Exploring literacy in Social Work Education: a social practices approach to student writing

The literacy of social workers has been highlighted as a concern by the strengthening of both entry and assessment literacy requirements of the new social work degree in the United Kingdom. This paper challenges the traditional perception of student writing, the specific focus of this paper, as being associated with basic literacy and skill acquisition, by presenting a ‘social practices’ approach to student writing in social work education. Whilst in no way contradicting the belief that literacy is central to professional social work competence, and thus an essential aspect of social work education, this approach provides a social and cultural framework for educators to reflect upon what it means for students to engage in writing in social work courses. The paper focuses in particular on meaning making experiences of non‐traditional (including Black and Minority Ethnic) students engaging in academic writing. The paper is based upon research which explores the experiences of a socially and ethnically diverse group of social work students engaged in academic writing on a diploma in social work programme. Whilst representing work in development, it suggests that the recognition of issues such as language history and identity are of significant importance for social work programmes striving to ensure that non‐traditional students are not disadvantaged in their academic writing.     

General C. L. Chennault

Because of recent legislation, many students with mild disabilities enroll in high school social studies courses in general education rather than special education settings. Therefore, teachers may have students with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, communication disorders, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in their history, geography, economics, and political science courses. Typical characteristics of these students include lowlevel reading and writing skills, processing problems, memory disorders, language problems, organizational deficits, and behavioral problems. These characteristics present challenges for the students and social studies teachers; however, there are strategies that will help the students succeed. The author summarizes the disability categories and related characteristics and describes textbook, writing, memory, organizational, and instructional modifications to address the challenges.     

Where tradition and ‘modern’ knowledge meet: exploring two Islamic schools in Singapore and Britain

Muslims live in a ‘modern’ world where subjects such as the English language, mathematics, sciences, and information and communication technology (ICT) are highly valued and enthusiastically transmitted in schools. How some Islamic schools attempt to equip their students with ‘modern knowledge’ while remaining faithful to their religious traditions is the focus of this exploratory study. Using two Islamic schools in Singapore and Britain as illustrative case studies, this paper examines their history, aims, curriculum and pedagogy in their aspiration to acquire ‘modern’ knowledge within their Islamic world views. It further explores some common challenges faced by students and teachers in both schools in their quest for a balanced curriculum. By highlighting the Islamic schools in two Muslim minority countries, this paper aims to contribute towards the international literature on how religious schools assert their cultural heritage and negotiate their learning in the modern age.     

The Social Model of Disability as a Threshold Concept: Troublesome Knowledge and Liminal Spaces in Social Work Education

This paper draws on the notion of threshold concepts to consider the way in which disability studies has the capacity to transform social work students' understandings of disability and therefore influence their practice. Most students enter social work programmes with the professed aim of ‘helping’ and so to be confronted by an approach (the social model of disability) and a body of research and theorising (disability studies) that challenges their taken-for-granted assumption that social work practice is ‘helpful’ is unsettling and can lead to resistance. The purpose of this article is to interrogate practice on a social work programme where a commitment to social model practice is explicated and embedded with the purpose of identifying what it is we want students to ‘get’, whether they find this troubling and how they can be effectively supported as they move through liminal spaces in social work education.     

Ideas in action: some reflections concerning teaching language skills to social work students

In recent years, there has been a decline in language skills among the younger population in Sweden. Within several different academic programs, it has been observed that students arriving at the universities do not have the skills needed to make use of what is taught. This raises a number of problems, especially within social work education, because language skills, both written and oral, are important tools for practicing social work. This article presents a way of meeting this challenge and improving the students’ skills by including them in discussions on how to write academically as part of teaching method called language guidance. The students reflect upon their own and other students’ texts, and discuss how they can be improved with regard to spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and clarity. Overall, the resources devoted to improving students’ language skills have resulted in improvements in the essays the student write later on in their education.     

