Working with resistance to diversity issues in the classroom:: Lessons from teacher training and multicultural education

Social work programs are mandated by the Council on Social Work Education to address issues of difference, privilege, oppression, and discrimination at both the baccalaureate and graduate levels. Teaching courses that address these issues can be difficult, especially when students are resistant to the kinds of analysis and self-reflection that diversity education requires. While the idea of resistance is discussed at length in the clinical social work and social work education literatures, ideas about addressing and using student resistance in multicultural social work education are not well-developed. This article suggests that social work educators might benefit from an examination of perspectives on student resistance found in the field of education and, specifically, in the multicultural higher education and teacher training literatures. Four areas that are addressed at length in these literatures are described in this paper: Resistance as a source of information about group process: resistance as a measure of student readiness; resistance as a reflection of the larger sociopolitical context; and resistance as a resource for facilitating student learning and engagement. The paper concludes with a discussion of strategies that social work faculty might use to prevent, address, and use student resistance in multicultural social work education.