Addressing Diversity and Anti-Racism in the Undergraduate Social Work Curriculum in Portugal: A Qualitative Pilot Study

Abstract

Social work education needs to prepare students for culturally relevant practice, and one aspect of that educational goal involves teaching about race and ethnic diversity. Because social workers will likely encounter service users from different racial and ethnic minority groups, they need adequate tools and competencies to address several-isms in social work practice, in addition to being able to recognize their own biases and how to overcome them in favor of better interventions for the populations they serve. Yet, it is unclear how Schools of Social Work in Portugal integrate these core competencies in social work education and training, as research in this field has been dominated mostly by authors in North America. Meanwhile, there is a widespread idea in Portugal that Portuguese people cannot be racist (also known as the myth of Portuguese "non-racism"), alongside a general avoidance of discussing issues related to racial and ethnic discrimination. Faced with this paradox, the main goal of this qualitative pilot study is to present an overall picture of Portuguese undergraduate education in the field of social work and how it embraces or not the values of diversity and anti-racism.

Full text

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
1
Addressing Diversity and Anti-Racism in the Undergraduate Social Work Curriculum
in Portugal: A Qualitative Pilot Study
Erick da Luz Scherf, MSW, PhD student
The University of Alabama, School of Social Work
edaluzscherf@crimson.ua.edu
Abstract
Social work education needs to prepare students for culturally relevant practice, and one
aspect of that educational goal involves teaching about race and ethnic diversity. Because
social workers will likely encounter service users from different racial and ethnic minority
groups, they need adequate tools and competencies to address several -isms in social work
practice, in addition to being able to recognize their own biases and how to overcome them in
favor of better interventions for the populations they serve. Yet, it is unclear how Schools of
Social Work in Portugal integrate these core competencies in social work education and
training, as research in this field has been dominated mostly by authors in North America.
Meanwhile, there is a widespread idea in Portugal that Portuguese people cannot be racist
(also known as the myth of Portuguese “non-racism”), alongside a general avoidance of
discussing issues related to racial and ethnic discrimination. Faced with this paradox, the main
goal of this qualitative pilot study is to present an overall picture of Portuguese undergraduate
education in the field of social work and how it embraces or not the values of diversity and
anti-racism.
Keywords: social work, education, Portugal, racism, discrimination
Introduction
This qualitative pilot study addresses the lack of and need for anti-racist social work education
in Portugal, a Southern European country marked by the persistence of colorblind racism. It

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
2
does so by introducing primary data collected through in-depth interviews with social work
faculty, results from a content analysis of social work curricula, and the author’s auto-
ethnographical account of pursuing an anti-racist research agenda at a predominantly White
European institution. With that said, before proceeding to the study’s context and methodology,
let us start with the paradigmatic story of Bruno Candé, a Black Portuguese actor brutally
murdered as a result of racist violence.
A child of immigrants from Guiné-Bissau - a former Portuguese colony - Bruno Candé
Marques was born in Portugal in 1980. He grew up to be an actor with the theater company
Casa Conveniente, portraying roles in TV and theater stages; he was also a father to three
children (“Bruno Candé,” 2022). On July 25th, 2020, Bruno Candé was sitting on a bench in
Avenida de Moscavide (located in the Lisbon Greater Metropolitan area), accompanied by his
dog Pepa and a radio player, when Evaristo Marinho, a White male in his 70s shot him four
times (“Bruno Candé,” 2022).
Three days before his tragic death, the same man had shouted several racial slurs at Bruno,
because his dog allegedly barked at him: “‘Go back to your land, you n(-word)! You have your
whole family in the slave house and you should be there too”; “‘F****ng n(word), I’ll kill you”
(Marcelino & Câncio, 2021, para. 2-3, my italics), and he did. Yet, according to Police reports,
no racial motivation was found in connection to this crime (Marcelino & Câncio, 2021).
Despite these colorblind views reproduced by many Portuguese public authorities, the
conservative media, and far-right politicians, Bruno’s assassination had a clear racial motive.
The truth is that his killer had already threatened him with death before the actual incident by
repeatedly shouting racist insults against him. Following his assassination, even in the middle
of the COVID-19 global pandemic, several demonstrators took to the streets across Portugal to
show support and demand justice for Bruno and other victims of racist violence in the country
(see Figure 1).

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
3
Figure 1. Street protest in Lisbon following the assassination of Bruno Candé
Source: Adapted from Henriques (2020).
The tragic story of Bruno Candé is not an isolated event, racism in Portugal is both systemic
and structural (Araújo, 2008; Roldão, 2022). Discrimination and violence based on race or
ethnicity, or both, are not uncommon, despite the huge under-reporting of racially motivated
violence (Roldão, 2022). Therefore, the is an urgent need to to face racism as a real element
built into the daily life of Portuguese social relations (Santos & Vasconcelos, 2019), something
that has been avoided over several decades by Portuguese society (Matias & Pinto, 2020).
Despite the well-documented accounts of racism (Vala et al., 2015), xenophobia, and other
forms of discrimination against people of color, ethnic minorities, or those with a migration
background in Portugal (Marques, 2012), there is a general misconception in society, politics,
and the media that Portuguese people cannot be racist or that they are “less” racist than in other
European countries (Araújo, 2006; 2007).
This myth of Portuguese non-racism is deeply rooted in the country’s colonial past and its
lusotropicalist assumptions, that is, an “idea of a special skill that Portuguese people have for
harmonious relations with other peoples, their adaptability to the tropics and their inherent lack
of prejudice” (Valentim & Heleno, 2018, p. 34). For decades, this rhetoric has prevailed in

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
4
Portuguese academia and society, leading to the prevalence of racial colorblindness or
colorblind ideologies – i.e. the intent not to ‘see color’ or to avoid using the term race altogether
(Lundström, 2021) – which makes it very difficult to have open discussions on racism and
discrimination.
This scenario has started to change, although at a slow pace, and one major development
toward antiracist public policies in Portugal was the adoption of the first-ever National Plan to
Combat Racism and Discrimination (Plano Nacional de Combate ao Racismo e à
Discriminação), in 2021. The Plan has the ambitious goal of promoting equality and fighting
racism and related discrimination, through concrete actions and strategies coordinated by
interministerial task forces, committees, and other relevant stakeholders (Conselho de
Ministros, 2021). Different provisions in the Plan allow or actually demand the introduction of
curricular units and classroom discussions around racism and racially-motivated violence,
ethnicity, and diversity, as well as other themes such as the history of colonialism and slavery
as part of the education and training of professionals in Higher Education Institutions across
the country (Conselho de Ministros, 2021).
With that said, despite the more recent shifts in narratives towards an acknowledgment of
systemic or structural racism in Portugal and its pervasive effects on racialized groups (Araújo
& Rodrigues, 2018; Castelo, 2021), the organization of the Portuguese educational system is
still pretty much centered around nationalist ideologies and the notion of European identity
(Pereira & Araújo, 2017), stepping away from multicultural education, and, as expected,
essentially lacking educational guidelines that address issues of racism, or even equity and
diversity.
Taking this tumultuous context into consideration, this investigation is particularly
concerned with the extent to which colorblind ideologies might still inform social work
education in Portugal. The argument here is that a potentially colorblind social work curriculum

