Taking Responsibility to Create a Trauma and Social Justice–Informed Workforce

• In Event: The Impact of Racial and Social Justice Programs on Educators and Schools

Abstract

This conceptual paper describes the efforts of professors from multiple disciplines within a university to address curriculum deficits related to the preparation of graduates working in service fields for their work in high-poverty communities. Faculty members from various programs (Nursing, Teacher Education and Educational Leadership, Social Work, Biomedical, Physician Assistants, Criminal Justice, Health Promotion, and General Studies) jointly facilitated a high-impact simulation to ascertain impact on student’s perceptions and personal biases toward disadvantaged community members. The findings are important for facilitating learning (especially in an online learning environment) about the social injustices that can ensue from poverty. The study comes at a time of a pandemic when online learning is at its height, as well as issues with poverty intensifying.

Authors

• Aneta Hogan Walker, University of West Florida

• Susan Densmore James, University of West Florida

• Dana Dillard, University of West Florida

• Chrystina Y. Hoffman, University of West Florida

• Christopher Kevin Wirth, University of West Florida

• Andrea Nelson, University of West Florida

• Patricia Barrington, University of West Florida

• Angie Blackburn, University of West Florida