The role of arts in raising ethical awareness and knowledge of the European refugee crisis among social work students. An example from the classroom

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses an arts-based project, carried out by the first-year students in the classroom, at the Department of Social Work, in Athens, Greece. The project was designed for raising ethical awareness and knowledge of the 2015 Europe’s refugee crisis among social work students. The purpose of this project was three-fold: (1) to help students to better understand the refugee crisis as an emerging problem in Europe and in the rest of the world; (2) to help students raise their ethical awareness about the plight of refugees and to learn how to avoid discrimination and racism; and (3) to improve students’ abilities to work effectively with refugee populations. The project used art-based activities (drawing, writing, photos, etc.) as a powerful pedagogical tool for teaching students and supporting their learning in the classroom. As the literature has shown, the use of arts in social work education helps student to learn through an artistic and creative way and provides a secure base, from which they can explore real-life situations and try to give meaning to them.

Keywords:

• Arts
• social work education
• social work students
• ethical awareness
• refugee crisis
• Europe

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all the students who participated in the project and freely shared their views and experiences with her. Special thanks go to anonymous students whose work is presented in this paper.

Notes

1. Who is a Refugee. UNCHR. (29 December 2016). Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/3d4aba564.pdf

2. UNHCR Statistics: The world in numbers. (21 November 2016). Retrieved from https://popstats.unhcr.org/en/overview#_ga=1.126431881.589054121.1478796687

3. The term ‘refugee crisis’ is used with quotation marks by some authors as an acknowledgement that it is a controversial and contested term. See for example, Bojadžijev & Mezzadra (12 August 2015). ‘Refugee crisis’ or crisis of European migration policies? Retrieved from www.focaalblog.com/2015/11/12/manuela-bojadzijev-and-sandro-mezzadra-refugee-crisis-or-crisis-of-european-migration-policies.#sthash.MwqchhsZ.8QRZPquD.dpuf

4. On Migrants Day, UN remembers thousands who lost their lives this year trying to reach safe harbour. (10 June 2016). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52855#.WOKmSIHyg2x

5. UN says 850,000 to cross sea to Europe this year and next. (25 December 2016). Daily News. Retrieved from https://web.hurriyetdailynews.com/un-says-850000-to-cross-sea-to-europe-this-year-and-next-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=88215&NewsCatID=351

6. Operational Portal: Refugee Situation. (10 December 2016). Retrieved from https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations

7. Over 3770 Migrants Have Died Trying to Cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2015. (29 March 2016). Retrieved from https://missingmigrants.iom.int/over-3770-migrants-have-died-trying-cross-mediterranean-europe-2015

8. Greek heroes honoured at 2016 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award ceremony. UNHCR. (3 November 2016). Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2016/10/57f2be864/greek-heroes-honoured-2016-unhcr-nansen-refugee-award-ceremony.html

9. Data Brief: Migration of Children to Europe. IOM & UNICEF. (30 November 2015). Retrieved from https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/press_release/file/IOM-UNICEF-Data-Brief-Refugee-and-Migrant-Crisis-in-Europe-30.11.15.pdf

10. Syria conflict at 5 years: the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time demands a huge surge in solidarity. UNHCR. (15 March 2016). Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2016/3/56e6e3249/syria-conflict-5-years-biggest-refugee-displacement-crisis-time-demands.html

11. See, for example, the tragic situation of refugees across Greece’s northern border after several Balkan countries decided to close their borders in February 2016. Migration crisis: Idomeni, the train stop that became an ‘an insult to EU values. The Guardian. (17 March 2016). Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/17/migration-crisis-idomeni-camp-greece-macedonia-is-an-insult-to-eu-values