Equity Case Studies Report - School of Social Work - University of ...

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UBC school of social work equity and diversity strategic plan: A compilation of case studies 17 support students in their academic, professional, and personal growth. Moreover, “effectively addressing content related to diversity and difference implies self-examination and selfawareness. Such learning can be emotionally and personally challenging: dealing with the affective as well as the cognitive components of learning is a key aspect of pedagogical practice” (MacDonald et al., 2003, p. 481). Strategies that the School has addressed as important include “incorporating relevant questions into program reviews, by structuring formal and informal times to analyze critically [their] pedagogical practices, and by involving students in more effective formative evaluations of pedagogy” (MacDonald et al., 2003, p. 481). The School of Social Work at Dalhousie University has put much time, energy, and efforts into fully embedding a social justice lens within their pedagogical practice. Challenges Throughout their process of developing and implementing strategies for best practice in addressing equity and diversity issues, Dalhousie University’s School of Social Work has come across various challenges, which are common when battling inequity and oppression in educational institutions. Below are a couple examples of barriers they experienced, taken from MacDonald et al.’s (2003) article about the School’s journey in addressing equity issues. Community Relationships. MacDonald et al. (2003) discuss obstacles that can arise when attempting to establish and maintain positive relationships and linkages with communities: Potential barriers include scheduling difficulties, communication breakdown, increasing demands on community workers in a milieu of taxed resources, historical relationships of groups, feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability, and the risk of being misunderstood. The length of time required to create institutional change is exacerbated by structural
UBC school of social work equity and diversity strategic plan: A compilation of case studies 18 rearrangements; for example, the chair of faculty changed, which shifted priorities. As well, curriculum restructuring redesigned the introductory course into two distinct courses, thus creating a dilemma about the best location for the workshop. (pp. 471-472) Faculty Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention. A major challenge in recruiting and hiring faculty from equity-seeking groups is qualifications. As MacDonald et al. (2003) assert, Universities and professional schools, in particular, are moving toward hiring new faculty who are educated at the doctoral level with established research and publication portfolios. People with a history of marginalization do not tend to have such academic opportunities. Diversity initiatives must take this into account, and if serious about hiring and retention, will put support mechanisms in place to assist faculty in undertaking doctoral studies. The culture of the academy is another barrier. It is not enough to invite people in. The academy must be willing to look at those institutional barriers that make it difficult for people to stay. (pp. 478-479) Two major challenges that the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University experienced were discussed during an interview with the previous Director of the School. One of these challenges occurred when the School established their distance education program. The previous designated equity-seeking groups were representative of people in the communities existing near Dalhousie University who were underrepresented in the School of Social Work. However, by creating a distance education program, it expanded the number of underrepresented groups as demographics differed dependent on location. The other challenge involved the inclusion of persons with (dis)Abilities, especially those with invisible disabilities (such as mental health) as a designated equity-seeking group, as well as the inclusion LGBTTQI persons, which took approximately ten years to tackle. Approaches employed included being very strategic about
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