Critical social work field educators: Identity, context, resistance and pedagogy

In this thesis I examine the experiences of 12 social work field educators and 4 social work faculty using critical approaches in practice and in teaching social work students on field placement. I begin by exploring the roots of critical approaches and move to more recent debates in the profession. I then turn to the study participants' stories about how they came to identify as critical workers and how their critical approach evolved within managerialism. They demonstrated a capacity to continuously and critically analyze complex organizationally situated problems and reflexively resist regressive practices on behalf of service users. Social justice values combined with a critical approach were integrated into their work of teaching social work students on field placement.;I structure study participants' stories within critical feminist and poststructural concepts. Three concepts in particular were useful: critical analysis, personal reflexivity and contextual complexity. Within the context of these larger themes, the experiences and struggles in the everyday lives of critical social workers are examined. The study reveals that opportunities for critical social work exist in even the most constraining organizations through inventive, flexible and pragmatic practices. Finally the implications for social work field education and practice are considered. Recommendations are made for sharing the powerful but little known ways of resisting regressive policies and practices in various health and social service organizations.