A culturally-based socialization to social work: comparison of faith-based and secular students

ABSTRACT

Meeting the needs of students from different cultures is a big challenge facing schools of social work. A total of 184 secular and faith-based (ultra-Orthodox) social work students in Israel participated in the study. Findings show that ultra-Orthodox students were significantly more interested in individual therapy, while secular students preferred group therapy, supervision or management. In light of the diverse backgrounds of social work students in Israel and throughout the world, it is important to enable accommodation of the study curriculum to suit students’ values and backgrounds, while maintaining the core values of the social work profession, such as engaging in macro and policy practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional preferences
• social work students
• professional socialization
• multi-cultural training
• faith-based minority

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anat Freund

Prof. Anat Freund is an associate professor at the School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.Her research areas are: Organizational behavior in welfare organizations; Intervention with minorities, such as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, and Cultural intervention.