Teaching to think, perform and act as a social worker with integrity: the case of a course on the “Diagnostic Assessment in Social Work”

Abstract

Lee Shulman’s concept of “signature pedagogy” is included in the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), specifically for the field education. This chapter demonstrates the value of implementing it in teaching social work courses. It draws from a participatory research conducted in the context of a course on “diagnostic assessment in social work,” the spring term of 2019–2020, at the Democritus University of Thrace. Students’ voices were collected via texts, reflections, and evaluations. Data of the research were analyzed by thematic analysis and were organized in the pre-formulated categories of how to think, to perform, and to act with integrity. The analysis shows that teaching in the class should be leading on development of an efficient “signature pedagogy” and outlines the challenging situation in responding to specific social work education targets and criteria. It further addresses the need to include sustainable development goals into social work teaching and prepare students to an eco-social vision so as to be prepared to deal with current and future crises and the new refugees in flows as a result of armed conflicts and climate change along with the sequential problems of human trafficking, xenophobia, and racism.