Grand Challenges

Student Readiness to Engage in Efforts to Reduce Racial and Economic Inequality

Christine Rine

The Grand Challenges for Social Work establish a comprehensive and action oriented agenda that positions practitioners as leaders of change in efforts to achieve large-scale differences in defining and strengthening the social safety net of society. This initiative brings opportunities to strengthen our commitment and contributions to addressing complex social problems across fields of practice (Barth, 2018). This sizable undertaking calls for innovative, research-based, and applied macro approaches that require a breadth and depth of professional competency with which social work students must be equipped. The overarching purpose of this study is to explore means to assess, support, and improve social work student preparedness to lead change efforts through the Grand Challenges (Flynn, 2017; Gehlert, Hall, & Palinkas, 2017). Since the Grand Challenges position practitioners as leaders of change, assessing if and how they acquire the knowledge and skills needed to address these goals is fundamental. Thus, this study explores social work student preparedness to address these challenges with particular attention to reducing racial and economic inequality. An instrument titled ‘Student Grand Challenges Skills Assessment’ was developed to capture acquisition of knowledge, values, skills, and meta-competencies needed to engage in social change efforts outlined in the Grand Challenges for Social Work. This self-rating survey was administered to students (n=354) at two points in time within a large MSW program. Items ask respondents to indicate their current level of ability and the extent to which the program’s curriculum and field experience facilitates such. Data specific to ability to reduce racial and economic inequality are explored. Findings indicate significant differences in cumulative scores; items related to racial inequality alone suggest that students were best prepared for these tasks. In fact, they were notably higher than both individual and average scores among all challenges variables. However, those related to economic inequality, without racial dimensions, had the lowest discrete and average scores among all challenges. Although a limited number of scholars have examined the implementation of the Grand Challenges in professional degree programs, it remains unclear if social work education is adequately preparing students to meet them. Regardless of the intersectionality between racial and economic inequality, students reported better preparation to engage in efforts to reduce racial inequality without economic considerations. This suggest that students need increased support in appreciating intersectionality, particularly in field settings. Means to improve students’ ability to appreciate and implement related practices are highlighted.

Rine, C. (2022, May 13). Grand Challenges: Student Readiness to Engage in Efforts to Reduce Racial and Economic Inequality [Paper]. International Conference on Global Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education (ICGDI 2022), Clarion, Pennsylvania. https://harbor.klnpa.org/clarion/islandora/object/islandora%3A5435

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