Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp
Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp
Teaching Gender in Social Work - MailChimp
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PART I – REFLECTIONS ON TEACHING AND NEW APPROACHES<br />
An Integrative Approach to <strong>Teach<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>Gender</strong> and <strong>Social</strong> <strong>Work</strong><br />
Carol<strong>in</strong>e Skehill<br />
Abstract<br />
The article will outl<strong>in</strong>e the way <strong>in</strong> which gender and social work has been<br />
taught <strong>in</strong> an <strong>in</strong>tegrative way with<strong>in</strong> a module and across a full qualify<strong>in</strong>g social<br />
work programme through the teach<strong>in</strong>g of this author. It seeks to demonstrate<br />
the benefits and limitations of such an approach <strong>in</strong> comparison to the design<br />
and delivery of modules specifically designed to teach gender as a separate<br />
component as illustrated <strong>in</strong> other articles <strong>in</strong> this book. While referr<strong>in</strong>g to some<br />
of the major theories of fem<strong>in</strong>ism and gender perspectives, the primary aim<br />
of this article is to comment on the process and method of teach<strong>in</strong>g gender and<br />
social work as opposed to offer<strong>in</strong>g a theoretical critical commentary per se. In<br />
the discussion, an argument for how gender can be <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to broader<br />
frameworks of teach<strong>in</strong>g is considered. Examples of research relat<strong>in</strong>g to the<br />
Republic of Ireland and the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom are provided for illustration.<br />
The aim of this article is to describe, analyse and critique a method of<br />
teach<strong>in</strong>g gender and social work which is based on an <strong>in</strong>tegrative approach.<br />
This is underp<strong>in</strong>ned by a broad history of the present perspective, which uses<br />
historical perspective to problematise the present. “Integrative Learn<strong>in</strong>g” is an<br />
approach which encourages students to learn across curriculum and to make<br />
connections at various levels between a range of knowledge, values and skills.<br />
One of the advantages of <strong>in</strong>tegrative learn<strong>in</strong>g is that it encourages use of a range<br />
of methods of teach<strong>in</strong>g and learn<strong>in</strong>g and encourages students to avoid the<br />
_“silo-effect” that can often happen when subjects are broken up <strong>in</strong>to separate<br />
categories. The challenge of such an approach is that it requires creativity on<br />
the part of the educator and learner and the outcomes can be more difficult to<br />
measure. For this article, I wish to focus on describ<strong>in</strong>g the process of apply<strong>in</strong>g<br />
this to learn<strong>in</strong>g about gender and social work for qualify<strong>in</strong>g social work<br />
students 1 us<strong>in</strong>g Inquiry-Based Learn<strong>in</strong>g, which is an approach that encourages<br />
self-directed learn<strong>in</strong>g and the use of problem-based approaches. 2 The artic-<br />
1<br />
See the University of Nott<strong>in</strong>gham’s Centre for Integrative Learn<strong>in</strong>g for <strong>in</strong>troductory <strong>in</strong>formation and reference<br />
resources http://www.nott<strong>in</strong>gham.ac.uk/<strong>in</strong>tegrativelearn<strong>in</strong>g/<br />
2<br />
See Centre for Inquiry-Based Learn<strong>in</strong>g at the University of Sheffield for an <strong>in</strong>troduction and resources:<br />
http://www.shef.ac.uk/cilass/ibl.html<br />
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