A United States History Card Game

Learning social studies curriculum can present challenges for English-language learners (ELLs). The language used to present concepts is often decontextualized and abstract, making it difficult for these students to understand the content and have successful learning experiences. In this article, the authors describe strategies elementary teachers can use to make social studies content more comprehensible to ELLs and engage them to become active participants in their learning. They discuss three strategies in-depth and explain particular teaching techniques, such as the use of graphic organizers. Teaching vignettes illustrate ways these strategies can be implemented in the classroom to help ELLs be successful in acquiring social studies knowledge and inquiry skills while developing critical English language arts proficiencies.     

Developing social work students’ professional identity: the role of England’s Professional Capabilities Framework

ABSTRACT

Developing professional identity is a key aim of social work education. This paper argues that the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) – a holistic, capability approach to student assessment used in England’s social work education programmes – is ideally placed to promote the development of students’ professional identities. The paper discusses two research studies, each of which was stimulated by significant policy changes in England’s social work profession. The author draws out the implications of both studies for supporting social work students to develop their professional identities. It is concluded that the PCF is valued by practice educators as an assessment and teaching tool, while acknowledging that its future is uncertain due to the lack of continuity impacting on England’s social work profession. This paper is equally of relevance for social work educators outside the UK who may be developing and evaluating their assessment approaches and also for those experiencing the impact of rapid policy changes in their own countries.     

‘Lost in transition?’ – Newly educated social workers’ reflections on their first months in practice

Entering the work of world can involve significant challenges for the beginning practitioner. The transition process from university to work can play an important role in the emerging practitioner’s development as a social worker. The present longitudinal study follows 12 Swedish social work graduates from university and over their first four years in practice. The study provides an insight into how newly educated practitioners may experience the transition from university to the world of work and considers how they can be prepared and supported to meet the challenges of practice within contemporary work contexts. The students were first interviewed just prior to leaving university [see Tham &; Lynch (2014). Prepared for practice? Graduating social work students’ reflections on their education, competence and skills. Social Work Education, 33(6), 704–717]. This paper captures the reflections of these students after four months in practice. Feelings of unpreparedness, unorganised, or even ‘chaotic’ perceptions of the workplace and uncertainty about the future were emergent themes, particularly among new practitioners employed in social services. The findings illustrate the vulnerability of these new practitioners and the importance of workplace induction and the provision of adequate support in their new professional roles.     

Outcomes of an interdisciplinary study abroad course: learning Spanish and multicultural education concurrently

This study reports the outcomes of undergraduate students completing a pilot Interdisciplinary Intensive Course Abroad (IICA) with a service learning component. The IICA model is comprised of a three-part sequence of study that includes a seven-week course on campus, followed by three weeks of study abroad, and a summative seven-week course back on campus. The additional summative component gives students the opportunity to bring together their newly acquired knowledge and skills, and to reflect on how to integrate these experiences in their future. The sequence integrates discipline-specific content studies with foreign language classes, and grounds them with a study abroad experience. A mixed-method design was used to measure students’ development of language skills, understanding of multicultural education concepts, and intercultural skills. Primary data sources were pre/post-assessments, student field notes and reflections, and a post-course survey. Results indicated that students gained confidence in their Spanish skills and were likely to enroll in further Spanish courses, their ability to define multicultural education concepts increased, and service learning, homestays abroad, and their time in an indigenous reservation contributed to development of intercultural skills.     

How Do Students Perceive the International Dimension in Social Work Education?: An Enquiry among Swedish and German Students

Globalization, internationalization, and regionalization affect domestic social work. This paper explores how undergraduate students perceive international aspects of their social work education. A questionnaire was distributed to social work undergraduates in Stockholm, Sweden (n=97), and Darmstadt, Germany (n=43). Results showed that a majority of students in Sweden were prepared to work with immigrants and refugees. A majority of students in both countries wanted more education about refugee social work and social work in other countries. The amount of exchange activities was modest, but many students could consider working abroad. Students related most strongly to international aspects of domestic social work such as work with immigrants and refugees.     

