Progressive Field Education: Social Justice, Human Rights, and Advocacy

Abstract

Progressive field education provides experiences and knowledge that will enable social work and human service students to integrate a social justice orientation into their practice framework. Some of the key elements of progressive field education are social justice, human rights, inclusion, empowerment, and advocacy. The overall aim of progressive field education is to prepare students to acquire requisite knowledge and skill development that fosters a paradigm shift in how social work and human service work is conceptualized and practised. This shift is essentially about understanding the links between private troubles and public issues; viewing social problems as rooted in structural inequalities at the social, economic, and political level; and taking on problems such as classism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, and ableism. In progressive field education, field placements might be referred to as social action field placements because the focus of the placement is usually a project that is related to a social problem such as poverty, homelessness, violence against women, bullying in the workplace and in schools, racism, homophobia, discrimination, or inequality. As Martin (2007) explains, social action or activism is "action on behalf of a cause, action that goes beyond what is conventional or routine. The action might be door-to-door canvassing, alternative radio, public meetings, rallies, or fasting. The cause might be women's rights, opposition to a factory, or world peace." One of the ways a social action field placement differs from a traditional placement is that its focus on the social issue is broader and more structural than it would be in an individual-focused placement.