Dear White/Mainstream School Social Work Colleagues – This is an Ode and a Challenge to You

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The State of Public Education in Ontario

In Ontario, the myriad of complex problems facing public education are well documented and include: stagnant EQAO math scores and persistent achievement gaps for marginalized student populations (EQAO, 2019; People for Education, 2019); increasing student and educator mental health concerns (CAMH, 2018; Lemieux, 2016); high levels of persistent absenteeism (CBC News, 2019; Whitnall, 2019); and a disturbing frequency of extreme behavioural dysregulation and violence in Ontario classrooms (Mcquigge, 2019).

A wealth of literature in the areas of equity, well-being, and student achievement point to the interrelated nature of these concerns (Ministry of Education [MOE], 2017a; MOE 2017b). In light of the complexities facing public education today, internationally recognized leaders in the field of education reform and school improvement are increasingly recognizing the need for novel solutions to approach complex educational challenges from holistic and nuanced perspectives (Campbell, 2020; Hargreaves, 2019; Fullan, 2019).

Sounds Great – What’s the Hold-Up?

Over the last three decades, the rise of educational policymaking driven by a pervasive – and largely invisible – neoliberal agenda has been well-documented in North America and around the world (Apple, 2016; Gutek, 2013). Critical educational scholars have long argued that in its structures and processes, public education predominately reflects globalized, Western capitalist views, norms and values driven by analytic-rationalist principles and a market-based logic of individualism and competition (Apple, 2013; Davies & Bansel, 2007).

In the Ontario context, Sattler (2012) analyzes how neoliberal values shaped reforms in education governance beginning in 1993. The author describes how these reforms – enacted by three successive governments of varying political orientations over the course of twenty years – resulted in school board amalgamations, centralization of funding, and increased accountability measures including standardized curriculum and testing, and outcomes-based education.

The dominance of the neoliberal paradigm within public education has caused a shift in perceptions about the very purpose of education in a democratic society.

The dominance of the neoliberal paradigm within public education has caused a shift in perceptions about the very purpose of education in a democratic society. Once considered a public good, education within a marketized global economy is redefined as a vehicle through which to achieve international competitiveness via the production of a skilled workforce (Apple, 2016; Gutek, 2013; Sattler, 2012).

Further, this paradigm is firmly anchored in a history of determinism and a tendency toward reductionist methodologies that often exclude – and do violence to – those representing difference (Knights, 2019; Sinclair & Evans, 2019). In Ontario, this worldview is both layered onto and inextricably connected with Canada’s birth through policies of colonization and institutionalized racism (Pete, Schneider & O’Reilly, 2013).

What Else is Getting in the Way of Change?

In Canada, governance in education is enacted at three levels. Provinces and territories function as the central authority controlling funding, regulation, and delivery of educational programming (Sattler, 2012). School boards (intermediate level) and schools are delegated power by the province or territory to address local governance issues related to geographic boundaries of school districts, administration and management of schools, and parent/community engagement in school planning (Sattler, 2012). These organizational realities present several significant challenges with regard to ongoing efforts to effectively address complex problems related to learning, equity, and well-being in Ontario schools (Ott et al., 2017; Short et al., 2018).

Silos within education perpetuate the illusory divide between one’s learning and one’s mental and emotional state – Mostafa, 2019, p. 17

Burosch (2017) argues that silos within education contribute to an apparent knowledge and practice divide between leaders in education advocating for improved student learning outcomes and those advocating for enhanced equity, and student well-being. These silos contribute to the education and mental health fields continuing to lead “distinctly separate lives” (Weist, 1997). Finally, silos within education perpetuate the “illusory divide between one’s learning and one’s mental and emotional state” (Mostafa, 2019, p.17), resulting in significant missed opportunities, both in terms of developing students’ cognitive and social-emotional potential but also in terms of cross-sectoral collaboration toward a fully integrated and optimally interconnected system of care (Short et al., 2018).