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
5
can contribute to these normative discourses and possibly to the reproduction of systemic
oppression (Choi, 2008). The history of social work education in the Euro-American context
has been, in recent years, highly criticized for its lack of acknowledgment of the historical
contributions made by racially diverse groups to the development of social work as a field of
knowledge and practice (Wright et al., 2021). There is an emerging body of literature arguing
that, historically, social work education has gravitated towards whitewashed narratives and
colorblind ideologies (Constance-Huggins et al., 2020; Wright et al., 2021), which has been
particularly harmful to racial and ethnic minorities. It is in the wake of these intellectual
contributions related to ethnic and racial diversity in social work education and training that
this work has emerged.
Hence, this pilot study addresses the importance of racially-sensitive content and diversity
in social work education in Portugal. According to Sousa and Almeida (2016, p. 546), “ethnicity
and racism do not appear to be very important issues in public debates or as a priority of social
intervention” in Portuguese society. After analyzing the social work curricula of all higher
education institutions in Portugal at the time, they concluded that “of these 19 social work
courses, more than half (12), did not include any curricular units with denomination alluding
to diversity, cultural sensitivity or cultural competence” (Sousa & Almeida, 2016, p. 548, my
italics). This work builds upon the findings from Sousa and Almeida (2016) and goes further
to investigate the place of anti-racist values in social work education in Portugal.
In line with the latest Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training (IFSW &
IASSW, 2020), this study advocates for a more intentional approach to culturally sensitive
practice and anti-racist values in social work teaching and training in Portugal and, in the end,
makes suggestions on how to possibly improve the current state of affairs. It is also important
to mention that this study focused primarily on Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) curricula from
different Portuguese Schools of Social Work and did not extend to graduate-level training.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
6
The Need to (Re-)Think Social Work Education from Anti-racist and Decolonial Lenses
Historically, social work professionals around the world have engaged considerably with
‘vulnerable groups’, and diverse, often minoritized populations (Gitterman, 2014). Given the
rights-based nature and the social justice focus of their profession, social workers have
delivered interventions to individuals and entire communities intending to facilitate
sociopolitical change and to provide service users with the resources they need to thrive (Pawar,
2014). This is the ‘good side’ of the history of social work as a profession.
Yet, social workers have also been accused of perpetuating harm and reproducing the same
inequalities they once swore to combat (Asher BlackDeer & Gandarilla Ocampo, 2022). For
instance, Calvo and Bradley (2021) argue that social work as a discipline and profession is
highly influenced by notions of White supremacy and that this manifests in different ways in
teaching, research, and practice. According to them, “higher education institutions sustain and
reproduce this approach to the profession by normalizing the knowledge, experiences, and
values associated with whiteness” (Calvo & Bradley, 2021, p. 920). Therefore, there is a
growing body of literature in the field of education more generally speaking, and social work
more specifically, demanding that we decolonize, diversify, and deconstruct the curriculum
(Housee, 2022; Ranta-Tyrkkö, 2011; Asher BlackDeer & Gandarilla Ocampo, 2022), so that
social work training and education is capable of living up to its promises of social justice,
equity, diversity, and inclusivity.
Deepak and colleagues (2015) analyze the delivery of these themes in social work education
with a focus on the implicit curriculum. According to them, social work education and practice
indeed demonstrate a longstanding commitment to social justice and cultural
competency/sensitivity, nonetheless, this is repeatedly hindered by our profession's historical
wrongdoings, which frequently impact low-income individuals and families of color (Deepak

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
7
et al., 2015). This is why it is so important to revisit, time and again, how issues of racism,
discrimination, and oppression are dealt with in the social work classroom. The results of their
study shed light on the elements that facilitate or pose obstacles to the effective delivery of
diversity and social justice content (Deepak et al., 2015).
For instance, a commitment to cultural and social diversity has been part of the US Council
on Social Work Education (CSWE) since the 1980s. However, many European countries,
including Portugal, lack clear guidelines on these issues and how they should be addressed in
the social work classroom. Often forgotten is that the emergence and the institutionalization of
the social work profession in Portugal were characterized by ideas of racial superiority and
repressive morality (Carvalho, 2010; Carvalho & Pinto, 2015).
The profession was also dominated by women of the bourgeois classes and highly influenced
by reformist ideas linked to the national education political project, which carried the motto
“God, nation, and family” (Carvalho & Pinto, 2015). Despite its transformation over the
decades, a critical appraisal of the history of the profession is still lacking at many Portuguese
Schools of Social Work. This may be due also to the fact that social work education in Portugal
does not have a common curriculum based on national educational policy or accreditation
standards (Sousa & Almeida, 2016). This is why looking at different teaching practices across
a multitude of Higher Education Institutions is an important task.
In 2020, the Portuguese National Council of Education released a recommendation
concerning the role of anti-racist education in the country. The document mentions the
persistence of institutional blindness to racism and discrimination, and a failed attempt of
Portuguese society to implement a “post-racial strategy”, that is, if we simply stopped talking
about race/ethnicity it would make racism simply go away (Menezes et al., 2020). Considering
this background, the Council suggested, among other things, the inclusion of anti-racist, anti-

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
8
discriminatory, and diversity content in all levels of formal education in Portugal (Menezes et
al., 2020).
To provide effective and culturally competent services to these populations, social workers
need to have a deep understanding of how culture, ethnicity, race, and other social factors and
identity markers impact people's experiences and needs. Social workers need to be able to
recognize and address issues of racism and discrimination in their practice, and to work towards
creating more just and equitable systems and policies. Portuguese social work education needs
to address the ongoing legacies of colonialism, racism, and other systems of oppression head-
on to live up to global standards of teaching, research, and practice.
Since the 1980s, in the field of education research more specifically, and social research
more broadly, there has been a growing body of literature that has positioned racial issues as
central to the discussion of research methods and epistemology (Pillow, 2003); authors writing
from different fields have challenged Eurocentrism and racism in existing frameworks and
epistemologies and have argued for race-based methodologies to be taken seriously by
educational researchers (Pillow, 2003). Within this intellectual tradition lies Critical Race
Theory (CRT), and more recently, theories for Anti-racist Education (Delgado et al., 2012).
CRT as a theoretical framework is relevant to this study because it allows us to recognize
and challenge structural/systemic racism and intersectional forms of oppression and
discrimination in and outside of the classroom (Morton, 2022). It may also help reconcile the
curriculum with the lived experiences of people of color (Morton, 2022), something that liberal
theories of education are not equipped to do. At the same time, theories of Anti-racist Education
are often utilized to explain and combat racism's enduring effects, focusing on praxis to advance
social justice and the establishment of a fully democratic society (Blakeney, 2005). Anti-racist
pedagogy tells us that is not enough for education to not be racist/discriminatory, it needs to
actively question racism and other systems of oppression (Blakeney, 2005).

