Anti-Oppressive Practice in Social Service Work

Course Code: SSW 220

Academic Year: 2025-2026

Anti-Oppressive Practice (AOP) is one of the central frameworks used to foster justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in social service work. This course is designed to deepen students' understanding of AOP principles and their application to social service practice. It provides students with the opportunity to recognize and examine multiple forms of oppression that occur simultaneously at the micro, mezzo and macro-level and how these impact marginalized people and communities. Using a multiple modality approach, the course allows students to critically reflect on how social service work can recreate and reinforce structures of oppression through various forms such as unconscious biases of social service workers and unequal power dynamics between social service workers and services users. It invites students to explore ways to eradicate oppression and promote equitable and inclusive social service work practice.