Educating for justice: Challenging neo-liberalism through relational social work education
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Authors
Hallie, Jason
Tunnicliffe, Craig
Tunnicliffe, Craig
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Date
2024-11
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Conference Contribution - Oral Presentation
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Unitec, Te Pūkenga
Mount Albert (Auckland, N.Z.)
Auckland (N.Z.)
Aotearoa
New Zealand
Bachelor of Social Practice (BSP)
social work education
neoliberalism
social justice
social work students
Pasifika students
Unitec courses
Pasifika
Mount Albert (Auckland, N.Z.)
Auckland (N.Z.)
Aotearoa
New Zealand
Bachelor of Social Practice (BSP)
social work education
neoliberalism
social justice
social work students
Pasifika students
Unitec courses
Pasifika
Citation
Hallie, J.A., & Tunnicliffe, C. (2024, November 19-20). Educating for justice: Challenging neo-liberalism through relational social work education [Paper presentation]. Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research 2024 Symposium., Dunedin.
https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6779
Abstract
Freire’s (1972) insight of the potential for education to be either an act of domestication or one of liberation needs to be forefront in the minds of social work educators. The non-neutrality of education requires us be conscious of our current ideological context(s) and to hold firm to a vision of transformative and liberatory social work education, in curriculum and in pedagogical practice. The ascendancy of neoliberalism as the ideological hegemon of educational policy continues to drive managers of educational institutions to seek ways to maximise efficiency, to reduce cost (increasingly through technological means), to create uniformity and standardisation, and to focus on outputs and student numbers rather than the quality of the learning experience for our diverse cohort of learners. Within the Institutes of Technology & Polytechnics (ITP) sector the push for efficiency has been attempted through previous government directives to merge ‘business units’ into a mega structure; only to be now disestablished through the directives of the current government. Communication around both changes continue to frame education within a neoliberal discourse of education as a commodity, as a ‘product’ with a focus squarely on ‘financial viability’ and existing educational providers reified as ‘individual business divisions’. This presentation argues for the need for counter hegemonic strategies (strategies of resistance) that centre relational teaching and learning as foundational to quality social work education. Incorporating research undertaken with Pacific students around their success and retention in the Bachelor of Social Practice program at Unitec; it draws from the reflective practice and experience of two lecturers who teach in the first (and subsequent) years within the degree which is based in Tamaki Makaurau. The programme has akonga who come from marginalized communities at the intersection of social criteria such as class, ethnicity, gender, ability, nationality and sexuality. Many who themselves have experienced the effects of discrimination, colonisation, and globalisation (through migration) living in Aotearoa New Zealand. This presentation will highlight a range of hegemonic strategies used in the classroom, including akonga centred learning and relational teaching. Drawing from the principles of ako and narrative theory we explore how these approaches allow us to critique and challenge the political and economic system in which they live. Our learners are not commodities within a market; they are the future of social work practice. Social work education is not a product, rather it is education committed to recognising and addressing structural inequality and pursuing social justice. It is therefore our task to ensure that the education they receive is not driven by policies of eƯiciency but rather education that recognises and aƯirms their knowledge and lived experience within the current social context(s).
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