Posted by 
The term “future ready” is popular – one sees it frequently in day to day life. But what does it mean for social work faculty and for Ph.D./D.S.W. students currently intending to make higher education – and the preparation of the next generation of social workers their careers?
This past year, I had a number of occasions to explore this topic with faculty and a variety of doctoral students at various levels of their preparation. Given consideration – one can imagine that a brand new doctoral degree who is looking at a 30 year career ahead simply must assume disruption, complexity and challenge that is unprecedented in the history of the academy – and in social work. If I were hiring right now, I’d be looking for people have been thoughtful, analytic and curious about these types of dynamics and first and foremost – are committed to being rigorous lifelong learners.
I thought I’d share my developing ideas here in the blog. I welcome the opportunity to continue to develop these ideas – because of course the process of getting ready for what comes next is ALWAYS a work in progress and never really done.
High priority for “future ready” social work faculty:
- Clear orientation towards a practice/research ecosystem that is undergoing significant and systemic turbulence. A prospective future ready faculty member would have the analytic capacity to identify how these trends (economic, climate, migration, technological and others) would impact vulnerable people now and in the future with related courses of research and/or practice to remedy/address without compromising social work values and ethics. An ability to articulate risks/opportunities in the future with regard to his/her/their practice area.
- Clear orientation towards a higher education ecosystem that is undergoing significant and systemic turbulence. A prospective future ready faculty member would be prepared and engaged in efforts to simultaneously preserve important elements of the traditions of higher education with ideas, experiences and accomplishments that indicate capacity to participate in intentional systemic evolution without compromising social work values and ethics.
- Skills related to educational, analytic and/or communication technology in higher education. A demonstrated ability to positively contribute system-wide in this area.
- Orientation towards “cognitive load management” given the influx of competing demands. A prospective future ready faculty member would have skills and an ability to articulate how he/she/they manage competing demands and “noisy” educational/practice settings (given that this dynamic will likely increase not decrease in the future).
- An ability to articulate and apply social work values and ethics in new kinds of practice challenges (e.g., artificial intelligence, increased use of technology) with a specific eye towards emerging and potentially ill-defined equity challenges of the future. Orientation towards the need for and commitment to continuing to evolve social work ethics given 1 and 2 above.
- Ability to articulate frameworks for and skills with 21st century equity work with developed sensibilities about how equity work will change in the future (esp. as related to technological and political variables) in both higher education and social work practice settings. This may include but is not limited to concepts of “tech design justice.”
- Ability to articulate plans for and articulate desire to manage going learning and personal career-long development with an understanding of, respect and passion for being impactful given 1 and 2 above.
- Ability to span local to global (and back again) in new ways as the interconnectedness across geopolitical boundaries increases in the years to come.
- Ability to work in interprofessional contexts and contribute meaningfully in interdisciplinary settings.
Special thanks to Dean Eddie Uehara and Dean Nancy Smyth for guidance and input on these ideas.
Social Work Futures 