Ilse Julkunen

Social and Material Deprivation among Unemployed Youth in Northern Europe

This article examines deprivation among unemployed young people. It draws on a comparative survey of 8,654 young unemployed in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Scotland. In spite of an increased knowledge of the relationship between unemployment and poverty,our understanding of deprivation among young unemployed people remains inadequate. How do young people deal with unemployment? Are transitional factors the only explanation for the prevalence of deprivation or should we also consider intergenerational factors? The six countries represent two different welfare strategies, the Nordic universalistic model and the Scottish liberal/ minimalist approaches. The research findings showed diverging tendencies within the Nordic countries. Converging trends between the different systems could also be found, as family support plays the main role in preventing deprivation in all of the countries.

Out of Unemployment? A Comparative Analysis of the Risks and Opportunities Longer-Term Unemployed Immigrant Youth Face when Entering the Labour Market.

Because of high unemployment rates among youth in Europe, comparative research has focused on identification of those risks and opportunities associated with the integration process from unemployment to work. The integration process of immigrant youth, however, received much less attention, despite their initially higher risk of unemployment than that for non-immigrant youth. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the exit from longer-term unemployment, with a focus on the integration into work of young immigrants in Finland, Sweden, France and Germany, countries that represent different welfare models and have different integration policies towards immigrants. The research is based on a European survey on youth unemployment with representative samples of longer-term unemployed young people in each of the studied countries. The results demonstrate that longer-term immigrant youth, compared with their non-immigrant counterparts, are less likely to find employment in Finland, face greater risks of mental health problems in Sweden and face increased risks of financial deprivation in France. In agreement with previous literature, these findings demonstrate that, with regard to expectations, the social democratic welfare states in particular have failed to promote the integration of longer-term unemployed young immigrants.

The New York statement on the evolving definition of practice research designed for continuing dialogue: a bulletin from the 3rd International Conference on Practice Research (2014)

This Statement on Practice Research is a work in progress. It emerges out of deliberations from three international conferences on defining and operationalizing practice research. It seeks to capture both a process and outcome in which practitioners, researchers, service users, and educators collectively engage in a negotiated process of inquiry. One of the goals of this form of research is to place equal emphasis on improving practice and improving services. Practice research also seeks to rebalance the power relations in terms of integrating the voices of service users, service providers, service researchers, and instructors preparing future and current service providers. This third statement emerges out of the most recent international conference in New York City (2012) and continues the construction of the social science and social philosophy foundation of practice research. It seeks to expand the dialogue on practice research to include more international voices while also searching for linkages with the evolving process of defining the mixed methods approach to evidence-informed practice. This Statement provides a platform for the 4th International Conference on Practice Research planned for Hong Kong in 2017.

Equal opportunities, true options or hidden unemployment? A comparative perspective on labour‐market marginality

Previous studies have shown that women generally adjust to unemployment better than men. This study shows that young women value work equally as highly as men, and have negative feelings when unemployed, which indicates the existence of a closed gender gap. However, children have a different influence on men’s and women’s unemployment experiences. Being a parent increases job-search activity and work involvement among men. On the other hand, children moderate negative experiences of unemployment among women, and they decrease their job-search activity and work involvement. Being a parent increases labour-market marginality among young unemployed women. For young men it is a motivational factor for searching for and getting a job. The comparison shows furthermore that patterns of re-employment vary in the involved countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Scotland. They reflect differences in the overall unemployment situation in the countries and the welfare strategies applied.

