NGO Education Survey

Anti-Racist Social Work

This course is designed to enable students to gain greater knowledge about the sources, manifestation, and consequences of racism in contemporary Canada and to develop the commitment and skills to practice social work in a culturally competent and anti-racist manner. Students will consider the ways in which racism permeates traditional social work ideology and practice. A structural approach to social work in a multicultural context which links racism to other forms of oppression will be explored.

Ecology and Social Justice

This course will examine the relationship between ecological devastation and social injustice. The course will review the forces, both national and global as well as governmental and nongovernmental, which contribute to the exploitation of the environment and people. Values, policies, and interventions which are conducive to bringing about social and ecological justice will be examined. Potential roles for social work, particularly at the individual, community, and societal levels, will be discussed.

Ethics in Social Work Practice

Using a case study approach that draws upon practice experiences of New Brunswick social workers, this course explores ethical issues and dilemmas across population groups, and levels and fields of practice. The goals of this course involve students developing and demonstrating a critical understanding of ethics theory situated within a sociopolitical and cultural context; knowledge of common ethical issues in social work practice and ethical guidelines impacting on practice; application of this knowledge through assessment and ethical decision making skills; and self-awareness in relation to these issues.

Foundations in Native Isuues

This course is an introduction to Native issues and constitutes a foundation for social work practice with Native peoples. Indigenous world views globally will be explored with emphasis on Native peoples in Maritime Canada. The impact of colonial practices and policies on Indigenous peoples will be examined in the context of issues relevant to social work practice with Native and Indigenous peoples.

Fundamentals of Community Organizing

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of community organization. It provides a beginning knowledge base and skills for facilitating social change in the context of community. Content areas include the nature of community, the process of community organizing, strategies such as social action, diversity and social change, and the role of the community worker.

Organizing for Action with Diverse Groups

The pursuit of social justice is a core value of both social work education and social work practice. The purpose of this course is to teach students the historical context, the fundamental concepts, and the direct skills necessary for organizing and enacting social change efforts within diverse contexts and with diverse groups. Students will be exposed to various theories of social change, multiple modes of working for social change, and techniques for strategizing for maximum effectiveness in pursuing change efforts. Students will be expected to use their knowledge in an applied manner and will engage in hands on change efforts with diverse groups and in various diverse contexts.

Research Strategies in Native Studies

Surveys various research strategies from Anthropology and Sociology and assesses their applicaability to, and compatibility with, Native Studies. Considers special protocol and ethical questions in research on Native Peoples. Prerequisite: NATI 1006 or by special permission of instructor.

Social Development

This course examines the concepts and issues surrounding social development as an alternative approach to the dominant service orientation to social welfare. Students will have an opportunity to examine new ways of conceptualizing social work purposes and practice in advanced capitalist societies by studying concrete examples representing attempts by marginalized groups and communities to solve needs fundamental to their well being.

Social Policy - Current Issues and Global Contexts

This course will provide an opportunity for students to develop a beginning awareness, sensitivity, and understanding of the scope and impact of global or international issues on the lives of people in other parts of the world and our own lives, as well as on social policies and social work practice at all levels. As well, this course will explore the efforts of organizations (at the local, national, and international levels) which address international concerns.

Social Work and the Organization

This course is designed to assist social workers to practise within human service organizations and to participate in the process of organizational development and change.

Social Work in Rural Areas

Much of the social work knowledge and practice was developed in large urban areas and has limited relevance to non-urban areas such as rural New Brunswick. This course will examine the unique nature of rural areas and the implication that this unique nature holds for the social work practitioner. The emphasis of the course will be on the generic nature of rural interventions and the need to maintain an orderly and well-defined problem-solving approach which is sensitive to individual and community issues.

Social Work Organizations and Native People

This course will assist social workers to practice in human service organizations in Native communities. The course will include a theoretical and historical analysis of why and how specific organizations such as the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) affect First Nations communities. There will be an emphasis on issues of leadership and on the political organizations that are relevant to First Nations. Issues of self-determination and implications for social work practice will also be discussed.

Social Work with Oppressed Groups

This course will introduce social work students to the concept and nature of modern day oppression: its origin, its causes, its various forms, its dynamics, the social processes and practices that produce and reproduce it, the political functions it carries out for the dominant group, its effects on oppressed groups, and the various responses of oppressed persons to it including internalized oppression. The situation and experiences of several oppressed groups in Canadian society will be examined, and anti-oppressive forms of social work practice at all levels of intervention will be explored.