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Educational institutions have the capacity to support immigrant students and English Language Learners through their emotional struggles with racial melancholia, dissociation, and cultural assimilation by utilizing validating curricula that promotes critical consciousness. Unfortunately, many secondary educational institutions routinely neglect the persistent emotional impact of racial melancholia and dissociation while instituting oppressive Eurocentric curriculum teeming with white privilege that undermines cultural diversity. A primary reason why so much modern humanities curricula is devoid of diversity and humanity is because it is subordinate to standardized testing leading to rote, ineffectual academic experiences negating the development of critical thinking skills and critical consciousness for immigrant students and English Language Learners.

This article chronicles a crisis of alignment regarding Critical Pedagogy due to the top-down power structures of White authority that is pervasive in the theory’s North American academic environment. Contesting the often touted “radical” or “revolutionary” nature of Critical Pedagogy in higher education spaces, the author questions his relationship with Paulo Freire’s work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, ultimately abandoning the content of writing over the way the theory/philosophy is lived in academia. Through the lived experience of engaging with community in the James Bay Cree territories and Malawi, the question is asked as to who owns Freire’s rebellious call to action.

This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific Northwestern United States describe their academic and social wellbeing in relation to their racial...

BackgroundPart of a special issue on the high-stakes testing opt-out movement, this article focuses its analysis on the movement within New York State, and examines white privilege and power within one specific organization, the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE). Specifically, I examine how the public-facing work of NYSAPE addressed (or ignored) race and/or racism in their efforts to resist high-stakes testing. I also ask, in what ways do their public stances affirm and reinforce white privilege and power?PurposeI explore the opt-out movement in New York State, and argue that it is a movement that has been largely dominated by white privilege and power. Employing critical race theory as analytical and methodological tools, I briefly examine the development and policy positions of NYSAPE, a coalition of grassroots parent, educator and community organizations.Research DesignThis qualitative case study focuses on NYSAPE and employs critical race theory as a methodological and analytical framework, with specific emphasis on whiteness as property (power) and interest convergence.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe paper aims to engage the opt-out movement in considering how its (in)actions are shaped by racism, a deeply entrenched element in our society, and pushes the movement to take a more liberatory stance for all children. Leaders within the opt-out movement, particularly in predominantly white and middle- to upper-class communities, have to examine their complicity in perpetuating racial inequities.

The teaching of white privilege in Australian tertiary settings is beset by a number of obstacles arising especially from resistance, disbelief and outright obstructionism in white students, and oc...

Introduction General practitioners (GPs) and family medicine clinicians should respond to Indigenous peoples' health needs. However, medical graduates feel underprepared for this work. The foundational elements of racism, white privilege and cultural self-reflexivity remain conspicuously absent from medical education in general practice programmes, despite inclusion in curriculum frameworks. This study explored the perception and experiences of Australian GP educators in teaching this content. Methods We undertook a qualitative study that gathered data through semi-structured interviews with GP educators (n = 12) at a medical school in Victoria, Australia. We utilised the Reflection learning domain of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework to shape interview questions on racism, white privilege and cultural self-reflexivity. Data were analysed from constructivist and Critical Indigenous Theory paradigms to formulate key themes. Results General practitioner educators were challenged by Reflection content, struggled to articulate a refined pedagogy for provision of anti-racist, self-reflexive learning and felt poorly qualified to teach Indigenous health, articulating preference for delegation of teaching to Indigenous peoples. They simultaneously stated the importance of inclusion of Reflection teaching in general practice, alongside expressing beliefs that appeared to devalue its perceived relevance. Students were perceived as being either disinterested or incapable of Reflection learning, or conversely, more engaged than previous generations with these topics. Discussion The results call into question how skilled are GP educators to teach elements of Indigenous health education such as racism, white privilege and cultural self-reflexivity. Unskilled educators can reinforce colonialism in curricula, including through minimisation of content. Stronger anti-racist pedagogy is urgently required in medical education. Vital to this is active research on educator preparedness, evidence-based teaching models and accountable curriculum accreditation.

In describing the paralysis that encumbers those struggling with persecutory guilt about their white privilege, and suggesting we seek opportunities for meaningful repair within the realm of the or...

This article explores how White privilege and a hierarchy of oppression have resulted in competing identities in which gender has been given greater importance compared to race. I argue that the so...