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
9
In sum, this article argues that Portugal’s history of colonialism, enslavement, and its
implications for the current ill-treatment (to say the least) of Black people and other people of
color at all levels of Portuguese society needs to be an integral part of social work teaching.
Current and future social work professionals in Portugal need to be trained and prepared to
openly challenge racism and White supremacy at different levels of practice (Copeland & Ross,
2021), which is something that has been largely overlooked over the years by Portuguese
Schools of Social Work. While there is not a ‘one size fits all’ strategy for addressing
colonialism, racism, discrimination, and diversity in social work education, it is of ultimate
importance to acknowledge the need for structural changes in the way we teach and practice, to
allow social work educators to challenge intersectional forms of oppression and discrimination
in and outside of the classroom.
Materials and Methods
This is primarily a qualitative pilot study intended to “test the waters” so to speak, in a certain
manner concerning the state of social work education in Portugal with references to the place
of racially and culturally sensitive teaching practices. Conducting a qualitative pilot study
concerned with social work teaching can help researchers refine their research methods, identify
gaps in the literature, and feasibility test of the design, but also build trust with communities
and enhance the validity and reliability of data collection (Malmqvist et al., 2019; Creswell,
2009).
The short-term goal is to encourage the production of more studies that foster culturally
sensitive approaches to teaching, grounded on values of inclusivity and respect for racial and
minoritized populations, especially given the lack of literature in this field outside the North
American context. Because a Bachelor of Social Work degree is the qualifying degree required

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
10
to enter/exercise the social work profession in Portugal according to Law no. 121/2019
(Assembleia da República, 2019), and also due to time and resource limitations, the focus
remained solely on the undergraduate social work curriculum.
This article is the result of the second phase of a research project developed by the author
during the final stages of his Master of Social Work (MSW) program when he was tasked with
writing a Master’s level thesis that was developed and conducted at a Portuguese university
located in Lisbon, the country’s capital. The first phase of the project resulted already in a study
approved for publication in an international social work journal. This first paper (Author, 2024)
adopted a content analysis methodology to comprehensively assess the presence of anti-racist
themes in the curricula of all BSW programs in Portugal. Results unequivocally pointed out
that the curriculum of first-cycle social work programs at the majority of Portuguese Higher
Education Institutions lack a clear and systematic strategy to address the themes of anti-racism,
anti-discrimination, and culturally sensitive practice (Author, 2024).
This second study adds to that understanding by interviewing faculty members from at least
five different Schools of Social Work across Portugal and describing the author’s own
experiences and challenges in conducting an anti-racist research agenda in a predominantly
White European institution. The author has employed a convenience sample methodology to
select participants, mostly because the research targeted a very specific population: i.e., full-
time social work college professors in Portugal. Over twenty (n = 20) participants were
contacted through email and telephone over a 3-month period, but only five in total (n = 5)
agreed to participate and consented to have their interviews recorded. Informed oral consent
was collected before the beginning of every interview. Approval by an Institutional Review
Board was not necessary according to Portuguese Laws and Regulations for a Masters-level
thesis; the research was approved by the student’s advisor and university at the time.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
11
In-depth, semi-structured interviews of around 60-70 minutes were conducted and recorded
via Zoom platform with social work professors; one of them was also a BSW program director.
Transcription of the recordings was made possible through the Artificial Intelligence tool called
Transkriptor (https://transkriptor.com/), which the author paid for himself. Final interview
transcripts were reviewed one by one by the author to ensure accuracy. Coding was done
manually by the author, who used a color-blocking technique to identify and generate relevant
codes based on the primary data collected. After all codes were finalized, the author grouped
relevant quotes from the interviews into three themes, two of which are presented and discussed
in this manuscript. Interviews were originally conducted in Portuguese but the results are
presented and discussed in English to facilitate readership for an international audience. A short
auto-ethnographical account is presented toward the end of the article, to contextualize some of
the challenges faced by the author in pursuing this topic. Limitations of findings and
methodology are also discussed toward the end.
Results and Discussion
This section introduces and discusses the data collected for the study and analyzes them in light
of selected theoretical frameworks and previous works published on the topics of racial and
ethnic diversity in social work education. This portion rapidly presents an overview of findings
from another study by the same author (Author, 2024), which resulted from a keyword search
of curricular plans and syllabi of undergraduate (better known in Europe as ‘first cycle’) social
work programs in Portugal. It is important to notice that the analysis only accounts for explicit
mentions of words and concepts in the formal curriculum, and not for ‘tacit knowledge’ or the
‘hidden curriculum’.
Analysis of Portuguese BSW Curricula

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
12
In a previous study, the author looked through the curricular plans and units of all active BSW
programs across Portugal and performed a word search for the terms race, ethnicity, diversity,
and related ones, accounting also for synonyms (Author, 2024). This type of research with the
same methodology has been executed before in other contexts (e.g. Teasley & Archuleta, 2015),
including one study about social work education in Portugal (Santos & Martins, 2016; Sousa &
Almeida, 2016). Looking at the curriculum is an important task because it is not merely a piece
of document, quite the contrary, it reflects broader power struggles over what is considered
valid knowledge. A summary of the curricular content analysis is displayed in Table 1.
Table 1. Content analysis of BSW programs in Portugal concerning selected themes
Source: Adapted from Author (2024)
Race and/or ethnicity, racism,
xenophobia, and related
discrimination
Diversity and/or
intersectionality
Migration-
related
content
Number of BSW
programs with
explicit mentions
in the formal
curriculum
(mandatory
courses only)
5
(≈ 38%)
13
(100%)
7
(≈ 54%)
Total number of programs analyzed: 13 (a total of two programs were left out of the count for
not having any curricular information available online)
As noted by Author (2024), after going through every curricular unit of every syllabus available,
a few patterns could be identified. The first one is that the content in the formal curriculum
varies greatly across Portuguese Schools of Social Work. As mentioned before, social work
education in Portugal does not follow nationally established guidelines, which means that
universities are pretty much responsible for deciding what is going to integrate the formal
curriculum and what is not. Therefore, one BSW program can look very different from another
in terms of core courses and competencies. Also, differing from what Sousa and Almeida (2016)

