Cultural value conflicts of Arab social work students in Israel: a critical multicultural approach

ABSTRACT

Social work education in Israel is taking place in a multicultural, multireligious, and multiracial context. However, while social work schools in Israel are likely to discuss culturally sensitive practice, it has not yet become a dominant training perspective, and an advanced multicultural approach has not been given enough consideration in the professional academic socialization process so far. As part of a grounded theory study, this article describes the personal benefits gained and the cultural tensions encountered by thirty Arab social work students undergoing academic socialization in Israeli higher education. The findings underline the complexity of the academic socialization process of Arab students. They emphasize the importance of considering the cultural and political identity of students and of strengthening critical reflexivity and a critical multicultural approach in social work education. Implications for social work education with minority students are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical theories
• cultural competence
• students
• values
• culture
• education
• higher education

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

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Romain Jammal-Abboud

Romain Jammal-Abboud, Ph.D Social Work, Lecturer, Researcher & Head of the Fields Studies Unit in Department of social work, Zefat academic college. Department of Educational Counseling, Hebrew university. Postdoctoral fellow: A. Innsbruck university, Austria B. Mofet Center, Israel. Research: professional identity of social workers working in multicultural contexts. 18 years of professional experience as a social worker and supervisor.