Social Work: Crit Approaches Assessment

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SPMSW Students ONLY

Assessment in Social Work (SWSS 6990) is a specialized practice course that explores and deconstructs contemporary assessment practices from a postmodern, constructionist, transformative social work orientation. This course will examine the impact of assessment and diagnostic discourses on the lives and relationships of diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, institutions, and communities. The course will critically consider the ways in which social worker formulations impact clients, clients’ views of themselves, and social work practitioner relationship with clients. The course will also emphasize the ways in which formulations invite and hinder practitioner stance of connection, curiosity, openness and hope from a variety of fundamental social work practice theories. Integrated into all aspects of this course will be a focus on working with diverse individuals, families and communities and acknowledging the importance of intersectionality and cultural humility connected to Students will adopt a critical stance toward the history and uses of traditional and contemporary assessment frameworks. The strengths and limitations of each of various approaches and paradigms will be considered, both from the practitioners and clients' perspectives. Building on student experience and social work practice (course work, work experience, practicum placement), the class cohort will utilize critical thinking, deep listening, inquiry, and self-awareness to increase knowledge and skill in social work assessment role and identity. Course Learning Objectives/Outcomes After completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Deepen self-reflections on the student’s own underlying assumptions and values regarding other human beings and difference. 2. Demonstrate a specialized approach to the critique of social work assessment practice ideas, paradigms, theories, and approaches. 3. Apply a multidimensional, multicultural, and postmodern constructionist assessment orientation to case examples and/or cases drawn from students' own practice or field practicum. 4. Expand and demonstrate specific social work assessment skills informed by a postmodern epistemological stance and modernist and postmodernist methods for understanding the struggles and resilience of individuals, families, and groups. 5. Demonstrate the abilities of engagement, inquiry, and practices commensurate with master’s level assessment practice. 6. Demonstrate practices of curiosity, listening, and seeking to understand the meanings people give to their situations and experiences. 7. Demonstrate (through the use of in class activities and out of class assignments) strengths-oriented social work practices that can be used across multiple practice settings. 8. Demonstrate relational and collaborative work within the learning colleague group and make connections to social work practice within agencies and organizations. 9. Demonstrate understanding, affirmation, and respect for diversity and difference in dialogue with and about individuals, families, and small groups. 10. Apply social work values and ethics to cases from students' own clinical practice in the context of appropriate assessment/theoretical frameworks. 11. Demonstrate reflexivity, i.e., value of the social worker being a participant in the assessment process in the mutual constitution of observer and observed, and the recognition of power differentials. 12. Translate respect for human diversity and the strengths of social and cultural differences into the promotion of social and economic justice and human rights with and on behalf of communities, groups, institutions, and organizations experiencing poverty and other forms of oppression. Diversity issues include, but are not limited to matters pertaining to gender, social class, ideology, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and physical/mental abilities.

