Evidencing anti-racism in student assignments: where has all the racism gone?

Ensuring practitioners are equipped to recognize and deal with racism would appear to be a primary concern for social work. Yet the way practitioners develop and/or consolidate their understanding of racism and anti-racist practice is unclear. This study aimed to explore how students demonstrate anti-racist thinking in assignments at one key phase of the learning process. The findings suggest considerable variance in terms of students' ability to demonstrate antiracist thinking in written assignments. While there are likely to be diverse opinions as to how the new honours degree in social work is taught and assessed, some valuable opportunities may be missed without a greater consideration of anti-racist practice. This article suggests there is a need to link a framework of inequality to teaching approaches that encourage critical thinking if students are to engage with anti-racism in a meaningful way.