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
13
had initially found, the majority of BSW programs did integrate some content about diversity,
especially cultural diversity, in the core curriculum. While some syllabi integrated topics related
to discrimination, racial and ethnic discrimination appeared in way less frequency in
comparison to other topics (Author, 2024).
The findings from the analysis of the formal curriculum are preoccupying because racism,
discrimination, or any type of violence tied to racial and ethnic bias appear in the Curricular
Units at a much lower rate than the other topics. When these findings are viewed through the
lenses of CRT, for example, proponents of this theoretical framework would likely tell us that
addressing systemic racism and related systems of oppression must be a foundational
component of social work education (Williams, 2022). They would also urge us to discuss the
intricacies of systemic racism as a social justice issue in the field of social work teaching and
practice (Williams, 2022). Considering Portugal’s history of denying racism through colorblind
attitudes and policies, an absence of anti-racist and culturally sensitive values in the formal
social work curriculum might lead to a (un)intended colorblind view of reality.
Interviewing Social Work Faculty
To obtain further information about how Portuguese Schools of Social Work address the
questions brought about by this pilot study, five (n = 5) semi-structured interviews were
conducted with professors and current or past BSW program directors at five different HEIs in
Portugal. Conducting a higher number of interviews was quite hard due to the short time frame
available for the project when it was being conducted, on top of lack of funding and difficulties
in recruiting research participants. Even if saturation was not reached, these interviews give
more nuance to the study in general and they account for themes not mentioned in the formal
curriculum.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
14
When it comes to the demographic information of the participants interviewed, they all
identified as women (n = 5), their ages varied between 42-58 years of age, they all have doctoral
degrees, and have been working in higher education for more than 10 years. Any further
information was concealed to preserve their right to anonymity, including the name of the
university they are currently employed. Purposeful sampling was the method employed to select
participants. Prior to the interview, the author developed a semi-structured questionnaire with
the help of his thesis advisor that was connected to the original study’s research questions and
objectives. It is also important to mention that the author was not allowed to collect data on
participants’ race or ethnicity, since the Portuguese Constitution and Laws prohibit researchers
from doing so. Going further, the results from the data collection are divided into two thematic
sections, which resulted from the primary coding strategy. Participants all come from different
universities, both public and private, across different geographical locations in the country.
Theme 1: Interrogating Curriculum and Teaching Practices at the BSW level
The first question asked to the participants was whether the BSW program at the university they
work with addresses or not the themes from this study, i.e., mainly diversity and anti-racism. If
it does, they were asked to state in which modules or Curricular Units (CUs). The first
participant mentioned that, at their social work program, there are not necessarily any CUs
especially dedicated to ethnoracial or diversity issues:
There is no Curricular Unit that is specific that is called or that has that denomination, you
see? What happens is, that these themes are eventually addressed, in the Curricular Units
that address gender, cultural, and racial diversity and in teaching practices. That is, imagine,
I teach a subject on Theories of Social Work, and there I speak, in some way, about cultural

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
15
and racial issues, and so on. But, with very light contents that are not deepened. (Participant
1, personal communication, 2023, my italics).
This small piece of data indicates that at least in the first participant’s BSW program there is a
“subjective frequency” related to the discussions on race, ethnicity, and diversity. Nonetheless,
Participant 5, for example, indicates that although not always expressly mentioned in the
curriculum, these topics are indeed addressed by social work professors at their university:
Although these terms – or if you like, the issue of diversity – may not be described in the
nomenclature of a Curricular Unit, when we try to understand what the syllabus has, we find
some Curricular Units in which these issues are addressed. In general, I think any of us, and
I also speak for my colleagues, I think that all of us normally, whatever the subject, whatever
the discipline, are very careful to relate all of these questions to diversity itself, whether in
terms of culture, whether in ethnic or racial terms, because in fact, thinking about Social
Work, it would always have to be thought in that way, wouldn’t it? That is, from our
definition [of the profession], so it wouldn’t make sense for us not to talk about it.
(Participant 5, personal communication, 2023).
While respondents indicate that the themes are “intrinsically” or “transversally” present. if one
cannot identify these topics throughout the formal curriculum, it makes it harder to objectively
evaluate their presence, or absence for that matter. On the other hand, at other HEIs, their
strategy to address these issues seems to be clearer, at least in the teacher’s discourse or account:
Let's say that even before we get exactly to practical training, we have the Curricular Units,
for example, more linked to the methodological-theoretical repertoire of Social Work. For
example, Intervention Methodologies: I teach a Curricular Unit, together with a colleague,
in which we start by defining the approaches to reality, in the context of intervention, that

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
16
the social worker can have, and then we have guidelines, for example, much more linked to
Critical and Radical Social Work, and to Structural Social Work. And within this Critical
Social Work approach, when we dismantle it, we end up addressing anti-oppressive
practices, anti-discriminatory practices, and, obviously, here within discrimination, then all
these dimensions enter, obviously from the context of ethnicity, racism, etc. (Participant 2,
personal communication, 2023).
In this case, it seems like the chosen pedagogical approach aims not to discuss these themes
individually, but in connection with social work theories, including theories on anti-oppressive
and anti-discriminatory social work practice (Dominelli, 1997; 2002). The same participant also
mentioned that, while implicitly present on both theoretical and practical CUs, these topics are
not always brought up in classroom discussions:
That is, there are situations in which the student or us [the professors] may not bring this up
in a specific intervention, I don't know, if we're talking about a senior context, for example,
maybe it's not this approach that is predominant, but as the sessions are collective, and there
is a transfer of knowledge here, so, deep down, all students also end up having contact with
this reality. But if you ask me: is this the ideal situation? That is, if this is a topic, like on
your scale from zero to five, right? Is it the most discussed topic? It is not! I think it wouldn't
be. (Participant 2, personal communication, 2023).
This speaks again to the subjective frequency identified in another participant’s account of the
curriculum and their own teaching. At another BSW program, for example, the themes seem to
be addressed more frequently, at different moments throughout the curriculum, and the
professor was capable of pointing them out with more detail:

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
17
We have [these themes] in the Study Plan, every year, from the first to the fourth year, we
have several disciplines that specifically work on these issues. I'm thinking, for example,
that we have a specific one on Contexts and Inequalities. Then we have the subject of
Vulnerabilities even in the first year… We have the various subjects of Sectoral Policies that
also allow this illustration, that is, beyond what the legal frameworks are, it opens up this
opportunity to have this discussion. Then we have other disciplines, such as Family
Psychosociology […] Therefore, concerning the Study Plan, there is this possibility [to
address these questions]. Also, for example, one of the things I do is to approach this theme
via the works of Maya Angelou, to work on the issues of racism and segregation, which has
a specific theoretical tendency, doesn’t it? (Participant 3, personal communication, 2023).
Some of the methodologies mentioned by Participant 3 seem to be in line with the goals of anti-
racist social work education, which include incorporating the worldviews of Black authors,
scholars, and practitioners, into the social work classroom (Asher BlackDeer & Gandarilla
Ocampo, 2022). They mentioned several good examples of how they introduce the themes of
anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-oppression through poetry, music, and other arts-
based approaches to professional education (Leonard et al., 2018):
The discussion is also done through videos and songs, and now, in the first year, on the
Social Policy course, we have analyzed song lyrics that deal precisely with issues related to
racism, related to diversity, and even specific situations of poverty, namely in Latin America.
Just to get an idea, for example, we analyzed the song ‘Canción para un Niño en la Calle’
by Mercedes Sosa, which I don't know if you're familiar with, but I highly recommend it,
which doesn't talk about specific issues of racism, but talks about childhood poverty and
which obviously brings a very concrete context. And then the students also bring, for
example, the documentaries of Emicida and so on, and of other singers who are

