ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how social work and social policy educators can respond to diversity among their students and promote equality and inclusion in learning and teaching. The profile of students studying social work has for many years included a relatively high proportion of those euphemistically termed ‘non-traditional learners’ (that is, mature students, disabled students, students from minority ethnic groups and those from educationally and financially disadvantaged backgrounds). More recently, the profile of entrants to social policy courses has become more diverse, with more mature entrants (including some with experience of issues featured on their courses, such as poverty and homelessness) and, in some institutions, more minority ethnic students. For educators, such diversity generates issues of inclusion, but a sharp focus on equality is also demanded by the content of both disciplines. Any serious analysis of the impact of social policy measures or social work practices must recognize their record of (and continuing potential for) oppressive effects as well as beneficial outcomes.
