Using Community Service Learning as a Conduit to Decolonise Bachelor of Social Work Education

Abstract

Social work education and practice have been implicated in colonial violence against Black and Indigenous people in Canada. Notwithstanding, undergraduate students enter social work programmes ready to “help” service recipients. Schools of social work also continue to centre social work education around the notion of “helping” alongside other key activities such as advocacy and counselling. Regarding the intent, social work education and practice have and continue to perpetuate anti-Black racism, racism, and colonialism at the intersections of race, among some of the most vulnerable and systemically disadvantaged in society. This article demonstrates how to combine decolonising social work education and community service learning (CSL) to provide students an opportunity to critically and consciously work with community groups to meet the community’s needs. This reflective paper captures 1) the lessons learned and growth achieved among a group of undergraduate social work learners as they completed a CSL term project through a decolonised lens in partnership with Indigenous community members in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; and 2) the coaching and support that the teacher provided to the students to help them understand colonisation and their complicity as mostly white settler learners and future social work practitioners. The paper discusses the importance of CSL and decolonising social work education; then outlines the class’s context, process, and actions; next, through excerpts, CSL reflections are shared, and the paper concludes with a brief discussion.