TITLE:
The Natural Environment in Social Work Curriculum: A Narrative Reflection of Teaching-Learning through a Sustainability Course Design and Delivery
AUTHORS:
Somnoma Valerie Ouedraogo
KEYWORDS:
Critical Reflection, Natural Environment, Narrative Approach, Teaching-Learning, Social Work, Sustainability
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.15 No.4,
April
19,
2024
ABSTRACT: This paper aims to narrate the author’s journey about a newly designed course called, Social Work and Sustainability offered at the beginning of social work education, which she used to develop and improve a learning material to enhance her teaching. It is a narrative reflection centered on class observations (from 2016 to 2019) and integrates a discussion of research related to sustainability in higher education. The author used both worldview and narrative methodological approaches to reflect on the course design and pedagogy process. Then Zapf’s (2008) model of the person as environment is expanded to lay out the evolution of the traditional ecosystems’ framework with the interconnectedness model framework of sustainability. The study highlights the importance of decolonization approaches and transgressive pedagogy calling for the development and implementation of Sustainable Social Work from a culturally-grounded perspective. The study recommends social workers to advocate for a reconnection with the natural environment through the integration of environmental awareness into theoretical and practical aspects of social work.