Toward transgender affirmative social work education
Austin, A., Craig, S. L., & McInroy, L. (2016). Toward transgender affirmative social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(3), 297–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2016.1174637
Highlights
Background
Social work has professional and academic standards consistent with transgender affirmative education and practice.
Yet transgender issues are largely absent from social work education, resulting in practitioners who are uninformed or biased against transgender issues.
Study Description
The present study expands the literature through a mixed methods study exploring perceptions of transgender issues in social work education from the perspectives of transgender social work students (n = 97
Ages ranged from 19–69, but majority of students were under age of 39 (n = 77)
Participants identified their gender as: transman (n = 29), other trans (n = 25), no gender categories (n = 19), man (n = 16), and transwoman (n = 8)
Dataset for this study was drawn from The Social Work Speaks Out study (n = 1,310), an online survey for sexual and gender minority social work students in Canada and the US.
Key Findings
Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed barriers to transgender affirmative social work education, including:
(1) Transphobic microaggressions within classroom and field settings,
(2) The absence of transgender-specific education and expertise, and
(3) The general lack of visibility of transgender issues
Recommendations for improving inclusive social work education experiences for all students:
(1) Making the T visible,
(2) Comprehensively integrating LGBQ&T issues throughout the curriculum
(3) Improving faculty trans competency, and
(4) Emphasizing an anti-oppressive and socially just practice
