U.S. Social Work Faculty and Gender Diversity Concerns: Personal Perspectives and Curricular Considerations.

Abstract

In 2008 the Council on Social Work Education revised its accreditation standards for social work programs, to include a mandate that students be educated for practice that is sensitive to clients of diverse gender identity or expression. First steps toward fulfilling this mandate require knowledge of the current state of social work education on gender diversity, yet little is known about this topic. A national sample (n = 1561) of faculty responded to a survey of all teaching faculty at all U.S. and Puerto Rico accredited MSW programs, indicating the amount and complexity of gender content they include in their teaching, their beliefs about the importance of including gender content, their attitudes about gender, their scores on a measure of transphobia, and demographic information. Aim one was to learn about what is currently taught about gender in accredited U.S. MSW programs, including teaching effort and theoretical perspectives utilized. Aim two was to analyze the effect of certain specific background characteristics of the respondents on their conceptualizations, beliefs, and actual teaching practices. 89.9% of the faculty reported infusing gender content into one or more classes. Results, using a multiple linear regression model, show that having a sexual orientation other than exclusively heterosexual has a stronger influence on an educator’s behavior than it does on their beliefs, while having a higher level of transphobia appears to affect one’s beliefs strongly, yet has no significant effect on actual teaching practices. MSW educators who believed more strongly that gender content should be included in their teaching reported using a larger number of, and more complex methods, to teach about gender (p < .001), as did those who endorsed more complex attitudes about gender concepts (p < .001). Those who reported knowing family, friends, or acquaintances who identify as transgender (p < .001) also reported teaching more complex gender content. While increasing the visibility of transgender people within MSW programs may help to increase the complexity of the theoretical perspectives that faculty members use to teach about gender diversity, attempts to reduce faculty transphobia may not be particularly helpful in this regard.