The Case for a Critical Lens as an Ethical Requirement in our Work

School social workers have long contributed to multi- and interdisciplinary teams to support the success of students in public education. Sumner (2003) argues that “allying interdisciplinary research with critical theory opens up the critique that interdisciplinarity begins, allowing research to move beyond the bounds not only of disciplines, but also of the status quo” (p. 1). I suggest that Sumner’s argument could and should be applied to interdisciplinary collaboration within the context of school- and board-improvement efforts. Thus, I add my support to the call from critical Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) scholars (Bridges Patrick, 2020; Eizadirad, 2019; Lopez, 2016; Shah, 2016) whom have long argued that adopting a critical lens in this work is not only necessary – but ethically required.

Critical approaches attend to needs and issues that are necessary considerations for equity and well-being work in education including: centering students’ multiple social identities and ways of knowing, experiencing, and being in the world (MOE, 2017a); bringing to the forefront the “wider organizational context, history and power/relational dynamics” (Carroll, 2019, p 130; Marshall & Gerstl-Pepin, 2020); and a capacity for socially just leadership dynamically grounded in a deep “awareness about the impact of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability on schools and students’ learning” (Hesbol, 2013, p. 618).

I add my support to the call from critical Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) scholars whom have long argued that adopting a critical lens in this work is not only necessary – but ethically required.

Further underpinning the need for a critical lens is the demographic divide between public educational workers and students in Ontario. As of 2014, racialized minorities represented 26% of the population in Ontario, yet made up just 10% of secondary school teachers and 9% of elementary and kindergarten teachers (Turner, 2014). The Teacher Diversity Gap is worse for Ontario and the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area than for the United States overall (Turner, 2014). Additionally, the social work field is predominately white and female (Canadian Institute for Health Research, 2018; Salsberg et al., 2017) and there is research to suggest that nuanced racism and whiteness exist in social work discourses (Bridges Patrick, 2020).

Indeed, a recent and damning public report on the failure of a large, racially and ethnically diverse school board in the Greater Toronto area to address systemic racism and equity issues (Chadha et al., 2020), provides a poignant example of how these issues continue to manifest within education in Ontario. These issues, coupled with a long history of systemic injustices (Hooks, 2019), persistent disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes for marginalized student populations (Eizadirad, 2019; MOE, 2017b; Shah, 2016), and the “pervasive despair of our current historical moment” (Grain & Lund, 2016, p. 45) – creates a powerful argument for the adoption of a critical lens as an ethical requirement in all education reform and school improvement efforts.

An Ode to my School Social Work Colleagues

The profession of school social work has existed since the early 1900’s and has played a key role in shaping and supporting public education systems around the world (Nair & Power, 2017; Stone, 2017). Gherardi and Whittlesey (2017) assert that “school social work has a long and critical history in working to manage the intersections between schools and society to promote the well-being of all children” (p. 41).

As public education systems face increasingly rapid and complex societal change, coupled with an intensification of social and environmental challenges (Teasley, 2018; Auclair, 2019), there are a growing number of scholars calling for school social workers to be leveraged as key change partners in education reform and school improvement efforts (Lawson, 2010; Mellin et al., 2011; Nair & Power, 2017).

Much of what is considered good interprofessional practice has long been standard social work practice – Taylor et al., 2015

These authors suggest that by nature of the social work profession’s inherently interdisciplinary practice philosophy (Taylor et al., 2015), its commitment to principles of social justice and the inherent dignity and worth of all persons (Canadian Association of Social Workers, n.d.; Hooks, 2019) and its grounding in ecologically oriented and strengths-based perspectives (Stone, 2017), school social workers are ideally positioned and equipped to support schools in their efforts to address complex problems related to equity and well-being. For example, there is research to suggest that addressing anti-black racism in schools is within the scope of school social work practice (Hooks, 2019).

Taken together, these features and capacities inherent within the social work profession, combined with the rapidly expanding research explicating interdisciplinary collaboration models and evaluative frameworks emerging from the school social work literature, make a strong case for positioning school social workers as key change partners within educational improvement efforts. As Taylor et al. (2015) suggests, “much of what is considered good interprofessional practice has long been standard social work practice” (p. 5).

