Questioning identities: social service workers transition to being social work students

ABSTRACT

Australian universities are situated within a capitalist economic and social context where self-interest and self-responsibility is seen as paramount. Students pay high fees and manage complex lives to meet the demands of higher education and after their degree they may face uncertain employment prospects. Preparing social work students for their professional roles and a professional identity has been topical in social work literature in recent years. Less studied is how neoliberal discourses and material realities position students and the impact of this on those who have been in social service positions and are returning to the student role at university. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of ‘technologies of the self’ and the notion of identity being in progress and context dependent, researchers based at Deakin University interviewed Master of Social Work (MSW) students about their sense of identity in making the transition from professional social worker to being a student. Findings show they are impacted by relationships, material realities (named here as student experience) and the goals or outcomes they sought in choosing to become students. Within these, we identify they adopt both enthusiastic and ambivalent positionalities.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• neoliberalism
• higher education
• transition to student
• post graduate students
• identity

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr Rojan Afrouz, Dr Patsie Frawley, and Dr Judi Parsons for their initial work on this project. We also extend thanks to Dr Phillip Swain for critical feedback of an earlier version of this paper. We also appreciate the Whole of School Grant from Deakin University which enabled us to collect data (Number: WS16-04, $12,138). In addition the support of the participants was invaluable and we thank them for their time.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deakin HSD Whole School Grant [WS16-04].

Notes on contributors

Kim Robinson

Dr Kim Robinson is a social work researcher with three decades of national and international expertise in working with asylum seekers and refugees. Her research interests are human rights, strategies for community development and empowerment of CALD communities.  She has published in the areas of asylum and refugee mental health, family violence, social justice issues with young unaccompanied minors facing deportation, refugee settlement, and refugee experiences of home and homemaking. She has a focus on teaching and learning that fosters inclusion. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0366-3868

Sophie Goldingay

Associate Professor Sophie Goldingay is a social work academic and practitioner with a focus on inclusion, diversity, decolonising practice, and student success.  She has received several teaching awards. She is currently seconded as an Adjunct Collaborative Expert in Teaching and Learning with National Indigenous Knowledges Education, Research, and Innovation Institute (NIKERII) at Deakin University. https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=P3UaU_EAAAAJ&hl=en