Teaching anti-oppressive practice on a diploma in social work course: Lecturers' experiences, students' responses and ways forward

Abstract

This paper has been written by three lecturers who have been responsible in the main for the planning, content and delivery of a module on anti-oppressive practice on a diploma in social work course. This paper offers an insight into the content of the module, an explanation of how it was delivered, along with some of the issues that emerged. The main teaching areas covered were sexism, heterosexism, ageism, racism and disablism, and student feedback was received from each session and their responses analysed. A number of themes are discussed in this paper which include lecturers' expectations of the student group--which at times some of the students found difficult; the relationship between the lecturers-- and how this both helped and hindered the teaching process; and the development of tensions between students--particularly along the dimension of ethnicity. The overall feedback of the module by students was positive, with the vast majority finding it helpful. The specifics of what the student group found helpful have been incorporated into the penultimate section of this paper, which considers some ways forward for educators who are responsible for teaching anti-oppressive practice on similar courses.