Acculturation theory, cultural competency and learning from differences: reflections from a European short student mobility program

ABSTRACT

There is a growing recognition that in an increasingly differentiated social environment it is important for social workers to be prepared to intervene in multi-diversified and multicultural contexts, so as to promote inclusion, respect and empowerment. On this account, mobility and full immersion programmes appear to contribute the most promising professional learning opportunities. However, full immersion programmes are emotionally and cognitively very demanding, sometimes even exacerbating prejudice and racism; this has led to ongoing debates as to which strategies can safeguard the effectiveness of such programmes. This paper draws on the theory of acculturation to enable a deeper understanding of how full immersion programmes can educate to diversity in social work, and of the learning processes that can occur when confronting diversity. The reflection focuses on written feedback from, and focus groups with, students who participated in a short mobility project. Findings show how self-reflective practice, which acknowledges emotional journeys including what are usually considered negative reactions, is a necessary pre-condition for successfully transferring experiences of relating to cultural differences – as in the mobility programme – to professional skills.

SINTESI

Si registra un crescente riconoscimento del fatto che in un ambiente sociale sempre più differenziato è importante per gli/le assistenti sociali essere preparati ad intervenire in contesto caratterizzato da multiculturalità e diversificazione, in modo da promuovere l’inclusione sociale e l’empowerment. In relazione a questo la mobilità e i programmi full immersion, possono rappresentare tra le più promettenti occasioni formative. Tuttavia i programmi intensivi possono presentare complessità a livello sia emotivo che cognitivo, a volte paradossalmente, producendo un rinforzo di pregiudizi e stereotipi. Questa complessità ha dato origine continui dibattiti relativi a quali strategie adottare per garantire l’efficacia dei programmi full immersion. Questo saggio prende spunto dalla teoria dell’acculturazione (Berry, 2006) per proporre una comprensione su come i programmi full immersion possono rappresentare occasioni per educare alla diversità nel servizio sociale e sui processi di apprendimento che possono essere attivati in un confronto significativo con la diversità. La riflessione si basa sull’analisi di relazioni scritte di e focus group con studenti che hanno partecipato ad un programma di mobilità a tempo breve. I risultati mostrano come una pratica riflessiva che riconosca l’importanza di un percorso emotivo e che dia spazio anche a quelle che vengono per lo più considerate reazioni negative rappresenti una pre- condizione perché un’esperienza di confronto profondo con la differenza si trasformi in competenza professionale.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural competence
• globalisation
• social work education
• critical reflection
• international social work

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• Competenze culturali
• globalizzazione
• servizio sociale e formazione
• riflessione critica
• servizio sociale internazionale

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all the organisers, staff and students who took part with enthusiasm in the Tachy-we programme, and whose ideas and reflections provided an inspiration for this paper. We particularly thank Prof. Dorothy Zinn, who co-conducted the focus groups and whose notes were precious, and Valentina Gobbet Bamber who patiently read the paper and helped us significantly with the English editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Silvia Fargion is Professor of Social Work at the Trento University, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science. She combines a comprehensive academic training with extensive experience in the field as a social worker. She has been active in research, in particular in the last few years she has coordinated several research projects on professional cultures in Italy, on access to social services, on quality standards for social work. She has been book review editor for International Social Work, member of the editorial board Social Work Education and chair of the European Social Work Research Association. She is at the present coordinating a national research project on supporting parents in challenging contexts. She is the author of three monographic books and her articles appeared in some of the main social work international journals.

Orit Nuttman-Shwartz is Associate Prof. at Sapir College in Israel. Prof. Nuttman-Shwartz is a certified social worker (MSW) and a certified group analyst (GA). Nuttman-Shwartz is Founder and first chair, for the first decade, of the social work school at Sapir College and previous chair of the Israeli statutory council of social work (2011–2019). Nuttman-Shwartz’s research focuses on personal and social trauma, shared trauma and resilience; life transitions and occupational crises; group therapy and social work education. These studies have yielded 75 academic publications in leading international and local journals and as in book chapters, which reflect her professional contribution. In addition, Nuttman-Shwartz served as an editor or coeditor of special issues in different international journals and she is an editorial board member in several trauma and social work journals. In addition, she received several competitive project grants by the IASSW; EASSW and EU to develop new curricula and training programmes for social work in various areas including one which focuses on migration, and today she is also the senior representative of Israel academic institutions in the EU COST action project title “Transnational Collaboration on Bullying, Migration and Integration at School Level”. In 2014, she was awarded the Katan Prize for Academic Scholarship in Social Work, and in 2016 she received the Israeli parliament, the IFCJ and the IFSW an award of distinction for her groundbreaking efforts to integrate academic work and work with needy communities.