Description:
Critical reflection is an important tool used by social workers to develop culturally responsive education, practice, and supervision. Current frameworks provide clearly defined processes for learners and professionals to create culturally safe learning and practice. However, in the models currently used in Australian social work, there is no representation of Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing. In this paper, we introduce a new model which integrates, for the first time, both Western and Aboriginal Peoples' epistemologies in critical reflection. This model is intended to be used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous learners and professionals who are dedicated to creating culturally safe spaces that acknowledge and integrate Aboriginal Peoples' culture and wisdom. The aim of the model is to support social workers to reflect deeply, then integrate and act on their learning in a culturally responsive way that may create transformative practice.
Description:
Abstract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing have recently become core social work curriculum in Australian social work degrees and are regarded as central to decolonising Australian social work education and producing culturally responsive social work practitioners. Effectively teaching these knowledges, values and skills requires multiple strategies including the development of new curriculum resources which demonstrate the integration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing in practice. This article presents the theory and practice of co-constructing two filmed case studies with Aboriginal stakeholders which address a range of student learning needs. These powerful case studies are informed by Aboriginal knowledges and demonstrate the skills and values that the community state they want and need from social workers. Engaging in a community-led process provides social work educators with opportunities to build relationships with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, thus modelling cultural responsiveness in action.