Ready or Not: A Phenomenological Study of Social Work Faculty’s First Year Teaching

Early doctoral programs included a focus on teaching preparation, but doctoral programs today are placing more emphasis on preparing their students for research. Although social work doctoral students are interested in teaching upon graduation, social work doctoral programs are not adequately preparing students for the teaching roles they will likely assume. This phenomenological qualitative research involved interviews with eight new faculty, who are also recent social work doctoral graduates. The purpose of the research was to thoroughly study faculty members’ first year of teaching to understand common experiences and challenges of first-year faculty, the impact of various forms of teaching preparation, and how teaching preparation can be tailored to best prepare doctoral students for teaching. The themes that emerged were: overwhelm and fear in their first year teaching, student behavior and engagement concerns, ADEI and navigating conversations about difficult topics, teaching and social work practice connections and role confusion, continued growth as faculty members and barriers to faculty development, and impact of the doctoral program’s teaching preparation.