like other forms of professional education, addresses knowledge, values, and skills. Teaching social work includes not only classroom instruction but also field instruction and advising. In addition, I describe the advantages and disadvantages of classroom teaching techniques such as lecturing, leading discussions, using group and individual projects, and coaching and mentoring, with an emphasis on the teacher’s ability to expand his or her repertoire of teaching techniques and to match the teaching modality to content and to students’ learning goals and styles.

Many ethical dilemmas can arise in teaching and the academic setting, and the book still includes a chapter on academic ethics, addressing both

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the “shoulds” and “should nots” for both teachers and students. Chapter 9 covers these ethical issues in depth as they apply to both students and teachers.

All professions are characterized by ethical commitments. In social work in the United States, the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (2018), designed for practitioners, is the one most often named by social work programs for students to follow. It has provisions specifically addressed to training and teaching, as well as other issues, such as dual relationships, that can arise in academia as well as in practice.

While the NASW Code of Ethics provides useful guidance, specific codes relating to academic ethics are also considered. Many believe there may be more problems with academic ethics in online education, and these issues are also covered.

As in all areas of professional ethics, awareness of the issues and of common pitfalls and dilemmas provides the best safeguard against ethical problems, and the chapter tries to alert teachers to potential problems and common ways of preventing or resolving them. Its placement toward the end of the book does not reflect its lack of importance; rather, it seemed better to describe all the major aspects of faculty work first—including those related to student assessment, teaching, and scholarship—in order to understand the many aspects of faculty work that have important ethical dimensions.

Chapter 8 on faculty work also remains because many readers of this book are beginning a career in social work education. Given the many and far-reaching missions of institutions of higher education in today’s society, demands on faculty time and standards of excellence in job performance are limitless (Kennedy 1997). Chapter 8 describes what faculty in social work education do, including classroom preparation, student advising and mentoring, committee work and other departmental and institutional service, professional and community service, and the scholarly work that is necessary to keep one’s job and enrich one’s teaching. All make demands on a faculty member’s time.

Building on this analysis of faculty work, the chapter summarizes what is known about those who are already employed in social work education.

New data on the job market are presented to help in career planning, and the special obstacles that race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other issues of difference may present to career development are discussed.

Since the first edition was published, I have undertaken two surveys of doctoral students in social work, and relevant data from these surveys, such

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as what new doctoral graduates may be looking for in an academic job, have been incorporated into the chapter where relevant. In addition, the competition for full-time jobs in social work education has become more intense, especially on the coasts and at highly ranked schools of social work, and the requirements for earning tenure in these settings have also become more demanding. As in higher education more generally, the growth in non-tenure-eligible full-time positions in social work has exceeded that of tenure-eligible and tenured positions. Understanding the varying nature of jobs in social work education is even more essential now, given the range options available.

Chapter 10, the concluding chapter, summarizes some main points of the book and suggests areas in which social work education could benefit from further study and development. However, much of the future of social work education will be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, as well as by what happens in politics going forward. I do not consider myself to be an expert in either area, so what is said in the chapter must be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.

LIMITATIONS Some important areas are not covered in this book. Continuing education—education and training that takes place after a professional degree is awarded—is an area important to the profession that is not addressed here.

As in such professions as medicine and nursing, many states require continuing education credits for relicensing in social work. Accreditation standards require that students conduct themselves as social workers, which includes “engag[ing] in lifelong learning” (CSWE 2015). Schools and departments of social work (and other professional and service-delivery organizations) often offer continuing education courses, sometimes including certificate programs, to graduate practitioners and field instructors, as well as development opportunities for their own faculty and/or adjunct and full-time teachers. This is a topic that merits its own discussion and analysis.

Another area not covered is international or global education in social work, which is being emphasized in higher education generally and in social work education specifically (see, e.g., Abram and Cruce 2007; Askeland and Payne 2006; Drucker 2003). More and more U.S. social work students are going abroad for some portion of their studies, and many schools and departments of social work have relationships with service programs

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and social work education programs internationally. There are both uncritical (“export”) and critical (e.g., “reverse mission” and anticolonial) models for this work, meaning that global education deserves attention and continuing scholarship. The omission of the topic here does not reflect a lack of interest or importance but, rather, my lack of specialized knowledge and experience in this area.

An emerging concern has been decolonizing social work education (Tamburro, 2013; Gray, Coates, Yellow Bird, M. and Hetherington, 2016).

