A conceptual framework for taking subversive social work into the classroom

Social work educators commonly describe aspects of subversive social work, or intentionally small-scale practice behaviours of caring resistance which fall outside the professional, procedural, or even legal boundaries of their roles. In contemporary neoliberal practice environments, subversion offers one way in which social workers can practise ethically and in line with their values. Despite this, subversive social work is not commonly or consistently theorised in social work literature or curricula. In this article we present a conceptual framework of subversive social work comprising three elements: caring resistance, ethical alignment and small-scale practices. We then explore implications of teaching subversive social work in a contemporary social work tertiary educational context. We use this paper to argue that small-scale subversive actions may be the way that social workers can remain aligned with their critical approach and practise in a caring, ethically sound manner. To prepare social work students to practice in this way, we suggest that subversion should be explicitly theorised and taught, with a focus on framing subversive practice within social work ethics and values.