Gai Harrison

Rethinking social work in a global world

Introduction Rethinking Social Work in a Global, Post-colonial World The Global Economy, Poverty and Social Work Immigration and People Movement in a Global World Rethinking Womens Lives and Concerns at the Global/Local Interface Mental Health: An Emerging Global Health Issue Information and Communication Technologies and Social Work in a Global World The Environment, Sustainable Development and Social Work The Value of a Human Rights Perspective in Social Work Conclusion - Ending on an Uncertain Note

Extending the terrain of inclusive education in the classroom to the field: International students on placement

Proponents of inclusive practice in higher education have focused predominantly on what happens in the classroom rather than what happens to students in the field. In particular, minimal consideration has been given to how international students fare on field placements. This lack of attention to the learning experiences of international students on placement is of some concern given the expansion of international student numbers in many higher education institutions across the world. In this paper we identify potential challenges and issues faced by international social work students who may be perceived to lack the requisite cultural capital to successfully complete their practicums. We then consider a number of topical questions such as how can educators prepare these students adequately for the field and, perhaps more importantly, how can educators make the field more responsive to a diverse student group. In doing so we foreground some of the debates surrounding inclusive practice and how this extends to field education. While this paper focuses predominantly on the Australian context of social work education, the issues canvassed in this paper may resonate with educators and international students in other locations.

Supporting inclusive practicum experiences for international students across the social sciences: building industry capacity

ABSTRACT Practicum experiences are critical learning environments for developing requisite skills, knowledge, behaviours and attitudes across the professions. Evidence suggests that international students in professional social and behavioural science programs struggle across a number of dimensions while on practicum. Key issues for these students coalesce around English language competency and cultural competency in the workplace. Research evidence likewise suggests that workplaces generally struggle to provide culturally inclusive practicum experiences for international students. This difficulty is evident at the level of individual supervisors, as well as at the level of schools and host organisations. This article reports on the capacity of host organisations to offer inclusive practicum experience for international students across professional programs in the social and behavioural sciences. The article reviews the literature in relation to the needs of international students and factors supporting inclusive practicum experiences, before outlining the method and findings of a needs analysis undertaken as part of a research project conducted in south-east Queensland, Australia. Suggestions are provided about how the capacity of host organisations can be developed to offer quality practicum experiences for international students.

Forging an Identity as a Newly Qualified Worker in the Non-government Community Services Sector

Abstract Forging a professional identity is commonly assumed to be a key objective for new graduates transitioning to work. However, the extant literature on professional identity development gives minimal consideration to the role of contemporary work conditions such as increased contract-based employment and occupational instability in carving out a work identity. These workforce trends are particularly pronounced in the non-government community services sector, where worker mobility is high and workers often occupy roles that are not profession-specific. In light of these trends, this article seeks to broaden existing understandings of professional identity development. Focus groups were conducted with 24 newly qualified workers with degree-level qualifications in social work and the human services employed in the community services sector in Queensland. The findings suggest that these workers held a variety of allegiances, which were not necessarily aligned with a profession but instead shaped by the interplay of personal, professional, and organisational factors.

International Students, Inclusion and Professional Field Placements

This chapter explores how field placements can be made inclusive for international students enrolled in professional degrees in the social and behavioural sciences. It considers what is understood by inclusion, as well as the challenges surrounding developing inclusive field placements for international students. In recognition of the difficulties faced by some international students in both accessing and negotiating work placements, we outline a set of principles for facilitating inclusive placements that are underpinned by the need for institutional commitment to inclusion. These principles have flexible application, and how they are translated into practice will be shaped by local conditions and the particular placement requirements of each discipline. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how a prominent agenda in higher education, improving the employment outcomes of graduates, can be strategically employed by educators to ensure that inclusive work placements are afforded greater priority in higher education.

A postcolonial perspective on language and difference in social work: Bilingual practitioners working in the linguistic borderlands

This paper employs a postcolonial perspective to explore the issue of language identity and difference in social work. It presents a case study of three bilingual practitioners who acquired English either as a result of colonial or postcolonial language policies in their respective countries of birth and who at the time of the study were residing in Australia. These informants demonstrate a variety of patterns of cross-border mobility currently being exercised by social workers in an era marked by transnational activities such as education and practice. The three accounts are mediated through a postcolonial lens in order to reveal some of the distinct linguistic dimensions of social work in terms of how and why personal language biography may become a salient issue in practice. The discussion that follows illustrates the potential of a postcolonial perspective for enhancing understandings of language in social work in terms of four themes: the relocation of difference from the margins to the centre; the historical dimensions of language identity; the spatial dimensions of linguistic relations; and the role of English in knowledge production.