Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Perspectives Across the Explicit Curriculum: Insights and Efforts from a School of Social Work

Principles of diversity and difference are and have historically been, essential to social work education. However, preparing students with the knowledge, awareness, and skills of anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices has been less central in social work education until recently. In June 2022, the Council on Social Work Education issued new Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) guidelines. Most notable was the addition of EPAS 2.0, requiring social work programs to integrate anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) approaches throughout social work programs' context and learning environment. Responding to EPAS 2022 and our program's commitment to social and racial justice, this article presents our school's process for critically assessing and revising how our explicit curriculum integrates critical ADEI perspectives. We highlight the findings from a rapid scoping review of ADEI content in the social work literature. Additionally, we discuss the revisions and recommendations used in our school to ensure the intentional integration of ADEI critical perspectives in our curriculum and the future efforts our school is making to support ADEI perspectives.