The course methods include a combination of learning activities, large group and small group discussions, case examples, case presentations and conceptualizations, written assignments, and required readings. The course will require a sense of collective responsibility for encouraging a climate of openness, courage, navigating repair work following rupture, inquiry, drawing on and sharing experience both from within and outside the field of social work, critical thinking, self-awareness, and courageous dialogue. “Collaborative Learning” is a phrase used to describe the overall way in which students value and come prepared to learn and participate in this course. Acknowledging the differentiated and “no one size fits all” approach to presence and learning, students are encouraged to actively participate in a manner that honors the learning/teaching of both yourselves and others in the class. We’ll co-construct what this looks like (as a class) during our first class. The curriculum in social work is relational, generative, iterative, and community-cohort oriented. Some principles to consider as a classroom community: • Missing any assignment, discussion opportunity, small or large group experience, or not completing assigned readings or viewing course content will impact your learning and could impact your Collaborative Learning grade. All students will have an opportunity to self-assess engagement in Collaborative Learning and hear from the instructor about how the instructor is assessing engagement in the middle of the “semester.” This is an opportunity to learn, grow, develop, and to make sense of navigating same and sometimes different perspectives. The instructor is also available on an as needed basis if you want to discuss Collaborative Learning at any time. • Missing more than two classes during this brief and intense summer session would make it difficult for the instructor to know a student has digested all of the information needed to pass the brief and intense course. Missing more than two classes will impact a student’s grade and could impact passing the course. Please talk to the Instructor if you have questions or concerns. • Absences don’t need to be explained, however communicating about your absence in advance (barring emergencies) is an expectation (as it would be in social work practice). How a student manages missed opportunities is most important. • While individual students have to make choices about attendance and engagement, all decisions that individuals make have an impact on the class community. We’ll talk more about the strengths and limitations of decisions about attendance and engagement during the first class. It is important to note that not all decisions are easy ones. Grappling with these types of decisions can support us to sharpen our social work skills. We’ll also talk more about the critical importance of taking care of yourself during the course of the semester. • Students are expected to participate in the class activities as a part of this grade. There will be multiple and differentiated opportunities for engagement in smaller and larger group discussions, through written assignments, participation in class role plays, and more. Demonstrating genuine interest, thoughtfulness, curiosity and engagement are social work skills that we can and will practice in this class—with the recognition that there is “no one size fits all” approach to engagement.

Subject to change, but Graded Work from Summer 2024: Assessments (Graded Work): I. Engaged Presence using a Pre and Post Self-Assessment (30 points) Purpose and Brief Description: As outlined in above section entitled “Collaborative Learning and Attendance”, students will be offered a variety of ways to engage in this course and to learn course content. At the start of the course, students will self-identify learning hopes and goals for the course and will be responsible for tracking those hopes and goals (15 points). Students will have an opportunity to reflect on progress/barriers towards these hopes and goals at the end of the semester (15 points). Evaluation Criteria: (a) Timely completion (students will have time in class on the first day of the course and time in class on the last day of the course to complete (b) Identification of 2-3 hopes with articulation of how those hopes will be operationalized (writing clearly defined objectives) (c) development of a tracking method and (d) reflection on progress/barriers toward identified hopes/objectives II. Reading Reflection Journal (35 points) Ongoing Purpose and Brief Description: Students will be handed a journal on the first day of class. Students will use this journal to identify main concepts from readings. For assigned readings, students are asked to identify a) main concepts or principles from the articles, b) strengths, c) limitations and d) any questions or curiosities you have after reading the article. These notes/journals will be used to enhance discussions and activities during class time. If writing in a journal isn’t the student’s preference, students can take notes on the articles in any other format. Students do not need an entry for every assigned article, but the goal will be approximately 1-2 for each day of class. Evaluation Criteria: (a) While this journal will not be collected, completion of this journal/notes on articles will better prepare students to engage in class discussions and activities b) Students will be asked to draw on their notes specifically during class time. Instructor may ask each student to identify a main point from the article as a check-in question, for example. III. Assessment from a Transformative Social Worker Stance Mini-Presentation (35 points) Purpose and Brief Description: Students will give a mini-presentation on the application of course material on the last two days of class. The presentation will include a case example (an individual, family, group, community, organization, or institution) from prior work or practice experience to explore the multidimensional opportunities to engage in a constructionist assessment process using a transformative social work lens. This assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate reflexivity in understanding one’s own values, culture, awareness, beliefs and experiences contributing to understanding formulation or assessment practice. Students will be asked to think critically about the ways in which assessment practice supports or hinders client intention and priorities. Students are also asked to identify and evaluate the dilemmas that come with working within an organizational world of practice. The final presentation should be 20 minutes (15 minute presentation with a 5 minute question and answer period). The presentation should incorporate 4-6 readings from the course as academic references. Additional academic resources are also welcomed. Evaluation Criteria: (a) Timely completion and submission (b) Critical thinking and self-awareness skills (c) Use of academic references (d) deep understanding and identification of main objectives of course (e) application of transformative social work and constructionist concepts to explore assessment in social work.