Dealing with the transsituational demands of professional socialization

Insofar as studies of professional socialization have been concerned with the subjective experience of students they have concentrated on students’experience within the confines of their training course. The present paper examines that parallel but often neglected strand in professional socialization: what becoming a professional entails for students within the context of their private lives. An in-depth participant observation study of one cohort of social work students revealed that assuming a professional identity had important consequences for both the self-concept and social lives of students. They were faced with‘transsituational demands’- i.e. expectations that they would behave m situations where they were not functioning as social workers in a manner which was nevertheless congruent with their claims to this title. Such reorganization of students’personal hierarchies was both evidenced and accomplished by the‘frame work’in which students engaged. Goffman's frame analysis is expanded to include the concept of‘cross-framing’in order to explain students’responses to the encroachment of the social-work frame on their everyday world. Although social work as a profession does make extensive demands on the private space of the recruit, it is argued that the analysis developed here can be used to study empirically the internalization of the beliefs associated with any occupational role.     

Comparing the Experiences of Highly Skilled Labor Migrants in Sweden and Japan: Barriers and Doors to Long-term Settlement

As labor markets become increasingly global, competition among industrialized nations to attract highly skilled workers from abroad has intensified. Spurred by concerns over future economic needs caused by the demographic challenges of an aging population, both Japan and Sweden have joined this global competition. This article examines Japanese and Swedish immigration policies for highly skilled migrants and compares the highly skilled migrants’ experiences in the two countries through interviews with these migrants. Despite Japan and Sweden's completely different approaches to immigration itself, both countries’ policies, as well as the experiences of the skilled migrants, are strikingly similar. Highly skilled migrants experience language barriers and prejudice in both countries, making it difficult to build social networks with natives. Career development seems to be perceived as a common problem, although less so in Sweden, where labor markets are more flexible. Overall, these issues reduce both Japan's and Sweden's ability to retain skilled migrants. While they share similarities, Sweden's famed work–life balance and gender equality give it an edge in the competition for skilled migrants, which Japan does not share. This comparison identifies which social conditions facilitate or impede skilled migrant settlement.     

Enduring not enjoying? Emotional responses to studying abroad among Danish and Chinese students

ABSTRACT

Students’ emotions during stays abroad have mainly been treated as ”culture shock”, where difficulties are interpreted as universal ”stages” towards ”adaptation”. This paper explores how students from different cultural and educational traditions experience studying abroad differently. The study presents a qualitative study of 18 Danish and Chinese students in Chinese and Danish universities and situates itself within the literature on culture shock, student emotions and study-abroad experiences. The study exposes the students’ complex emotions throughout their studies abroad and explains how these emotions relate to processes of self-formation, professional and academic development, increase or decrease in freedom, and student agency.     

Developing a Cross Border,Multidisciplinary Educational Collaboration

This paper presents a case study of the initiation of a collaborative, multidisciplinary educational program between a US university and a university in Mexico. The authors utilized a developmental model for international engagement. Building upon the work of an interdisciplinary area studies program within the US university, the authors initiated a summer program for students and faculty that included language and cultural immersion, interaction with social agencies in the community and collaborative research. Faculty from the US university provided instruction at the Mexican university, and Mexican faculty provided instruction in both language and content areas to students and faculty from the US university. This program has paid particular attention to the development of mutual cultural and linguistic understanding, utilizing an innovative combination of course work, family and community living opportunities, interdisciplinary learning, and structured educational trips into the community. As the two universities gain experience with each other and begin to resolve logistic and other challenges, student internships, joint semester abroad programs, and use of the program for continuing education for community professionals will be explored.     

