Conceptualizing Professionalization for Black Social Work Students

This paper presents a conceptual practice model for professionalization to serve Black students who are matriculating through social work programs, especially those who are novice or less experienced in the field. The model is informed by a review of literature that explores professionalization of Black students across disciplines including social work, as well as my empirical research with Black students (across the Black Diaspora) in a related field who were pursuing graduate degrees. It is also contextualized by the Council of Social Work Education's Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. I end the paper by making recommendations for utilizing the model in social work education, while uplifting best practices in Black-centered social work programs and practice models. This piece prioritizes Black students as its audience, to help (a) demystify professionalization for them and (b) explicitly identify actions they can take to personalize and pursue their own developmental processes.