Typologies of student experiences and constructed meanings of learning in international placements

Abstract

This article discusses findings from a three-year British Council-funded project into social work student placements in Malaysia. Processes of student learning in unfamiliar cultural contexts were examined in relation to three cohorts of students. Here typologies of experience influencing learning, elicited from student-recorded data, are discussed. Analysis suggests that students undergo a process of liminality, adjustment or resistance to the contexts of community, culture and placements encountered in international settings. Emergent themes are identified as naive acceptance, critical revelation, critical observation, epiphany, critical reactionary, professional rejection and antagonistic response. Implications for international placements are discussed based on the data.

Keywords::

• practice learning
• cultural competency
• international

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Dr Sara Ashencaen Crabtree is Head of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy at Bournemouth University, UK.

Jonathan Parker

Professor Dr Jonathan Parker is Professor of Society & Social Welfare and Director of the Centre for Social Work, Sociology and Social Policy at Bournemouth University, UK.

Azlinda Azman

Dr Azinda Azman is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.

Dolly Paul Carlo

Dr Dolly Paul Carlo is a Lecturer in Social Work, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia.