Transgender: a curriculum for inclusion

There is a gap that currently exists in the basic diversity course for the Master of Social Work (MSW) at California State University Sacramento, in that transgender specific content is not equally included. This missing information creates a lack of awareness for all social work students in their education of a vulnerable population. Early inclusion of transgender content into graduate diversity courses is essential for building a foundation for cultural competence. A curriculum was constructed from a deep secondary meta analysis of existing information including, electronic and academic sources, historical data, books, film, and other relevant resources, including the researcher's personal involvement in the transgender community. This analysis helped to determine what was most relevant to include in an introductory transgender curriculum for social work students including; terminology, history, political struggles and the specific and cultural needs of transgender people. The curriculum is designed to invite social work students to examine their own biases toward gender variant people, as well as aid in building on their repertoire of social work skills and strategies for practice within the context of human diversity.