But Not so Fast – These are our Challenges

While there is rich and emergent evidence pointing to the value of school social workers as key change partners in educational improvement efforts, several potential barriers are identified in the literature (Teasley, 2012). For example, Kelly (2017) reported that school social workers spend little of their time practicing in whole-school universal promotion and prevention work (Tier 1). Gherardi & Whittlesey (2017) suggest that role ambiguity can contribute to other school-based professionals holding mixed perceptions about the function of the school social worker as well as their efficacy in intervening with students. Other barriers include a lack of administrator education and exposure to school social work resulting in an undervaluing and underutilization of the role (Scott, 2017). One author suggests that “much of their [school social worker’s] time seems to be wasted trying to make a place for themselves” (Anand, 2010 as cited in Gherardi & Whittlesey, 2017, p. 36).

Much of their [school social worker’s] time seems to be wasted trying to make a place for themselves – Anand, 2010 as cited in Gherardi & Whittlesey, 2017, p. 36

Further to the barriers outlined above, there is an additional – and perhaps far more significant – challenge with regard to positioning school social workers as effective change partners within education. While there is substantial scholarship within educational research explicating critical race theory in education (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), critical pedagogy (Apple et al., 2009; Hesbol, 2013; Lopez & Olan, 2019) and social justice practice for school leaders (Frattura & Capper, 2007; Green, 2016; Lopez, 2016; Rexhepi & Torres, 2011; Ryan & Rottman, 2007), school social work has largely been absent from the literature in these regards (Stone, 2017).

A brief search of the literature suggests limited research in the area of school social work, particularly in Canada, and a scant – albeit growing – body of literature on school social work from racial equity and critical perspectives in the Canadian context. Using the Google Scholar search engine, I combined the term “school social work” with the following: AND “Canada” OR “Ontario” (543 results); AND “racial equity” (32 results); AND “anti-oppressive” (179 results); AND “critical theory” (240 results); AND “critical approach” (94 results). So, what’s going on here?

Social Work and the Welfare State in a Neoliberal World

Epstein (1999) provides a powerful analysis of the history and influences that have shaped the profession of social work over the last 100 years. The author asserts that social work grew up with the welfare state and as a result, is an instrumentality of the welfare state with regard to assisting the state to “normalize the citizenry” (p. 9).  This passage is a particularly powerful articulation of Epstein’s argument:

“Social work . . . is a major apparatus for enforcing America’s ideology of personal responsibility, a view of humanity recently elevated to unique centrality by the political will of conservative elements in the body politic. This view holds that you can do it, you can have it, it is up to you to pull yourself together to get the skills, to learn the stuff, get on with your life, do it! [Author emphasis].This is the contemporary practical essence of individualism, the modern doctrine that asserts that the interests of the individual are or ought to be ethically paramount, that values, rights, and duties originate in individuals. Social work broadly disseminates the ideology of individualism in ways that make it appear believable” (p. 10).

A major concern often heard is that social work, over time, has relinquished its social justice mission – (Chambon, Irving, & Epstein, 1999, p. xv)

Chambon, Irving & Epstein (1999) suggest that, “a major concern often heard is that social work, over time, has relinquished its social justice mission” (p. xv). This point is evidenced by the shift that has been observed in the proliferation and uptake of technical and instrumental approaches, driven by market-based pressures, within social work programs and practice modalities (Cox et al., 2020; Teasley, 2018).

These descriptions seem particularly true in the sub-field of school social work, which Stone (2017) asserts has been historically co-opted to serve the goals of education. These tensions between the clinical and social reform goals of the school social work profession (Allen-Meares, 1993, 2006, 2013) represent what Epstein calls the basic dissonance within social work. That is, “it is common to state the intentions of social work as helping people to accommodate to the status quo and as challenging the status quo by trying to bring about social change” (pp. 8-9).