Resisting Neoliberalism from within the Academy: Subversion through an Activist Pedagogy

Teaching and learning in the neoliberal academy means that educators in non-market-oriented departments, such as social work, face several constraints and challenges when trying to implement an anti-oppressive, social justice focused curriculum. This article considers challenges that can arise with an introductory social work course in the current context of neoliberalism, especially when open to both social work and non-social work students. With a particular focus on larger class sizes, the use of precarious labour and the depoliticization of the classroom, the authors use an inductive, reflective approach to analyse observations made about shifts in the behaviour and engagement of students in the course. The authors surmise possible explanations for these shifts, considering changes made to the substantive content and pedagogical practices of the course. Through this process the authors propose that these changes represent an ‘activist pedagogy’ which may offer potential for anti-oppressive education with students both inside and outside social work. As such, the authors propose ‘activist pedagogy’ as a possible way to resist and subvert the neoliberal educational paradigm and to better integrate the principles and practices of social justice and anti-oppressive social work into the classroom.     

Mobility and Privilege Within Queer Studies and University

In this essay, the author considers how classist divisions present within queer studies may well be exacerbated by the institutionalization of queer studies within university. In particular, she examines the class privilege that attends both queer theory's and university's deployment of travel metaphors. In both cases, the language of travel is the potentially empowering language of intellectual agility and social mobility. Importantly, though, both queer theorists' and university administrators' employment of travel metaphors often serves to reaffirm cultural hegemony, specifically to sustain rather than to examine and combat social oppression. This sad irony is particularly apparent when one compares university representations of commuter and residential students. Thus, the question that faces universities is how to keep queer studies critically queer so that universities can recognize and address the various forms or models of social mobility that are present on their campuses, commuter as well as residential.     

Effective assessment: a key knowledge and skill for a sustainable profession

Assessment is an essential element of social work practice. However, by trying to realize the so-called triple-mandate of social work, professionals and students on qualifying training sometimes struggle to consider simultaneously client and organizational aspects, and to embrace both outcome-orientation and process-orientation. Societal requirements focus on outcomes and standardized procedures whereas client’s needs require individualized and situationally appropriate consideration. The tensions are more acute with demands for rigorous professional decision making based on evidence, with increased attention to risks. Multiprofessional working has many benefits for clients, but places new demands on social work assessment. Current models are limited in embracing these tensions, and more integrated models are required. Established frameworks together with practice and teaching experience are applied in this paper to extend the traditional Taylor and Devine model to address these contemporary challenges. Elements of a new model (ALOHA) have been trialled on professionals as well as students on qualifying social work training. Such robust assessment models synthesized from theory, research, and best practice are essential to meet contemporary practice challenges, maintain public credibility, and sustain social work internationally.     

Placement Educators’ Experiences and Perspectives of Supervising International Social Work Students in Australia

International social work students in Australia have reported difficulties in finding quality placement opportunities and dealing with issues such as language and cultural barriers. While placement issues have been mostly investigated from a student perspective, this study explores the experiences and perspectives of placement educators towards supervising international social work students. It draws on an online survey of 83 placement educators working for an Australian university. The majority of placement educators reported that they supervised international students differently to domestic students. These differences were negatively framed as challenges involving students’ language competence, their understanding of cultural norms, and knowledge of Australian welfare systems. This framing implies that cultural and linguistic differences between international students and placement educators are viewed in terms of student deficiency rather than as a positive opportunity for mutual learning and professional development.     

Student perceptions of international education and study abroad: a pilot study at York University,Canada

International student mobility has been identified as a key strategy for the internationalization of higher education. Although an institutional priority, Canada has among the lowest levels of international student mobility, with only 2% of full-time university students participating in study-abroad programs. This pilot study, conducted at a large public university in Toronto, examined the value that students place on international education, their awareness of opportunities made available by the university, their attitudes toward, perceptions of, and preferences toward study abroad, and the institutional and individual factors that influence their intent to engage in study abroad. The study found associations between students’ intent to study abroad with their perceived social and institutional support and academic hassles at the host and home institution. It identified three distinct groups within the population, those intending to study abroad, those unsure about their plans, and a third group who does not seek to pursue study abroad. In terms of applied value, the findings will inform program administrators how to customize their support services and programs to both assist interested students and attract new students that otherwise would not be interested in such an experience.