Using Positionality and Critical Reflexivity as Anchors in an Anti-Oppressive Ethics Curriculum

Overview: Positionality and reflexivity are two interconnected concepts that support an anti-oppressive social work ethics curriculum that is culturally responsible, anti-racist, and advances social justice. Assignments and pedagogical frameworks that draw from these two concepts may bookend a social work ethics course that is committed to anti-oppressive ethics practice.Proposal text: Being culturally responsible in an ethics classroom requires social workers to utilize positionality and critical reflexivity in social work ethics education. No doubt critical thinking and self-awareness (Barsky, 2019; Gibbons & Gray, 2004) are important. Yet more is required to move toward an anti-oppressive ethics curriculum that promotes human rights. Notably, little has been done toward this end since Kondrat (1999) and Clifford & Burke (2005) initially infused a critical and reflexive lens. To be explicitly anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and social justice oriented, an analysis of power is essential. Positionality and critical reflexivity are two integral concepts that can work in tandem toward this end.

These two interconnected concepts provide the foundation upon which to develop an anti-oppressive ethics curriculum that supports our profession’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – a commitment that is underscored in both the Council for Social Work Education’s (CSWE) draft of the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards and in recent (June 1, 2021) revisions to the NASW Code of Ethics. Specifically, Competencies 2 (advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice) and 3 (engage anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion) highlight an impetus for developing an anti-oppressive ethics curriculum. The recent Code of Ethics revisions that focused on cultural competence also stress this imperative.

Critical reflexivity (Baldwell, 2016; Morley, 2015; Watts, 2019) should be infused in ethics education because it requires the examination of power; it is a cornerstone of anti-oppressive practice (Morgaine & Capous-Desyllas, 2020). Over two decades ago, Kondrat (1999) integrated a critical perspective into the social work literature by arguing that critical reflexivity is situated in understanding our “selves” in one’s own “world,” the broader “world,” and the inherent contradictions between the two (Kondrat, 1999). Thus, positionality is a requisite for this critical reflexivity framework. Building upon this critical framework, Clifford and Burke (2005) argued that the following principles bolster anti-oppressive practice: (1) social difference, (2) reflexivity, (3) historical dimension, (4) interacting social system, and (5) power. Taken together, the necessary components to move toward an anti-oppressive ethics curriculum were starting to emerge. Moreover, the argument that positionality and critical reflexivity are interdependent is further supported by transformational learning theory: Johnson-Bailey (2012) also suggests that critical reflexivity requires positionality.

Against this backdrop, social work ethics occurs in a relational, bidirectional practice context that is founded upon our values. In this practice context, we use dimensions of our ethical “selves” – including our values, beliefs, race, ethnicity, lived experience (Authors, 2019), and intercultural humility (Authors, 2021). Positionality requires social workers to identify salient dimensions of our “selves” as they intersect with clients and colleagues in our ethics practice – including values identification and ethical deliberation. Importantly, positionality helps social work educators move beyond critical reflection to critical reflexivity and the examination of power (Kondrat, 1999; Ng, Wright, & Kuper, 2019).

In sum, positionality and reflexivity are two interconnected concepts that support an anti-oppressive social work ethics curriculum that is culturally responsible, anti-racist, and advances social justice.