The NASW Teach-In: Contextualizing Social Work Reform

Teaching Note—Time for a Teach-In? Addressing Racist Incidents on College Campuses

“…These efforts often have been in response to violence, for example, a Temple University teach-in focused on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (Young, 2011). In 1996, the National Association of Social Workers held a nationwide teachin (Raske, 1997) in a teleconference titled Challenge of Violence Worldwide, which was intended to reach large groups of social work educators and students to disseminate information and mobilize them for action. Raske (1997) argued that the event, despite some resistance, was a success, and suggested that future teach-ins should examine "themes such as poverty or racism" (p. 9).…”

“…In 1996, the National Association of Social Workers held a nationwide teachin (Raske, 1997) in a teleconference titled Challenge of Violence Worldwide, which was intended to reach large groups of social work educators and students to disseminate information and mobilize them for action. Raske (1997) argued that the event, despite some resistance, was a success, and suggested that future teach-ins should examine "themes such as poverty or racism" (p. 9). As these examples illustrate, teach-ins are a unique method for social work educators to combine passion for pedagogy with a commitment to social justice and advocacy beyond the traditional classroom.…”

Welfare Reform: The Positioning of Academic Work

“…Based upon the availability of information resources such as the above, we believe that the ingredients for repositioning academic and clinical work are in place. As Martha Raske (1997) elaborates in a recent issue of Social Work, teaching clinical interventions can emphasize the exploration of innovation analysis, methods, and useful resources for contextualizing welfare reform. Whatever the public and private price tag limit may be, newfound insights about clinical experiences can continue to accumulate by facilitating exchange of policy information and locally generated knowledge.…”

“…Just what that exchange needs to be is evident in recent critiques of the social sciences. In the face of critique of how their work contributes to the design, implementation or assessment of policy choices for welfare, health and education reform, the social sciences have been charged with reconsidering their comunicative functions (Wallat & Piazza, 1991;1997).…”