Culturally sensitive social work: promoting cultural competence

Abstract

In current times of great conflict and clashes between different cultures and worldviews, cultural competencies should be a well embedded feature of social work education. This is a fundamental and cross-cutting issue; however, we question whether it is an obvious concern in social work education in European countries, specifically in Portugal, and if the curriculum of social work courses covers this topic. This article is based on research that seeks to find out if there are mandatory curricular units of the disciplinary field of social work that explicitly address culturally sensitive social work and cultural competencies. Thus, this article presents a study that focuses on educational institutions that provide social work courses in Portugal, and has the potential to be extended to other countries. An online survey and a document analysis of the curriculum programmes of all Portuguese courses in social work were conducted. The study results revealed the lack of curricular units with clear terms relating to the topic of culturally sensitive social work. The implications for practice and educational policy are also discussed, which lead to a reflection and analysis of the evaluation and accreditation process of social work education in Portugal, with a conclusion that it is incomplete and faces major challenges in curriculum development and course accreditation. Challenges and opportunities in developing social work curricula, as well the debate around a generic or specialist social work education are also discussed. Finally, the authors suggest an opportunity to develop cultural competencies through continuing and lifelong learning for social workers.

Nos tempos atuais de grandes conflitos e confrontos entre diferentes culturas e visões do mundo, as competências culturais devem ter um cabimento bem preciso na educação em serviço social. Esta é uma questão fundamental e transversal; no entanto, questiona-se se é uma preocupação evidente na educação em serviço social nos países Europeus, particularmente em Portugal, e se o currículo dos cursos de serviço social abrange especificamente este tópico. Este artigo é baseado numa pesquisa que procura descobrir se existem unidades curriculares obrigatórias e do campo disciplinar do serviço social, que abordem explicitamente o serviço social culturalmente sensível e as competências culturais. Assim, este artigo apresenta um estudo que incide nas instituições de ensino que oferecem cursos de serviço social em Portugal, tendo ainda o potencial de poder ser alargado a outros países. Foi realizada uma pesquisa on-line e uma análise documental dos programas curriculares de todos os cursos de serviço social em Portugal. Os resultados do estudo permitiram aferir a falta de unidades curriculares com denominações evidentes relativas ao tópico do serviço social culturalmente sensível. As implicações para a prática e a política educativa são também discutidas, o que leva a uma reflexão e análise do processo de avaliação e acreditação do ensino de serviço social em Portugal, concluindo que é um processo incompleto e que enfrenta grandes desafios no desenvolvimento curricular e acreditação dos cursos. São, ainda, discutidos os desafios e oportunidades para o desenvolvimento do currículo de serviço social, bem como o debate em torno de uma educação em serviço social genérica ou especialista. Por fim, os autores sugerem que a aprendizagem continua ao longo da vida pode ser encarada como uma oportunidade para desenvolver competências culturais nos assistentes sociais.

Keywords:

• Diversity
• culturally sensitive social work
• cultural competence
• social work education

Palavras-chave:

• Diversidade
• serviço social culturalmente sensível
• competência cultural
• educação em serviço social

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Paula Sousa, PhD in Social Work from the Catholic University of Portugal (2014), is professor of social work at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro—UTAD, in Northern Portugal. She made her first degree in Social Work (1995) and another one in Educational Sciences (2000) and also the master's degree (2004). She is member of the European Social Work Research Association—ESWRA and also a researcher of the Center of Transdisciplinary Studies for Development (CETRAD). Of her professional career, she highlights her professional practice as a social worker (1995–2002) and teaching on social work courses (2002–2015). Her main research themes are: diversity and difference; social work education; professionalization; school social work and practice research in social work. Further information is at: http://www.degois.pt/visualizador/curriculum.jsp?key=2619861084965014.

José Luís D`Almeida, PhD in Social Work from Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, is university teacher of social work at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro—UTAD. He is currently teaching on the undergraduate and master's degrees in social work and is a researcher of the Center of Transdisciplinary Studies for Development (CETRAD) at the same university. He is also a member of European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA). He has a degree in Educational Sciences from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of University of Porto (FPCE-UP) and he did the master's degree at the same faculty. He spent 12 years practising social intervention before moving to the University. His main research themes are: diversity and difference; school social work; communication in social work and evaluation in social work. Further information is at: http://www.degois.pt/visualizador/curriculum.jsp?key=1985389316347061.

ORCID

Paula Sousa http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4876-490X

José Luís Almeida http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1824-9587

Additional information

Funding

FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [project UID/SOC/04011/2013]. CETRAD - Center of Transdisciplinary Studies for Development.