A particularly salient example of this point is demonstrated by the proliferation and uptake of popularized concepts such as “growth mindset”, “grit”, “perseverance”, and “resilience” as strategies to develop individuals’ skills to ‘cope’ with reality. These ideas feature prominently in the positive psychology and social-emotional learning (SEL) movements in public schools.

Critical educational theorists have rightly pointed to the fact that the focus of such individual interventions fail to account for systemic racism and inequality. In effect, we are reproducing oppression and trauma by “teaching” racialized and minority children and youth to adapt to the violence done to them by the colonial, white-supremacist, neoliberal and capitalist regime.

Where are the Critical School Social Workers?

While grounded in a rich history of scholarship, critical approaches – including anti-oppressive and critical race theories, Indigenization and decolonizing practices, and participatory frameworks – arise from social constructionist and post-structural paradigms (Miller, 2019; Strega & Brown, 2015). In addition to these perspectives “existing on the margins” of mainstream research (Strega & Brown, 2015), the epistemological and paradigmatic orientations of critical theories are anathema within the current political discourses of standardization and accountability which demands “evidence-based” practice and interventions (Apple, 2016; Gutek, 2013).

The marginalization of critical scholarship and approaches in mainstream education research and practice is a reflection of the marginalization of difference within educational institutions. Indeed, Apple (2016) suggests that the requirement of “evidence-based” approaches emerges out of what the author describes as the “epistemological fog” of mainstream educational policy and practice.

Reclaiming Our Professional Identity

Public institutions around the world are being asked to respond to complex problems in a climate of increasingly rapid change, uncertainty and volatility (Auclair, 2019). These conditions are particularly true of public education.

While school social workers may be ideally positioned and equipped to serve as key change partners in creating a more just educational system for all, I suggest that several conditions may need to be met in order to fully realize our potential: a) the role of school social workers as system change partners – across all three tiers of intervention (Maras et al., 2015; Forman & Crystal, 2015) – needs to be clearly defined and articulated within school boards; b) school social workers must be equipped with education and training specific to system leadership and advocacy within educational practice settings (Teasley, 2018; Teasley et al., 2012), such that they can successfully navigate the inherently dialectical nature of educational institutions and their roles within them; and c) school social workers must reclaim their social justice heritage and develop a leadership approach thoroughly grounded in social work ethics (Peters, 2018), and a critical practice stance informed by diverse critical perspectives including anti-oppressive, critical race, and decolonizing theories and approaches (Finn & Jacobson, 2003; Stone, 2017).

School social workers must be equipped with education and training specific to system leadership and advocacy within educational practice settings such that they can successfully navigate the inherently dialectical nature of educational institutions and their roles within them.

In conclusion, it is important to highlight that there is a rich canon of Black (Bent-Goodley et al., 2016) and Indigenous (Blackstock, 2003; Hart et al., 2009) scholarship informing critical, anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches to social work that should be centered, amplified, and which should inform the work moving forward. As mainstream education awakens to the realities of systemic racism and settler colonialism embedded within education in Ontario and Canada more broadly, mainstream school social workers and change leaders have an ethical responsibility to ground their practice in a fulsome understanding of diverse critical perspectives. So my school social work friends, let’s get to work!

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Dear Educators, School Leaders & Staff – Here’s How You Can Support the Fight for Equity & Racial Justice in Ontario Schools

I have been a school social worker for 11 years now and I have worked in four different school boards in two different provinces. I’ll never forget the conversation that I had with a school principal upon my arrival – bright eyed and bushy tailed straight out of my social work program – on the first day of my very first job in education. The principal brought me into their office and said, “I want you to know, that I am so sick and tired of hearing about all of this mental health and well-being b&*#s*!t.” Yep, that really happened.

I am so sick and tired of hearing about all of this mental health and well-being b&*#!t. Yep, that really happened

That moment is burned into my brain. What’s more, that experience is but one such example that provides the fuel for what drives me to do the work that I do in schools. And trust me, it is uncomfortable, messy and sometimes painful work fraught with mistakes, missteps and even outright failures.

