Navigating Difficult Dialogues in the Social Work Classroom

Overview: The Associate Deans of Academic Affairs and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of an MSW program will share how they prepare faculty for navigating difficult conversations when teaching social work courses. Using real classroom examples, this interactive workshop will offer concrete techniques for responding to tense conversations related to social identities.Proposal text: Conversations about diversity and justice are central to social work education (CSWE, EPAS, 2022). Therefore, it is imperative that social work educators are culturally competent and skilled at facilitating dialogues across differences. However, instructors are not always prepared to manage the challenging and often explosive nature of such dialogues, which can be harmful to the learning process, especially for students of color (Young, 2003). Discussions in social work classrooms often center on identity (i.e. race, sexual orientation, gender, social class), and students regularly report microaggressions, misgendering and insensitive comments – primarily by peers but sometimes from instructors. Such microaggressions in the classroom can leave students of color feeling marginalized or othered and can result in negative cognitive, behavioral and emotional reactions (Byers, McInroy, Craig, Slates & Kattari, 2019; Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo & Rivera, 2009). Instructors may feel vulnerable and ill equipped to manage the heightened emotionality that comes with conversations about identity. Many report fear of saying the wrong thing, causing more harm, losing ‘control’ over the management of the classroom, and/ or receiving negative feedback from students in course evaluations, which could impact an instructor’s future career opportunities.

However, when instructors become aware of the impact of such microaggressions, and are willing to lean into these conversations head on, they can legitimize the discourse, validate student feelings and encourage racial sensitivity and cross-cultural understandings (Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning, 2017; Sue, et al., 2009). It has been found that educators benefit from training where they can experientially gain concrete skills in facilitating difficult dialogues on power, race, oppression and privilege (Byers, et.al, 2019; Sue, et al, 2009; Zuniga, Lopez & Ford, 2018). Comfort with such skills can lead to exciting educational opportunities to critically examine issues of social justice at both the micro and macro levels. When instructors are able to “hold space” during difficult dialogues, and students of marginalized identities can openly speak about microaggressions, the learning atmosphere is enhanced and students are better prepared for the field of social work.

Using real examples from the classroom, this workshop will teach instructors techniques for responding to various scenarios that involve tense conversations related to social identities. For example, co-creating community agreements with students can help build the trust and respect necessary for addressing conflict (O’Connor, 2021). Faculty development and engagement has been shown to have a positive impact on teaching and learning and is key to building community and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education (Zuniga, Lopez & Ford, 2018).

The Workshop:
The facilitators will begin with a brief discussion of the need for classroom dialogue that “fosters communication, critical reflection, and collaborative action across cultural and social divides” (Zuniga, Lopez & Ford, 2018, p. 1). Participants will engage in discussions of actual classroom scenarios in breakout groups and identify strategies for responding to such situations. Each group will share their ideas with the larger group and the facilitators will conclude with promising practices for noticing microaggressions, responding with inquiry, and utilizing community agreements.