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
18
“intervention musicians”, through which these issues are discussed and evaluated.
(Participant 3, personal communication, 2023).
This is a positive example that stands out, regarding how to incorporate discussions on anti-
racism and diversity in the BSW curriculum through arts-based education, something that this
work did not necessarily explore but that is intimately aligned with the goals and guidelines for
global social work education. Therefore, based on these preliminary findings, it might be safe
to assume that anti-racism and diversity content are addressed in fundamentally different ways
across various BSW programs in Portugal. While at some universities they occupy a more
privileged space in the curriculum, they appear in less frequency at others, albeit this frequency
appears to be subjective all across the board. The pedagogical tools and teaching methodologies
chosen to introduce and debate these issues also seem to be fundamentally different.
Overall, there seems to be an urgent (and currently unmet) need for the social work
curriculum in Portugal, at least at the Bachelor’s level, to explicitly recognize and address anti-
racist and diversity values by promoting critical consciousness and self-reflexivity and
empowering students to challenge racism and other forms of discrimination in their future
practice as social workers. A “shy approach” to ethnoracism in the social work classroom would
likely be criticized by CRT scholars and anti-racist social work educators, as it can be colorblind
or complacent to racism (Jones, 2021), suggesting that it fails to adequately address systemic
and structural issues faced, especially by marginalized individuals and communities of color
(Constance-Huggins, 2012; Morton, 2022; Williams, 2022). An explicit acknowledgment of
the roles of race and ethnicity and a sustained commitment to anti-racist education is necessary
to challenge racism and discrimination and to promote social justice through social work
education and practice.
Theme 2: Challenges in Embracing Diversity & Anti-racism In and Outside the Classroom

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
19
Another theme that emerged from the interviews was related to the challenges and opportunities
in embracing discussions around race, ethnicity, and diversity in the social work classroom.
Here, the participants referred to the political, economic, and socio-cultural spectra of
Portuguese society, and how this context may facilitate or not the integration of these themes
in social work education. One participant also mentioned pedagogical limitations, including a
lack of adequate training to even address these topics:
Because actually, wow, I don't think I have the training to do it. Because talking about this
topic is not for everyone. Because we can create, let's say, even discrimination when we are
talking about this issue it is not always easy to deal with it, and it’s not in our culture to
approach it. On the other hand, after the internship and supervision, when there are
internships with culturally different groups and ethnic groups, such as the Roma, anyway,
it's not quite another race, because we're all part of the human race, right? We have that
philosophy, but actually saying we're all part of the human race doesn't mean there's no racial
discrimination, right? And then there will eventually be some questions that are reflected on
some of these themes. (Participant 1, personal communication, 2023).
Participant 1 shows concern over the sensitivity of the topics, especially as they relate to racism
and related discrimination, and feels like they lack the adequate tools to introduce this
conversation with their students. They also mention a widespread tendency to avoid these
discussions, in and outside the classroom:
On the one hand, this is not part of our educational culture, to talk about this topic, it is a
topic that is somehow still hidden. On the other hand, as we don't talk about it, we don't have
enough knowledge to address it, because there is a current of thought on these issues, isn’t
there? It comes from postmodernism, et cetera. We don't have this background, and then also

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
20
in cultural and political terms, we are a country that, despite being colonialist and also having
this history of slavery and a set of other issues, these topics are not often discussed. We tend
to, not really hide it, but to leave that past away, kept in a drawer. (Participant 1, personal
communication, 2023, my italics).
This general avoidance of discussing the legacies of racism, colonialism, and other systems of
oppression is not uncommon in Portuguese society. Meanwhile, Participant 2 demonstrated
some concern over the persistence of discrimination (of various natures) in Portugal and they
argued that some advances have been achieved in this area, but also mentioned that social
workers cannot ignore the barriers that stand in the path toward equality and non-
discrimination:
Now, let's not get under any illusions, shall we? We are not going to say that Portugal, as we
sometimes hear, "Portugal, is not a racist country", in fact, it is often part of our DNA, right?
And discrimination based on many factors is still part of it and, therefore, it is through
education that we are overcoming it, and through communication, through interaction…
There has been some investment in this area, but it is not an ideal situation. And if we are,
for example, to go to other areas of the country where there are Roma communities, for
example, what happens is that there is discrimination based on lifestyles and professional
occupations and, therefore, there are still areas where we witness [this discrimination], and
if not, there are issues of discrimination based on other factors such as sexual orientation...
It is clear that we still have many situations of discrimination, and they can come from
several sources of oppression. As Social Workers, then, we cannot live under the illusion
that the situation is ideal. (Participant 2, personal communication, 2023).

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
21
Moreover, Participant 4 also mentions the necessity to evaluate and challenge students’ pre-
conceived ideas and prejudices as they can hinder a culture of respect for diversity, especially
if we take into consideration the growing influence of far-right extremism in Europe more
generally speaking, and in Portugal more specifically:
And we see this [these themes] not only from the point of view of the work that our students
are going to do in their internship, placements, and the intuitions where they are going to
work, but also because we think that students, as citizens, themselves have to be challenged
at this level, and we noticed that first-year students come to us with some prejudice issues
that often need to be worked on. We see the level of prejudice, and we all have prejudices,
we have preconceived ideas, but we don't want them to go from prejudice to other levels of
violence and all that. Moving on to the panorama that we have at the European level, for
example, not wanting to talk about politics, but the extreme right gaining some weight here,
it is an issue that concerns us because we think that, for example, in terms of immigration
and other minorities that may exist at various levels, it can call human rights into question
(or put it in check). (Participant 4, personal communication, 2023).
Therefore, it seems like the professors interviewed are at least aware of why talking about and
incorporating diversity and anti-racist values in social work education is important. Another
interesting fact or challenge brought up by one of the participants was that, after the Bologna
process (which restructured higher education entirely at the level of the European Union and
beyond), professors had considerably less time to address certain topics, given the reduction of
years that students spend now on a BSW program:
The degrees already offer so little time, right? I did it in 5 years, and now it's 3 years or 3
and a half years, it seems too short to me, and it's almost as if we couldn't go deeper, right?

