Description:
The article focuses on several approaches to improve social work in remote, rural and regional locales in Australia. It says that despite the need for social work services, human service agencies face difficulty in retention and recruitment of qualified staff. To address such problems in rural social work, it suggests the involvement of urban universities, which provide social work education, by supporting rural student placements. It mentions the need for industry support to encourage and assists student in rural placements. It also states that distance education can be an alternative for students from rural locales. Moreover, it says that continuing professional development opportunities should be provided for rural social workers.
Description:
When a student experienced a personally challenging situation during field placement, she and her field supervisor worked through the scenario together, using a process of critical reflection. Many ideas and assumptions were unsettled for both, and aspects of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics were questioned. Using critical reflection as a pedagogical tool, we reflect on how discourses affect our practice. We demonstrate this by undertaking a political reading of the AASW Code of Ethics. Our analysis exposes tensions between the core social work value of ‘respect for persons’ and the practice responsibility of social workers to undertake culturally competent, safe and sensitive practice. We suggest that the Code of Ethics is predominantly embedded in Kantian philosophy and limits our ability to practise in culturally sensitive ways, as it denies the impact that knowledge and power have on our work with Indigenous communities specifically, and all non-Western peoples more broadly.
Description:
Field education placements permit social work students to gain practical experience employing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. Access to field education placements is dependent upon placement interviews during which candidates have to display their professional and personal suitability. Placement interviews are challenging for all students. For international students, they are particularly challenging as they represent a litmus test as to whether they have achieved a sufficient degree of cultural adaptation. To date, little attention has been paid to the way placement interviews are experienced by international students. This article addresses this gap. The article is based on a qualitative study involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five international students focusing on the way placement interviews were experienced, how students felt prepared for them, and the degree to which language proficiency, cultural difference, social connectedness, discrimination, and Australian workplace culture represented a challenge. The findings suggest that international students need be to better informed about opportunities associated with field placement and the often implicit requirements and expectations associated with it. The authors argue that they would benefit from targeted educational resources ranging from English language tuition to interview role play.
Description:
Field education placements permit social work students to gain practical experience employing the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. Access to field education placements is dependent upon placement interviews during which candidates have to display their professional and personal suitability. Placement interviews are challenging for all students. For international students, they are particularly challenging as they represent a litmus test as to whether they have achieved a sufficient degree of cultural adaptation. To date, little attention has been paid to the way placement interviews are experienced by international students. This article addresses this gap. The article is based on a qualitative study involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five international students focusing on the way placement interviews were experienced, how students felt prepared for them, and the degree to which language proficiency, cultural difference, social connectedness, discrimination, and Australian workplace culture represented a challenge. The findings suggest that international students need be to better informed about opportunities associated with field placement and the often implicit requirements and expectations associated with it. The authors argue that they would benefit from targeted educational resources ranging from English language tuition to interview role play.
Description:
Introduction: Effective social work practice is predicated on empowering, inclusive and culturally responsive communication, and yet, there appears to be very limited focus on language awareness, let alone critical language awareness, in contemporary social work education - both within and beyond the Australasian context. This gap is more worrying against a background where neoliberal and instrumental discourses (Habermas, 1969 O'Regan, 2001) have freely proliferated, and now threaten to colonise virtually all areas of private and public life (Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999). In response, this article advocates the inclusion of Critical Language Awareness (CLA) in contemporary social work education. Approach: This article initially maps the broad scope and historical emergence of CLA, before surveying its key political and theoretical influences. Findings: The key outcome is that CLA - as delineated - clearly shares significant overlaps with social work values, particularly: justice, equality and a commitment to anti-discriminatory and antioppressive practice (Dominelli, 2002 Payne, 1997). More importantly, CLA provides conceptual and analytical resources that promise to significantly sharpen students' abilities to recognise, question and ultimately challenge, oppressive discourses (Fairclough, 2011 Manjarres, 2011 Wodak, 2006). Conclusion: It is recommended that CLA strands be woven into existing social work themes and topics. The final part of the article offers some practical suggestions on how this could be done.
Description:
Introduction: Effective social work practice is predicated on empowering, inclusive and culturally responsive communication, and yet, there appears to be very limited focus on language awareness, let alone critical language awareness, in contemporary social work education - both within and beyond the Australasian context. This gap is more worrying against a background where neoliberal and instrumental discourses (Habermas, 1969 O'Regan, 2001) have freely proliferated, and now threaten to colonise virtually all areas of private and public life (Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999). In response, this article advocates the inclusion of Critical Language Awareness (CLA) in contemporary social work education. Approach: This article initially maps the broad scope and historical emergence of CLA, before surveying its key political and theoretical influences. Findings: The key outcome is that CLA - as delineated - clearly shares significant overlaps with social work values, particularly: justice, equality and a commitment to anti-discriminatory and antioppressive practice (Dominelli, 2002 Payne, 1997). More importantly, CLA provides conceptual and analytical resources that promise to significantly sharpen students' abilities to recognise, question and ultimately challenge, oppressive discourses (Fairclough, 2011 Manjarres, 2011 Wodak, 2006). Conclusion: It is recommended that CLA strands be woven into existing social work themes and topics. The final part of the article offers some practical suggestions on how this could be done.
Description:
This article presents the findings of a study of mental health literacy and stigma of Australian social work students. The aim of the study was to identify levels of knowledge and attitudes and beliefs prior to, and following, course content on mental health literacy. The outcome of this study indicates an increase in knowledge development and reduced rates of stigma following mental health literacy studies. Even though relatively low rates of stigma were recorded amongst these social work students, the study findings do raise the question of what level of stigma, if any, is acceptable within social work education. This has broader implications for service delivery as stigmatising attitudes and beliefs of students and workers might cause harm and deter people from accessing mental health services.
Description:
This article presents the findings of a study of mental health literacy and stigma of Australian social work students. The aim of the study was to identify levels of knowledge and attitudes and beliefs prior to, and following, course content on mental health literacy. The outcome of this study indicates an increase in knowledge development and reduced rates of stigma following mental health literacy studies. Even though relatively low rates of stigma were recorded amongst these social work students, the study findings do raise the question of what level of stigma, if any, is acceptable within social work education. This has broader implications for service delivery as stigmatising attitudes and beliefs of students and workers might cause harm and deter people from accessing mental health services.