Designing social work skill-based intensives for increased inclusion, equity, and accessibility: a scoping literature review

Internationally, social work courses are expected to embody inclusion, equity, respect, and human rights. Within Australia, distance/online social work courses have a long history, and many students presently study online. Australian standards require that students attend 20 days of face-to-face practice-based skills learning across the duration of their course. Distance students meet this requirement through traveling to attend ‘intensives’: short, focused on-campus learning periods. This scoping literature review investigates the following question: What does the literature published since 2019 say about how educational institutions can maximize inclusion, equity, and accessibility to intensives for social work skills-based learning? The literature reveals that intensives are inaccessible for many students, notably students experiencing poverty, students living with disabilities, and students with employment or caring obligations. Moreover, the preferencing of face-to-face learning for intensives/skills education is unevidenced. Social work educators demonstrate innovation in practice-skill based education online and offline, and research suggests moving beyond ‘online vs face-to-face’ dualism and toward developing best-practice for accessible, inclusive, and equitable skill learning in varied study modes. This review helps educators critically contend with the need for social work courses to meaningfully redress barriers to skills education and engage strategies that support inclusion.