Negotiating Practice Research

The complexity of carrying out practice research in social service organizations is often matched by the complexity of teaching future social work practitioners to use and engage in practice research. The evidence of this complexity is clearly reflected in the articles featured in this special issue. To appreciate the scope of the teaching challenge, it is important to reflect on the evolving definition of practice research and issues involved in negotiating practice research activities with multiple stakeholders. According to the Salisbury Statement on Practice Research (Salisbury Forum Group, 2011, p. 5),

Otherness, social welfare and social work – a Nordic perspective

In this article, we discuss how the other and otherness have been understood in the modern and postmodern social science literature and thinking. We are asking, what kind of relevance can discussions on the other and otherness hold for social work. Our particular interest is to discuss the issue in the context of the Nordic welfare system and through Nordic scholars. A meta-level reflection of classical concepts may be useful to scrutinize the thematic of the other and otherness in the field of social work. We are drawing on examples of our own empirical studies to illustrate the complexity of phenomena which we are dealing with. The literature concerning other and otherness give ingredients for a dichotomy map which describes the multidimensional character of otherness. The levels of macro, mezzo and micro filter through each other, and the dynamics of the multilayered and intertwined relations should be caught in applicable understanding for social work. Our aim in this article is to make a proposal for further development of the concepts other and otherness in the use of social work.

Critical elements in evaluating and developing practice in social work: An exploratory overview

Evaluation research deals with practical questions of how practice is being carried out, how it can be studied and evaluated and how the outcomes can be communicated with the practice. In this article critical elements in evaluation practices are scrutinized from an evolutive perspective. It draws attention to the role of the researcher, the knowledge production and dissemination phases and how these have changed. It highlights the importance on practice connectedness and how this challenges the knowledge production processes. And concludes by stating that to be able to learn from practice, evaluation needs to evolve towards a more deliberative approach and have an active role both in science and society.

Practice-Based Research: The Role of HUSK in Knowledge Development

Practice research involves curiosity about practice. It is about challenging complex practices through a critical and co-productive examination of concrete practices and how ideas are created, adopted, and spread. By involving the relational complexities within practice and by strengthening the relational and organizational linkage between research and practice, the relevance of research may transcend the process of generalizing and disseminating research findings. In this analysis, the author uses the theoretical approach of actor relations to analyze the HUSK projects in their efforts to develop new forms of collaboration between research, practice, education, and service users to build knowledge about improving the quality of social services.

Towards an inclusive knowledge base for community-based research and sustainable knowledge production

The need for community-based research and knowledge development in municipalities is an unexplored area. This article explores the experiences and views on knowledge production based on a case study in a small municipality. It poses the question of what is relevant knowledge within social work practice framing it from a multi-actor perspective. We argue that by using an inclusive approach ensuring the views and experiences of different professionals, it may facilitate the development of a knowledge-based practice. The data material consists of focal municipality documents and semi-structured interviews with leading actors. These stakeholders represent different domains of practice within social work and the social welfare services and have different positions within the municipality. A conceptual framework of knowledge is used as a theoretical and analytical approach in the study. The results show that this approach serves as a starting point for mapping current interests and needs for knowledge development in the municipality and ensures the different voices of the professionals. The results also highlight the multiple sources of knowledge for developing a knowledge-based practice. We argue that organisational, practitioner, user, policy and research knowledge are all valid sources and must be taken into account in knowledge development processes to be able to contribute to the development of practices and policies. Multiple sources of knowledge can, together with collaborative learning, create a more sensitive and research-informed practice. Furthermore, long-lasting actor–researcher relationships between the university and the municipalities may offer a set of strategies for building a sustainable research collaboration.

The Hong Kong Statement on Practice Research 2017: Contexts and Challenges of the Far East

This statement on social work practice research highlights the contributions of scholars, practitioners, and conference participants in the Fourth International Conference on Practice Research (ICPR) in 2017, hosted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in May 2017. It focuses on the contexts and challenges of carrying out practice research in the Far East and beyond as well as raises pertinent questions about the development of practice research. It begins with a brief description of the context of social work practice research in the Far East. The second part explores the organizational and community contexts and challenges of practice research with special attention to the perspectives of practitioners. It concludes with reviewing some of the continuing challenges that will guide the program planning for the Fifth ICPR in 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, located at the crossroads between East and West.