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
22
Therefore, we try to ensure that students can take at least the ideals, which means that this
issue of culture, diversity, and discrimination, are topics that are addressed, so it is not
strange to them. However, we will probably have to leave the more specific subjects for
continuing education and training, in which they can go deeper into certain types of subjects
that are of more interest to them. (Participant 5, personal communication, 2023).
In sum, when statements such as "talking about this topic is not for everyone" (P1) are analyzed
from the perspective of CRT, for example, one could argue that discussing sensitive topics such
as race and racism can indeed be challenging and uncomfortable for social work educators who
have not received adequate training or education on these issues (Deepak et al., 2015). Yet,
when applying the lenses of anti-racist pedagogy and anti-racist frameworks for practice, the
lack of training also mentioned by one of the participants would be seen as a call to action rather
than a reason to avoid discussing these issues in the social work classroom (Blakeney, 2005;
Dominelli, 1997). This also reveals the need to offer social work faculty the opportunity to
engage in continuing education programs, in this case with a focus on critical, anti-racist, or
anti-discriminatory pedagogy.
To offer a secure and inclusive learning environment for students, anti-racist pedagogy
emphasizes the need to actively address and combat racism in educational environments
(Blakeney, 2005). Therefore, we, as social work educators, are required to be aware of our
prejudices and to regularly participate in self-reflection (Deepak et al, 2015; Morton, 2022;
Williams, 2022). Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive approaches can also be useful to
address some of the challenges mentioned by participants, including (but not limited to) the
persistence of discrimination (of different sources), as well as the advancement of the anti-rights
agenda in Portugal and beyond. For instance, the anti-oppressive framework brought forward
by Dominelli (2002), focuses, among other things, on the necessity to eradicate racialized

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
23
discrimination and other sources of oppression, both in social work practice as well as in society
more generally.
As another participant also pointed out “It is clear that we still have many situations of
discrimination, and they can come from several sources of oppression” (P2), therefore, social
work education in Portugal could benefit a lot, not only from anti-racist approaches priorly
mentioned, but also from incorporating an intersectionality approach in classroom discussions.
Intersectionality scholarship emphasizes how different social and identity markers intersect in
complex ways to create unique experiences of privilege and disadvantage or marginalization
(Crenshaw, 2017; Simon et al., 2022). Therefore, as an educational or pedagogical tool,
intersectionality can help social work educators address diversity based on a strong foundation
for transformative practice (Jani et al., 2011), which focuses on intersecting universes of
power/privilege/oppression (Dominelli, 2002; Simon et al., 2022). Ultimately, the preliminary
findings from the content analysis of BSW curricula and pilot interviews with social work
faculty reveal the need for filling a potential gap in social work education in Portugal, i.e. the
need for an intentionally diverse and anti-racist BSW curriculum.
Auto-ethnographical Account of Pursuing an Anti-racist Research Agenda in Portugal
Auto-ethnography is a method or approach in which the author or researcher describes and
analyzes their personal experiences in order to comprehend cultural experiences through
research and writing (Ellis et al., 2010). Rather than culture alone, this auto-ethnographical
account follows a person-in-environment perspective, by examining the academic and larger
sociopolitical environment in which the author himself was positioned during the time this
study was conducted. To do that, a process of reflexive journaling about feelings, experiences,
and memories was employed. These narrative-based accounts are described below.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
24
The author’s positionality played an important role in selecting the themes for the original
study. Being an international student from Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, who also
identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, considerably shaped his experiences in the
Portuguese academic system. Nonetheless, going further, for the sole purposes of this auto-
ethnographical account, I hope the readers will excuse me for using a first-person narrative.
First of all, despite the fact that Portuguese is my mother tongue, I would often be corrected
when speaking or writing in Portuguese, which speaks about the persistence of linguistic racism
in Portuguese academia and society (Ashtari & Krashen, 2023). Despite it being quite annoying,
the heightened problems really started when I proposed this topic (i.e., diversity and anti-racist
values in social work education) as the focus of my MSW thesis.
My initial idea was only to talk about racism, that was the plan all along. However, my main
advisor told me that they did not feel comfortable discussing race alone and that we should add
the concept of diversity to my proposed project. Fearing that my project would not be accepted
otherwise, I accepted the suggestion, against my better judgment. Throughout the three months
in which we were supposed to conceptualize, implement, and write the findings for this research
project, I encountered several challenges and backlashes from both my advisors and other
faculty members who taught social work courses. Below are some of the comments I heard in
meetings with my advisors and in the thesis seminars we had:
● “This work is not really academic, it is more like activism” - Social work faculty
member at a thesis preparation seminar
● “Are you sure that you want to talk about race? Race does not exist in Portugal” –
Advisor in different meetings
● “Should social workers really be worried about this?” - Social work faculty member at
another thesis preparation seminar

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
25
● “Don’t you think you are discriminating against White people with this thesis?” –
Comment by thesis evaluator at public defense
● “I still do not understand why you think this topic is important” – Comment by thesis
evaluator at public defense
Because I took detailed notes of all meetings and seminars we had throughout the semester
regarding my thesis project, I was able to capture a spirit of disdain and disregard for my topic,
which is only partially represented in the quotes I highlighted above.
Near the end of my thesis preparation, I was asked by my primary advisor to remove the
words race and ethnicity altogether from my work and to focus solely on diversity. However, I
never wanted to talk about diversity in the first place and the only reason I did was because I
felt like I had no other option. Notwithstanding, my final thesis defense was particularly
traumatizing, in the sense that the comments made were almost against my character, instead
of the work being presented. And I know that because I participated in so many research
conferences before where I presented my work and never received comments charged with so
much ill-intent.
Therefore, my experience of pursuing an anti-racist research agenda in Portugal was
extremely challenging and, in total honesty, very emotionally draining. I felt like I needed to
constantly prove the scientific value of my research to an audience composed of only White
European academics who, it felt like, were never challenged in their biases or perspectives, and
therefore did not care too much about what I had to say. It ultimately resulted in burnout to me,
which I now understand can be explained through concepts such as the racial battle fatigue
(Danquah et al., 2021). The only thing that kept me going was the awareness I had of how
important and necessary my research was, given the virtual absence of similar studies in the
social work academic field in Portugal.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
26
Limitations
This work, at least at the time of writing, was the first documented attempt to identify and
understand the incorporation of anti-racism values in undergraduate social work education in
Portugal. Nonetheless, it does not come without limitations. A qualitative pilot study with a
small sample size, such as five in-depth interviews, and curriculum content analysis can provide
valuable insights, but it also has limitations such as limited generalizability, potential bias in
sampling techniques, room for subjectivity, and time and resource constraints. With that said
the preliminary findings indicate at least the existence of a considerable gap that needs to be
further explored in the field of social work teaching and research in Portugal. Additionally,
future research may seek to replicate findings from this study with larger and more diverse
samples to enhance the generalizability and robustness of the results.
Concluding Remarks
This qualitative pilot study addresses a largely neglected aspect of social work education in
Europe more generally speaking (with the exception of the United Kingdom), and Portugal
more specifically: the role of diversity and anti-racist values in teaching and learning. The
historical and sociopolitical context of Portuguese society is an interesting one when it comes
to dealing with diversity and racial issues. For many decades, the idea of a “natural inclination”
that the Portuguese have toward tolerance and acceptance of difference has prevailed in the
public discourse. This normative speech makes it hard to have public discussions on the
meanings and ongoing impacts of racism, xenophobia, and related discrimination.
After interrogating the structure of several BSW programs in Portugal, it is unequivocal that
the social work curriculum at many universities and institutes of higher learning lacks a more
clear and systematic strategy to address the themes of anti-racism and anti-discrimination.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
27
While cultural diversity is debated in pretty much every BSW program across the country,
violence and discrimination based on racial and ethnic categorizations are not always expressly
mentioned. Additionally, while in other countries such as the United States, where teaching
about racial and ethnic diversity has been a mandate of social work education since the 1980s,
these issues do not seem to have occupied a privileged space in the history of social work
education in Portugal. Therefore, while the Portuguese Social Work curriculum is not entirely
colorblind, some BSW programs might be missing key competencies related to anti-racist and
anti-discriminatory social work practice as a result of a subjective frequency of when and how
these themes are discussed.
Overall, to foster an anti-racist and anti-oppressive education, Portuguese Schools of Social
Work could aim for a more consistent and comprehensive approach to addressing diversity,
racism, and discrimination across the curriculum. In that spirit, steps could be taken to ensure
that: first, there is a greater emphasis on diversity coursework, and, secondly, there is a serious
commitment to anti-racist education in BSW programs in Portugal. Other aspects could involve
providing social work educators with specialized programs and training in the area of Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), as well as with competencies necessary to address systemic
racism and discrimination. Future research in this area could also consider questioning students
about their perceptions of these topics, as well as if they feel like they have been adequately
exposed to diversity content and discussions around racial and ethnic discrimination.
Both the social work profession and social work education in Portugal have a rich, unique
trajectory that accompanied the country’s social and political transformations over the years.
Portugal is an increasingly diverse country, which means that social workers are likely to
encounter individuals, families, and communities from diverse backgrounds, and they need to
have the adequate tools to work with these individuals in a way that respects their diversity and
upholds social work values at the same time. This is not an easy task whatsoever. However,

