Title: Teaching Through The Tension
1Teaching Through The Tension An Approach To
Resolving Schism In The Classroom
- Dr Janet Melville-Wiseman
- Principal Lecturer in Social Work
- Canterbury Christ Church University
2Problem
3Context
- Divisions
- Society
- Anglican Communion
- University
- Social Work education
- Approach to discrimination
- Evidence of anti-discriminatory practice
- Suitability for Social Work
- GSCC Code of Practice
- Equality Act 2010
4Theoretical considerations
- Professional Ethics
- Banks and Gallaghers professional ethics in
practice - Norms of right action
- Character and values
- Social and moral philosophy
- Judith Butlers rejection of a binary approach
- Teaching
- Knowledge versus skills
- Regulation/Legal
- Absolutist principles
5Rejection of a binary approach
- Butler (1998) argued against a binary approach to
gender and sexuality - However, we seem to adopt a binary approach in SW
education - Social work binaries whereby people are
congregated and segregated e.g. - Mental health needs
- Physical disability
- Ageing
6Human considerations
- Acknowledgement
- That these issues are difficult to think about
and difficult to speak about - Open and respectful debate is a key dimension of
learning prior to reflection - Students are on a learning journey
- So are we
7Further background
- Early in the programme
- Team divided
- Invocation of conduct/suitability procedures
- Fear of getting it wrong
- Low expectations of students ability to
demonstrate anti-discriminatory practice - Whatever else we could not avoid the need to
teach through this tension
8The teaching session
- Setting the scene
- Thoughtful approach
- Request that students listen before taking
questions or discussion - Clarify aims i.e. To resolve tensions
- All have something to learn
9Rejection of an absolutist approach
- No-one in our profession can claim to be devoid
of discriminatory attitudes or discriminatory
behaviour - The development of professional values from
personal values requires that everyone embarks on
a journey that is characterised by - The need to be open about the individual personal
starting point - Reflection
- The most worrying values are hidden values
10Application to social work values
- It is not a social work task to discern the
meaning of religious or faith based texts - It is a social work task to work with people who
share your personal values and to work with
people who have conflicting values
- Social workers will almost never work with
anyone who has identical personal values to their
own
11Establishing professional values
- Professional values are characterised by
- Shared
- Defined through a common process
- Difficult to teach and difficult to learn
- Have been established over time to protect
vulnerable people and the honour of the
profession - Some people have a longer journey than others in
order to reconcile conflicts and tensions between
personal values and professional values
12Laying down the challenges
- This part of the process was designed to
- Establish shared challenges to becoming a
professional social worker - Recognise the diversity of people they will work
with - For example asking questions such as
- How do you work with someone if they are
homophobic? - By agreeing/disagreeing with their position?
- By refusing to work with them?
- By becoming upset?
- By using self?
- By withholding self?
13Spirituality and social work
- The spiritual needs of vulnerable people are
often marginalised - Thinking about the spiritual needs of vulnerable
people can often make a substantial and positive
difference - A growing area of interest in social work
research - It is an offence to treat people unfairly because
of their religious beliefs and social workers
need to know how to challenge discrimination on
the grounds of religion/faith
14Helping students understand the risks
- If you express a value judgement about sexuality
or religion/faith in certain circumstances you
may risk - Causing distress to anyone in earshot
- Being perceived as discriminatory
- Being seen as possibly not suitable for social
work - In breach of student codes of conduct
- In breach of GSCC codes of practice
- Being subject to legal proceedings
- If you make assumptions about certain faiths and
their views/position on sexuality or about people
who are lesbian or gay and their religion or
faith you risk - Being wrong (inaccurate)
- Causing distress
- Not understanding the nature and extent of
homophobia and heterosexism and where it exists
15Concluding statements
- Learn how your personally held views conflict
with social work values/the law and plan your
learning journey in this regard - Your tutor/lecturers will help
- You have two years to resolve these issues
- You may decide that social work is not for you
- We may decide that you are not for social work
- In addition if
- You target any discriminatory attitudes
personally to an individual here (staff or
student) - You may be subject to the university conduct or
GSCC suitability procedures
These issues take courage but you need that
anyway to be a good social worker
16References
- Banks, S and Gallagher, A. (2009) Ethics in
Professional Life. Palgrave MacMillan.
Basingstoke. - Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble. Routledge
Classics (2008 edition). Abingdon.
17Context
Anti-gay Christian couple lose foster care case
http//www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/28/chri
stian-couple-lose-care-case