Evaluating Mandated Antiracism Continuing Education in Social Work

The social work profession maintains a foundational commitment to racial justice and supports antiracist practice. Within this field, continuing education (CE) requirements for licensure serve the crucial role of ensuring that practicing social workers remain current with their knowledge and skills. Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, social workers petitioned the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers to officially institute an antiracism continuing education requirement. Following unanimous approval, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate continuing education content focused specifically on antiracism and antidiscrimination.

To evaluate this newly established policy, a study utilizing a mixed-methods cross-sectional design explored licensed clinical social workers' (N = 232) perceptions of the mandate, their personal experiences fulfilling the continuing education requirement, and their self-reported knowledge of antidiscrimination and antiracism.

The study's results demonstrated that most participants (87.5 percent) believed the requirement would improve their practice. However, only some participants (58.6 percent) felt that the mandated duration of three hours was an appropriate length. In addition, participating licensed clinical social workers reported significant implementation outcome issues, particularly in terms of clarity, ease of fulfillment, and communication surrounding the new requirement. To expand on these findings, researchers analyzed participants' open-ended responses using descriptive coding, which further clarified these implementation outcome issues.

Finally, the study discusses future policy and practice implications for continuing education requirements in social work. Specifically, the authors emphasize the need for future efforts to address critical barriers to adoption, cost, and perceived appropriateness when designing and implementing continuing education mandates.