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
28
good examples from home and from abroad can be replicated and adapted to provide social
work students with the tools necessary to work with people who are more often than not
racialized and minoritized. Social work education ought to build a foundation for students to
critically evaluate social structures and processes, challenge prevailing narratives, and advocate
for transformative change by actively engaging with anti-racist and anti-discriminatory
practices in teaching, research, and service. In doing so, social work education and training in
Portugal can significantly contribute to the development of future professionals who are
dedicated to removing systemic barriers, advancing social justice, and establishing more
inclusive and equitable communities.
Acknowledgments
To be included after peer review.
Declaration of Interest Statement
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Additionally, no funding was provided during any
phase of this research.
References
Araújo, M. (2006). The colour that dares not speak its name: schooling and ‘the myth of
Portuguese anti-racism’. In International Conference Equality and Social Inclusion in
the 21st Century: Developing Alternatives. Belfast, Northern Ireland.
https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/handle/10316/42632
Araújo, M. (2007). O silêncio do racismo em Portugal: o caso do abuso verbal racista na
escola [The silence of racism in Portugal: the case of verbal racist abuse at school]. In

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
29
N. L. Gomes (Ed.), Um olhar além das fronteiras: Educação e relações raciais (pp. 77–
94). Autentica.
Araújo, M. (2008). Racismo.pt? [Racism.pt?]. Somos diferentes, somos iguais: diversidade,
cidadania e educação. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/42649
Araújo, M., & Rodrigues, A. (2018). História e Memória em Movimento: Escravatura,
Educação e (Anti-)Racismo em Portugal [History and Memory in Movement: Slavery,
Education and (Anti-)Racism in Portugal]. Revista História Hoje, 7(14), 107–132.
https://doi.org/10.20949/rhhj.v7i14.468
Asher BlackDeer, A., & Gandarilla Ocampo, M. (2022). #SocialWorkSoWhite: A Critical
Perspective on Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and Social Justice in Social
Work. Advances in Social Work, 22(2), 720–740. https://doi.org/10.18060/24986
Ashtari, N., & Krashen, S. (2023). Confronting linguistic racism. USC Rossier School of
Education. https://rossier.usc.edu/news-insights/news/confronting-linguistic-racism
Assembleia da República (2019). Lei n.º 121/2019, de 25 de Setembro [Law no. 121/2019].
https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=3160&tabela=leis&ficha=
1&pagina=1&so_miolo=
Author (2024). Title redacted. Forthcoming in The International Journal of Social Work
Values and Ethics. (*Complete reference to be added after peer review)
Blakeney, A. M. (2005). Antiracist pedagogy: Definition, theory, and professional
development. Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 2(1), 119–132.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15505170.2005.10411532
Bruno Candé. (2022, July 31). Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bruno_Cand%C3%A9&oldid=64113152

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
30
Calvo, R., & Bradley, S. (2021). Good, the bad, and the ugly: Lessons Learned Dismantling
White Supremacy in a School of Social Work. Advances in Social Work, 21(2/3), 920–
933. https://doi.org/10.18060/24466
Carvalho, M. I. (2010). Serviço Social em Portugal: percurso cruzado entre a assistência e os
direitos [Social Work in Portugal: Crossroads Between Assistance and Rights]. Serviço
Social e Saúde, 9(10), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.20396/sss.v9i2.8634890
Carvalho, M. I., & Pinto, C. (2015). Desafios do Serviço Social Na Atualidade em Portugal
[Challenges faced by Social Work in Portugal nowadays]. Serviço Social & Sociedade,
121, 66–94. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-6628.014
Castelo, C. (2021, February 26). Portuguese non racism: On the historicity of an invented
tradition. AFRO-PORT, University of Lisbon.
https://cesa.rc.iseg.ulisboa.pt/afroport/portuguese-non-racism-on-the-historicity-of-an-
invented-tradition/
Choi, J. A. (2008). Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class. Educational
Foundations, 22(3-4), 53–71. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ857639.pdf
Conselho de Ministros (2021). Plano Nacional de Combate ao Racismo e à Discriminação
2021-2025 — Portugal contra o racismo [National Plan to Combat Racism and
Discrimination 2021-2025 - Portugal against racism]. Diário da República.
https://www.cig.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/0002000072.pdf
Constance-Huggins, M. (2012). Critical race theory in social work education. Critical Social
Work, 13(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.22329/csw.v13i2.5861
Constance-Huggins, M., Davis, A., & Yang, J. (2020). Race still matters. Advances in Social
Work, 20(1), 132–151. https://doi.org/10.18060/22933
Copeland, P., & Ross, A. (2021). Assessing antiracism as a learning outcome in Social Work
Education. Advances in Social Work, 21(2/3), 766–778. https://doi.org/10.18060/24139