A persistent and growing challenge to the field of neuropsychology is the disconnect between: (a) the increasingly culturally/linguistically diverse populations in need of clinical and research eva...

This article seeks to reveal and problematize the multi-layered construction of whiteness in dance competition culture by illuminating assumptions about technique embedded in ‘all styles’ competiti...

Given our commitment to highlighting current issues, challenges, and responses within social work practice and education globally, the Spring 2021 issue of Advances in Social Work is pleased to present 11 full-length papers written by 40 authors from across the U.S. and Canada. We begin with four papers calling for greater involvement of social work educators and practitioners in arenas including information literacy, dyslexia, digital equity, and independent living. These papers are followed by reports on seven empirical studies in areas of practice as diverse as kinship care, legal representation, collaboration in a dental clinic, and dance and mindfulness. We hope you find these selections on emerging areas of social work practice and education to be informative and inspiring. Each contribution to this issue is introduced below. Sprecial Issue Alert: Just a heads up that our next special issue, Dismantling White Supremacy in Social Work Education, will be released in late summer 2021. With over 100 abstracts submitted, this special issue has garnered incredible interest. We are looking forward to bringing you 34+ original papers (our largest issue to date!) addressing ways that social work education can move forward positively and intentionally in ways that acknowledge the damage wrought by white privilege, promote racial justice and anti-racist practice, and embrace new ways of knowing, teaching, and learning. The Indiana University School of Social Work, through publishing Advances in Social Work as an open access scholarly journal, is grateful to play a role in knowledge production and dissemination in social work. We are continually amazed at the dedication and hard work of our social work colleagues globally who work tirelessly to advance social and economic justice. Marshall on, colleagues! Tribute to Retiring Board Members: Before closing, I would like to take this opportunity to express sincere appreciation to three outgoing AISW Board members who recently retired from the Indiana University School of Social Work: Dr. Karen Allen, Dr. Larry Bennett, and Dr. Bob Vernon. Your contributions to not only Advances in Social Work but to the IU School of Social Work and to the social work profession at large are very much appreciated. Special accolades to Dr. Vernon who has served on the AISW Editorial Board since its inception in 1999. Best wishes to each of you in your next adventures!

NXS began as an experimental bilingual school in a major urban city in Taiwan. Over its twenty-year history, the school transitioned from offering English language instruction for local students to a fully WASC accredited and IB authorized World School. The foreign staff grew from a few staff to comprising two-thirds of the 150-teaching faculty. Despite the size and potential impact of foreign teachers, they have no voice in the school, are excluded from setting the direction of the school, and are largely absent from the life of the school community. Limited opportunities for advancement and intense competition result from few opportunities and dysfunctional relationships between the foreigner teachers, administration, and local Taiwanese teachers. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) proposes that understanding the culture of the organization and its unique context, can allow change leaders to emerge within the faculty and begin the change process. Using Gentile’s Giving Voice to Values Model (Gentile, 2010), and the Cawsey-Deszca-Ingols’ (2016) Change Path Model to guide the change process can address the need for change in the school. The Problem of Practice (POP) identified in this OIP is how the dominant paradigm of teacher as temporary foreign worker in Taiwan undermines individual and collective efficacy which in turn can inhibit the growth of academic excellence. Questions of whiteness, white privilege, and the other are processes that create marginalization and exclusion. Culture is difficult to change, and cultural change efforts have met with limited success. However, as a component of culture, school climate has a significant body of empirical research to support it as a change mechanism. This OIP proposes enabling teachers themselves to monitor and evaluate school climate using teacher initiated participatory processes. Teacher leaders using transformational leadership, grounded in authentic leadership, can begin to assert autonomy within the organization and work towards creating an inclusive cross cultural school community.

This paper draws on personal experiences of teaching white British and Black African students on a social work Master’s course in England. In this paper, I critically discuss the fire at Grenfell T...