But, as it goes with any kind of growth or learning, change only comes under pressure or tension. This principle is as true at the molecular and cellular level as it is at the level of societal change. In moments of tension and struggle, I remind myself of why I chose to be a school social worker and why I do what I do. It goes without saying – particularly in this moment of pain and collective (re)traumatization of BIPOC communities – that the pursuit of a just and compassionate society is inherently challenging, exhausting and often painful work. Those holding BIPOC identities have, and continue, to shoulder the vast majority of this burden.

So, as a white social worker in public education, I would like to suggest a few things to my white and mainstream education colleagues, especially those whom hold formal positions of power in our education system. Please know that this is not a condemnation of you as an individual. Having worked with hundreds of educators over the last decade, I know that the majority of you are caring, dedicated professionals who truly want the best for all of your students. Unfortunately, that is not enough to dismantle the discriminatory, racist, and inequitable structures and systems that continue to pervade our education system in Ontario.

Wanting the best for all of our students requires us to engage in the messy and painful work of critical introspection. Speaking from personal experience, it is indeed messy and ongoing work. We must engage in the work of learning and unlearning if we are to dismantle the barriers that are preventing students – whom have been historically marginalized in our public education system which is founded on racist, white-supremacist, and settler-colonial values – from realizing their gifts and from feeling fully accepted and validated as human beings imbued with inherent dignity and worth.

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better – Maya Angelou

With all of that said, I offer a few strategies for school boards and for educational professionals who, like me, are continuing to grapple with how to create a truly just education system for all students. These strategies are non-exhaustive and represent but a starting point.

1. Critically review your board’s Equity and Inclusive Education Policy and seek out the voices of all interest groups in order to do so. Ensure that you have a robust monitoring and evaluation strategy in place. Without accountability measures, we know that equity work is not successful. This point includes your Human Resource and Hiring policies. Who do you see sitting around the proverbial leadership table in your board? The KOJO Institute (@mskikeojo) and The Equity Literacy Institute (@pgorski) have an incredible wealth of resources and expertise to support you in this work.  

• While I agree that celebrating diversity and respecting differences are incredibly important activities, on their own they are not nearly enough to successfully engage in equity work or bring about meaningful change. Do the learning on why this statement is true. Read Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist.

• Commit resources and funds to ongoing professional learning for educational workers to understand the intersections between equity, mental-health and well-being. These are not mutually exclusive issues!!!! Again, do the learning to understand why this statement is true. Read Arthur Manuel’s and Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson’s Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call. Listen to equity-focussed podcasts on @VoicEdcanada (voicEd.ca) including the RSEKN Equity Podcast Series and Anti-Racist Educator Reads. Follow Pamala Agawa (@agawap), Colinda Clyne (@clclyne) and Nancy Rowe (@Giidaakunadaad1) on Twitter.

• Recognize that when considering equity and well-being issues, we have to think at all levels of the ecosystem – from the individual, classroom, school, to the community. When we reduce well-being strategies to “grit”, “perseverance”, and “resilience” of individuals, we risk doing further harm. Harm occurs when we miss the very real and pervasive impacts of systemic inequities for racialized and other marginalized student groups existing within the multiple intersections of their identities. For more on this point, watch This is NOT a Resilience Story. Follow Noor El-Husseini (@Poetic_Praxis) and Vidya Shah (@VidyaShah6) on Twitter.

• Recognize that this work is personally uncomfortable and fraught with tensions. Adopting a critical practice stance is vital in this work. We must remain open to feedback and correction. If you are noticing these feelings and tensions in yourself, read Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility and Carol Anderson’s White Rage

• If you are a school leader or education worker wanting to learn more about school leadership for equity and social justice, follow Dr. Ann Lopez (@DrAnnLopez), Debbie Donsky, EdD (@DebbieDonsky), Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad (@DrEizadirad) and @Drawn2Intellect on Twitter.

Remember, “if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality” (Desmond Tutu). And finally, “do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better” (Maya Angelou). Now you know better.