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
31
Crenshaw, K. (2017). Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades
Later. Columbia Law School. https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/kimberle-
crenshaw-intersectionality-more-two-decades-later
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches (3rd ed). Sage Publications.
Deepak, A. C., Rountree, M. A., & Scott, J. (2015). Delivering diversity and social justice in
Social Work Education: the power of context. Journal of Progressive Human Services,
26(2), 107–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2015.1017909
Delgado, R., Stefancic, J., & HARRIS, A. (2012). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2nd
ed.). NYU Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg9h2
Dominelli, L. (1997). Anti-Racist Social Work: A Challenge for White Practitioners and
Educators (2nd ed.). Macmillan Press.
Dominelli, L. (2002). Anti-Oppressive Social Work Theory and Practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2010). Autoethnography: An Overview. Forum
Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1), 1-18.
https://doi.org/10.17169/FQS-12.1.1589
Gitterman, A. (Ed.). (2014). Handbook of Social Work Practice with Vulnerable and Resilient
Populations (3rd ed.). Columbia University Press.
Henriques, J. G. (2020, July 31). Manifestação por Bruno Candé: “Existe muita gente racista
e é importante mostrar que estamos fartos” [Demonstration for Bruno Candé: “There
are a lot of racist people and it is important to show that we are fed up”]. Público.
https://www.publico.pt/2020/07/31/sociedade/noticia/manifestacao-bruno-cande-existe-
gente-racista-importante-mostrar-fartos-1926611.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
32
Housee, S. (2021). Enough is enough: De-colonise, diversify and de-construct the curriculum.
Social Policy and Society, 21(1), 123–133. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746421000567
IFSW & IASSW. (2020). Global Standards for Social Work Education & Training.
https://www.iassw-aiets.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IASSW-
Global_Standards_Final.pdf
Jani, J. S., Pierce, D., Ortiz, L., & Sowbel, L. (2011). Access to intersectionality, content to
competence: Deconstructing social work education diversity standards. Journal of
Social Work Education, 47(2), 283–301. https://doi.org/10.5175/jswe.2011.200900118
Jones, B. L. (2021). The loud silence of racism: It is killing us all. The American Journal of
Bioethics, 21(2), 4–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1864107
Leonard, K., Hafford-Letchfield, T., & Couchman, W. (2018). The impact of the arts in social
work education: A systematic review. Qualitative Social Work, 17(2), 286–304.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325016662905
Lundström, C. (2021). “We foreigners lived in our foreign bubble”: Understanding colorblind
ideology in expatriate narratives. Sociological Forum, 36(4), 962–983.
https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12747
Malmqvist, J., Hellberg, K., Möllås, G., Rose, R., & Shevlin, M. (2019). Conducting the Pilot
Study: A Neglected Part of the Research Process? Methodological Findings Supporting
the Importance of Piloting in Qualitative Research Studies. International Journal of
Qualitative Methods, 18, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919878341
Marcelino, V., & Câncio, F. (2021, January 19). Foi ódio racial que matou Bruno Candé,
acusa Ministério Público [It was racial hatred that killed Bruno Candé, argues Public
Prosecutor's Office]. Diario de Noticias. https://www.dn.pt/sociedade/investigacao-da-
pj-provou-odio-racial-no-homicidio-de-bruno-cande-13247985.html.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
33
Marques, J. F. (2012). Racism in Portugal; the recent research. In H. Moser, A. P. Ortega, &
A. Sprung (Eds.), Europe in crisis: Migrations, Racisms and Belongings in the New
Economic Order (pp. 148–153). European Society for the Education of Adults.
Matias, A.R., & Pinto, P. F. (2020). “Pretoguês/pretuguês”: breves notas sobre o papel do
racismo na construção histórica de um não-lugar de fala [“Pretoguês/pretuguês”: brief
notes on the role of racism in the historical construction of a non-place of speech].
Caderno MICAR: textos para a 7ª edição da Mostra Internacional de Cinema Anti-
Racista. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/26330
Menezes, I., Brocardo, J., & Malhó, L. (2020). Recomendação: Cidadania e Educação
Antirracista [Recommendation: Citizenship and Anti-racist Education]. CNE.
https://www.cnedu.pt/content/deliberacoes/recomendacoes/REC_Cidadania_Educacao_
Antirracista.pdf
Morton, T. R. (2022). Critical race theory and STEM education. Oxford Research
Encyclopedia of Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1614
Pawar, M. (2014). Social Work Practice with local communities in developing countries.
SAGE Open, 4(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014538640
Pereira, A. A., & Araújo, M. (2017). Race, History, and Education in Brazil and in Portugal:
challenges and perspectives. Educação & Realidade, 42(1), 139–160.
https://doi.org/10.1590/2175-623661127
Pillow, W. (2003). Race-Based Methodologies: Multicultural Methods or Epistemological
Shifts? Counterpoints, 195, 181–202. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42978086
Ranta-Tyrkkö, S. (2011). High time for postcolonial analysis in Social Work. Nordic Social
Work Research, 1(1), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/2156857x.2011.562032
Roldão, C. (2022, September 29). On e offline: um tsunami chamado racismo [On and
Offline: A Tsunami Called Racism]. Público.

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
34
https://www.publico.pt/2022/09/29/opiniao/opiniao/on-offline-tsunami-chamado-
racismo-2022217
Santos, A., & Vasconcelos, P. (2019). O ativismo negro em Portugal: dinâmicas e
reivindicações [Black activism in Portugal: dynamics and claims]. Revista Migrações,
16, 79–96. http://hdl.handle.net/10071/20031
Santos, C. M., & Martins, A. M. (2016). The Education of Social Assistants in Portugal:
Trends in critical thinking. Revista Katálysis, 19(3), 333–341.
https://doi.org/10.1590/1414-49802016.003.00003
Simon, J. D., Boyd, R., & Subica, A. M. (2022). Refocusing intersectionality in social work
education: Creating a brave space to discuss oppression and privilege. Journal of Social
Work Education, 58(1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2021.1883492
Sousa, P., & Almeida, J. L. (2016). Culturally sensitive social work: Promoting cultural
competence. European Journal of Social Work, 19(3-4), 537–555.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2015.1126559
Teasley, M., & Archuleta, A. J. (2015). A review of social justice and diversity content in
diversity course syllabi. Social Work Education, 34(6), 607–622.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2015.1037828
Vala, J., Brito, R., & Lopes, D. (2015). Expressões dos Racismos em Portugal [Expressions
of Racism in Portugal] (2nd ed.). Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de
Lisboa.
Valentim, J. P., & Heleno, A. M. (2018). Luso-Tropicalism as a social representation in
Portuguese society: Variations and anchoring. International Journal of Intercultural
Relations, 62, 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.013

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
35
Williams, E. J. (2022). Conceptualizing the Use of Critical Race Theory as a Teaching Tool
and Intervention Approach. Doctor of Social Work (DSW) Capstone Reports.
University of Alabama School of Social Work. https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8493
Wright, K. C., Carr, K. A., & Akkin, B. A. (2021). Whitewashing of social work history.
Advances in Social Work, 21(2/3), 274–297. https://doi.org/10.18060/23946

This is a pre-print, do not cite this version. This manuscript is currently under review in
Social Work Education: The International Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cswe20).
36
Tables
Table 1. Content analysis of BSW programs in Portugal concerning selected themes
Source: Adapted from Author (2024)
Race and/or ethnicity, racism,
xenophobia, and related
discrimination
Diversity and/or
intersectionality
Migration-
related
content
Number of BSW
programs with
explicit mentions
in the formal
curriculum
(mandatory
courses only)
5
(≈ 38%)
13
(100%)
7
(≈ 54%)
Total number of programs analyzed: 13 (a total of two programs were left out of the count for
not having any curricular information available online)
Figures
Figure 1. Street protest in Lisbon following the assassination of Bruno Candé
Source: Adapted from Henriques (2020).