Background/ContextInformed by the increasing racial disparity between the nation's predominantly White teaching force and the growing number of students of color in K–12 schools, along with the well-documented struggles that White teachers have in exploring race and racial identity, the authors critique the use of White privilege pedagogy as a strategy for promoting antiracist dispositions in White pre-service teachers.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyBy deploying several concepts central to critical race theory, as well as critiques that note the shortcomings of past attempts at racial reform (Brown v. Board of Education, Voting Rights Act), the authors investigate the effectiveness of White privilege pedagogy within the teacher education setting.Research DesignTo construct our conceptual critique of White privilege pedagogy within teacher education, we reviewed the extant literature that discussed the range of shortcomings to this pedagogical approach. To create a more historical and structural critique, we demonstrated how the tenets of White privilege pedagogy conflicted with key principles of critical race theory and with lessons from past racial remedies. We contend that White privilege pedagogy arises from a racial liberalist worldview and requires an untenable convergence of interests that limits its long-term impact. We parallel our critiques of White privilege pedagogy with arguments used by critical race scholars to explain the limited impact of previous efforts at racial reform.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe authors urge teacher educators to move away from the individualized and over-essentialized representations of racism inherent to White privilege pedagogy in favor of historical, structural, and intersectional discussions of race, racism, and the construction of White privilege.

Under the banner of critical whiteness studies, scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum have spent the past several decades investigating whiteness and white racial identity, both in the United States and abroad. Of the numerous findings, perhaps none is more pervasive than that of white racelessness: the idea that whites do not see themselves in racial terms but instead think of themselves as just normal. This article complicates white racelessness by examining whiteness that is spatially situated as the racial minority. Using an inductive interview method, the author interviews 32 white teachers who currently work in urban, predominantly black schools. Despite previous socialization as the invisible norm, white teachers were effectively racialized by repeated and continuous symbolic interactions with black students and their families. Through a multistep and mutually reinforcing process, teachers went from thinking of themselves as the invisible, raceless norm to seeing themselves as the hypervisible, racial other. Findings also show that white teachers devised ways to navigate their personal racial identities, all while trying to remain effective teachers to nonwhite students. The experiential loss of white privilege is also discussed.

Black students comprise approximately 19% of the preschool population, yet they represent 47% of school suspensions (U.S. Department of Education 2016). Although it is posited that most teachers seek to serve all children to the best of their abilities, research indicates that many school personnel engage in implicit biases that influence their perceptions, behaviors, and interactions with students (Boser et al. 2014). Studies have also found that racial ethnic minority status influences the quality of individual education and level of access to fair and appropriate accommodations a student receives (Farkas Teachers College Record 105:1119–1146, 2003; Magnuson and Waldfogel 2008). Thus, white privilege exerts itself at the start of schooling among our youngest and most vulnerable students and can contribute to increasing racial injustice as these children develop throughout the lifespan. In the current article, we present a multifaceted consultation approach intended to target factors that underlie disproportionate rates of preschool expulsion among black and other children of color. This approach incorporates (a) a systems and contextual perspective to collaborate with preschool programs in promoting effective equity and discipline practices; (b) data-based assessment and decision-making to obtain specific information about programs’ discipline practice and to advance the use of positive behavioral strategies; and (c) interventions to reduce implicit bias and address vulnerable decision points in discipline, with an emphasis on prevention and cultural competence.

Ample research data indicate that young children recognize racial characteristics and subsequently exhibit both positive and negative racial attitudes toward their own and other racial groups. In the early childhood field, educators commonly adopt an anti-bias/multicultural curriculum to address such issues with young children and—with rare exceptions—such methods are subject to ongoing endorsement in the scholarly literature. This article, however, offers a more comprehensive critique of the anti-bias curriculum, including an analysis of the conceptual frameworks underpinning several of the associated teaching strategies. In addition, the present article illustrates how the anti-bias curriculum, though presented as congruent with the empirical evidence with respect to the education of young children and race, departs considerably from these data. Furthermore, the curricula under scrutiny fail to engage young children in critical discussions and classroom practices centering on: (i) power relations; (ii) racism; (iii) whiteness; and (iv) white privilege. This critique concludes with a preliminary conceptualization of anti-racism in early childhood education.

The persistence of white privilege and escalating racism in the United States challenges religious educators to analyze the roots and destructive potential of both. This article draws on historical...

