The Importance of Critical Relational Teaching in Social Work Education

Overview: To contribute to the discussion of navigating teaching methods through the COVID-19 pandemic, this presentation highlights the utility of critical relational teaching for social work students and faculty, including how this practice can be implemented across learning modes to engage with students effectively and authentically through a social justice lens.Proposal text: The social work profession places relationships as a critical driver for change (Dolgoff et al., 2005). The relationship between teacher and student lies at the heart of effective teaching (Fox, 2013). Informed by relational-cultural theory (Jordan, 2017), which centers culture to highlight the importance of identity and social justice, relational teaching in social work emphasizes the importance of interpersonal connections, and seeks to challenge individualistic ideology that dominates western culture and education. Relational teaching aims to foster the development of self-with-others, mutual engagement, empathy and empowerment (Edwards & Richards, 2002). Inspired by Paulo Friere’s (1994) critical pedagogy and belle hook’s (2002) concept of love, relational teaching uses a social justice lens to focus on the connection between the community so that learning can authentically develop in a shared space of belongingness (Dillon & Prichard, 2022). Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining a relational teaching approach is critical as social work educators have been fraught with challenges. The necessity of online synchronous and asynchronous learning without much planning and preparation combined with the ever changing nature of in-person learning during the pandemic have created barriers in cultivating relationships between students and educators, and among student peers (Bennett et al., 2021). Moreover, schools of social work have been slow to embrace online learning, which may have provided additional challenges for social work educators in supporting students, and navigating a new teaching modality to deliver content (Lee et al., 2019; Smoyer et al., 2020). The literature also suggests that many social work educators believe relationships cannot be fully cultivated within an online learning environment (Bennett et al., 2021; Forgey & Ortega-Williams, 2016). Given the ongoing challenges and uncertainty of teaching in the COVID-19 era, this presentation will explore how a critical relational teaching pedagogy can support social work students to prepare them to enter the field of social work, cultivate deeper learning in the classroom, and enhance a sense of belongingness, engagement, empathy and empowerment. This pedagogical framework may allow the shift from an individualistic approach to social work education to the development of a more interpersonal and community approach that is sorely needed at this particular point in time. Informed by the authors’ (social work doctoral student and junior faculty) teaching practice experience and feedback from MSW and BSW students, practical approaches and strategies will be presented and discussed to enhance teaching and student learning during the ongoing pandemic. Implications for future social work teaching and research will also be explored.