Growing attention is being paid to the white Western European basis of social work education, along with higher education as a whole. Antioppressive and antiracist models of practice call this epistemic orientation into question. Some information on how these conceptualizations are changing approaches to teaching and learning about diversity in social work education is given in chapter 4.

The critique of social work education as being a product of neoliberalism is also worth exploring (Heron 2019). Neoliberalism is the dominant economic and social philosophy internationally, and it affects social work and social work education, leading to the fragmentation and privatization of social services, decreased public funding for higher education, and the growth of for-profit educational and service-delivery institutions. Neoliberalism also underlies the emphasis on outcomes and sees higher education as designed primarily to prepare students for employment. This topic has not been discussed much in the U.S. social work education literature, although it has been in Anglophone nations where antioppressive practice is the norm.

Interdisciplinary practice is becoming more common in social work as the health-care system has been moving toward the integration of health and behavioral-health care. Interdisciplinary practice has long been common in health care and school social work, and many are concerned that social work education has not prepared graduates with the skills needed to optimize client outcomes and for effective teamwork, which has its own set of skills. Those who are interested will find content on this topic in the recent social work education literature.

Perhaps the most important limitation of this volume is that it surveys many topics rather than dealing in depth with one or two of them. For example, whole books have been written about online education (chapter 7).

Similarly, chapter 8 covers common job responsibilities for full-time faculty, some features of the tenure process, and a bit about searching for faculty jobs. Entire books have also been written on the academic job search,

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although not specific to social work. The hope is that the information in this book will entice readers to learn more about specific topics of interest to them from the books and articles in the reference list and on their own.

By the time any book is published, it is inevitably dated in some respects.

Nevertheless, my aim in this new edition is to make this book a more timely and useful resource for beginning social work educators as well as for those interested in refreshing and renewing their educational endeavors.

Along with higher education, the social work profession itself continues to evolve and change, and discussion of how these changes may, should, or should not drive changes in social work education is also beyond the scope of this book. Social work educators of the future must craft creative new ways of meeting these challenges and bringing out the best in our students. Only in this way can we ensure that those who need social work services now will get the excellent service they deserve. However, it is my hope that readers will find in this volume information that will help them begin, renew, or foster in others an effective and fulfilling approach to being a social work educator.

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his book is a comprehensive survey of the theories, principles, methods, and formats that are most appropriate and applicable to teaching in the field of social work. Drawing from her extensive classroom and field experience, the renowned social work researcher and educator Jeane W. Anastas merges “practice wisdom” with rigorous research on instruction and learning, identifying the factors that produce effective educational outcomes.

Teaching in Social Work examines the effect of social issues, professional norms and needs, and educational settings on the interactions among educators, students, and subjects. This second edition is thoroughly updated to reflect the many important developments in the years since the book’s original publication, including new accreditation standards, the rise of online instruction, changes in higher-education hiring practices, and more.

“Anastas has written the complete guide to teaching in social work education. With numerous practical tips for teaching and learning, Teaching in Social Work is filled with everything you will need to know, from understanding learning styles to assessment tools and different methods for effective pedagogy. The coverage on diversity, equity, and inclusion in learning makes the book a timely source for building an inclusive classroom.”

—C Y N TH IA F R A N K L IN , editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Social Work “Teaching in Social Work provides a highly intelligent, up-to-date synthesis of social work theory, practice, and trends, plus selected insights from andragogy. Anastas’s organization of this material within a ‘teaching-and-learning-in-environment’ framework remains an important and original contribution to social work education. A true tour de force.”

—EDWINA S . U E HA R A , dean of the University of Washington School of Social Work “In this second edition, Anastas takes a rigorous and refreshing approach to advancing critical thinking and applications about the content, process, and impact of teaching in the social work profession. Teaching in Social Work contributes immensely to the reader’s understanding and implementation of the critical issues of understanding and assessing student learning outcomes and teaching effectiveness.”

—DARREL L WHE E L E R , Iona College “Teaching in Social Work is an essential text for social work educators. Anastas describes well the unique considerations in the practice of social work education that are not addressed in other texts.”

—L AN C E P E TE R S ON , University of St. Thomas

J E A N E W. AN AS TAS is professor emerita at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work.

She is a recipient of the Council on Social Work Education’s award for Greatest Recent Contribution to Social Work Education and is past president of the National Association of Social Workers. Her books include Doctoral Education in Social Work (2012).

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW YORK cu p .colum b i a. e d u Printed in the U.S.A.