Research suggests that when confronted with evidence of privileged status White people will act to mitigate this evidence by reporting greater levels of personal hardships. There is little research exploring white privilege, or its consequences, in the UK, despite playing host to a diverse, multi-racial population. In the current study, 148 White individuals participated in an online experiment of the impact of exposure to evidence of White privilege. Individuals exposed to evidence of white privilege reported lower perceived personal privilege and greater personal life hardships, than those in the non-exposure condition. Exposure to hardships and belief in White privilege were independently related to reports of hardships but not when belief in personal privilege was considered. Findings suggest that exposure to evidence of White privilege may result in majority group members over-reporting personal hardship, but this may be lessened where personal privilege can be made salient.

The article is principally written for adult educators. It models an auto-ethnographic approach situating this within a critical pedagogic orientation. As an adult educator working in the Republic of Ireland, I draw from two instances in my own life that helped me to re-think my racialised identity. By reflecting on discomforts in terms of my own racial identity, the internalised nature of both white supremacy and racial oppression emerge. The stories and reflections that I share are intended as a prompt for other adult educators, particularly white-educators, to think about their own racialised identity and to contemplate ways in which they benefit from often unacknowledged advantages. This awareness can better equip adult educators to problematise simplistic interpretations of multiculturalism and to authentically ally with those who carry the weight of discrimination.

The debate regarding institutional racism and White privilege within higher education (HE) remains prevalent, and higher education institutions (HEIs) are not exempt from the racial equality debate. Youth and Community Work is underpinned by anti-oppressive practice, highlighting a need to educate informal educators on the structural underpinnings of Race and inequlaity, so that they can be challenged in practice to bring about social change. For Youth and Community Workers, this is primarily done through informal education and critical pedagogy. The research aimed to unearth race inequality within the Youth and Community Work programme at Wrexham Glyndŵr University (WGU). Critical reflection methodology was used to deconstruct departmental processes of recruitment, learning and assessment, student voice, and support. Research data was analysed using thematic analysis, determining three themes: critical consciousness, challenge, and change. These are discussed within the framework of Critical Race Theory and critical pedagogy. The research concludes that oppression, and therefore inequality, occurs in the Youth and Community Work programme. Further reading of issues reported in HEIs across the United Kingdom shows that more analysis and deconstruction is needed through CRT. Educating informal educators on issues of race and inequality to raise critical consciousness is one way this can be achieved.

This qualitative case study investigated how an early childhood teacher and young children in a public White-predominant kindergarten classroom engaged in critical discussions of anti-bias issues including racism, White privilege, gender stereotypes, gender nonconformity, sexism, and homophobia. Through the use of interactive read-alouds using anti-bias picture books, the study’s findings revealed that (a) the children could participate in thoughtful interactions during anti-bias read-aloud sessions and showed their complex understanding of race and gender issues; (b) the children needed substantial support to engage in activism against social injustices; (c) the children displayed a variety of responses to the discussion questions and activities related to gender-themed picture books as most children had difficulties resisting gender binary conceptions and stereotypes while some children, especially boys, were strongly empowered to embrace gender-nonconforming practices; and finally (d) some children internalized and enacted anti-immigrant, anti-Blackness, and racial/gender discriminatory actions to which the early childhood teacher often failed to either disrupt or intervene.

Discussing racism is challenging for nurse educators and nursing students, because White privilege and racial inequities are deeply embedded and normalized in our societal structures. Avoiding the topic of racism in nursing education renders White supremacy invisible and serves to perpetuate racial discrimination and disparities in health care. Nursing education has the potential to train both faculty and students to recognize and dismantle oppressive attitudes, structures, and practices that have led to negative health outcomes for patients. Equipping nurse educators with the tools to understand and address White supremacy as well as to educate themselves and their students about antiracist language, self-care, and patient care is an important step toward promoting health and creating an antiracist society.

Focusing on the hazards and benefits that come with a critical interrogation of Whiteness, the chapter outlines its purpose and framework, and draws attention to the crucial need for it to be symbiotic with intersectional analysis and anti-colonial, anti-capitalist scholarship. This chapter concludes with a schematic framework that offers a way through the problems encountered by fixations with White personal shame or growth, towards an eradication of anti-Black racism in higher education that is served—not blunted—by individual grapples with White privilege, White guilt and White fragility. Cole also offers a practical insight into his own attempts at anti-racist praxis in the Higher Education. Cole proposes an anti-colonial schema of authentic engagement with Critical Whiteness Studies that centres Black radicalism for a positive way forward.