UiS Open Journals (Univ. of Stavanger)
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Exploring the Intersection of Culture and Education in Nunavik
Get PDFDuring the last century, Nunavik’s Inuit population has experienced social transformations which have manifested themselves in a range of social issues. Nunavik lies north of the 55th parallel in Quebec, Canada and is one of four regions in Canada that comprise Inuit Nunaat (Inuvialuit, Nunatsiavut, Nunavik, and Nunavut) – Inuit homeland. The Inuit are one of three distinct Indigenous groups in Canada as defined by the Constitution Act, 1982, with distinct cultural heritage and language. Community Capability and Development in Nunavik, a collaborative project between McGill School of Social Work researchers and an Advisory Committee composed of representatives from key Inuit institutions, explored social issues and community assets in Nunavik. This study sought to (a) provide a forum for community members to voice issues important to them; (b) inform policy development prior to the vote on regional government; and (c) increase the growth of community linkages that support research dissemination via a network of researchers, community members and organizations
Exploring the Unique Features of a First Nations Graduate-Level Social Work Program
Get PDFRecently, a one-time cohort of graduate-level social work students completed a unique MSW program. The program was delivered in partnership between the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and Blue Quills First Nations College and, of the twenty four graduates; twenty-one were of First Nations or Me´tis ancestry. The program honored traditional knowledge and ways of learning combined with a critical analysis of Western perspectives of social work knowledge. Strong fiscal resources enabled the program to establish a formal support network for the students and to support the development of Indigenous curriculum and programming that encouraged success for the students. The program was fundamentally different than urban on-campus programs while still maintaining graduate level accreditation requirements. This analysis of the program required the use of Indigenous Research Methodology to collect and create an understanding of the program. Instructors commented on the centered, empowered, balanced, and congruent students. The formal and informal, concrete and invisible supports to the students ensured the success of this program and this cohort of students. As one student commented, the program started in ceremony, ended in ceremony, and could not fail within the context ceremony
Multiple Relationships: Maintaining Professional Identity in Rural Social Work Practice
Get PDFWorking in a rural community locates the professional in a wider social network as community members often expect more from their professionals; not only as service providers, but also as engaged members of the community. This can result in the rural social worker being highly visible both personally and professionally and it can also lead to overlapping relationships. These higher expectations can place stress on the worker in terms of maintaining accepted professional roles and a sense of professional identity. This qualitative study explores the first-hand experiences of a cross-section of service providers in more than a dozen communities within northwestern Ontario and northern Manitoba, Canada. The responses of the participants provide some insight into how rural practitioners maintain their professional identity when working within the unique demands of the rural and remote context. Recurring themes from the interviews suggest that these professionals craft their own informal decision-making processes to address intersecting roles, community gossip, and personal isolation, even while, in some cases, practicing in their home community. The findings provide greater understanding of the pressures and realities of working in small remote towns and the challenges of responding to the expectations and realities of relationships including the expectation of working with friends and family members of friends or colleagues: issues that have not been adequately studied in the literature to date
The Normative Impact of Unemployment Insurance: A European Perspective
Get PDFThe debate on classification instruments for social security regimes opened by Esping-Andersen (1990) usually neglects the examination of the normative impact of the welfare state. This article focus on this latter through an analysis of systems of protection against unemployment in 11 of the European countries included in the database known as the Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC).We show in this article that unemployment insurance only recognize legal, authorized and declared salaried employees who have resided in the country for a set period of time, which confirms the close link between social policy and nationality, with some foreign workers being excluded from the circle of beneficiaries because of these norms. Unemployment insurance also always considers jobs as rare social goods - workers are expected to hold on to them, but they are declined differently along a person’s life course. The dominance of the male employment norm and the complete lack of consideration given to domestic labour by unemployment insurance contribute to structuring gendered roles as separate and hierarchically organized. Disparities between countries, whether related to contextual differences or to the history of the local welfare state, do not weaken these arguments since they are not founded upon fundamentally different conceptions of unemployment
Studying sensitive and contradictory family situations: Considerations from three family studies
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to discuss questions about studying sensitive and contradictory family situations, particularly in the process of gathering qualitative data via interviews. In the article, the authors ask what types of considerations are possible when studying such issues. Three ongoing family studies conducted in the social sciences by the authors are used as the basis for discussing the sensitive and contradictory nature of such family issues. The authors’ studies are about the foster children’s family relations, the sons of problem-drinking fathers and the families participating in a preventive family support system. Family matters are often perceived as being something private that is not to be talked about or shared with outsiders, e.g. talking about negative feelings towards family members may be complicated
Public – private partnership: A critical discussion
Get PDFPublic-private partnerships have long been highly valued in Western welfare states, and the valuation of such cooperation has become even stronger in light of last year’s economic turbulence, particularly with voluntary non-profit organizations (VNPOs). At the same time, the voluntary sector is changing. The broad popular movements have generally declined in favour of more individual interests as the basis for forming VNPOs, and those organisations still involved in the provision of social services are becoming more and more similar to public service, due to requirements placed on them by the public sector. This is believed to have consequences for the value of such cooperation. If voluntary organisations in public services – or other private organisations for the matter – are becoming copies of public services, there is not much value to be gained from such cooperation, except for some financial gain.In this article, we argue that this conclusion is based on a rather narrow perception of public-voluntary cooperation. Research and debate on such cooperation are mainly preoccupied by what we call supplementary relations, in which voluntary organizations are assessed according to whether they can deliver cheaper or better services than the public sector. Based on an example of public-voluntary cooperation in preventive social work among young adults in Norway, the article show that public-voluntary collaboration can be truly valuable when it is based on a complimentary relation, in which parties collaborate because they command different resources equally important to the task at hand
You will never again be a Chilean like the others: From diaspora to diasporic practices among Chilean refugees returning from exile
No full textIn this paper we focus on repatriation of refugees who came to Norway after the coup d\u27état in Chile in 1973. The Chilean refugees formed part of a diaspora during exile. The authors’ concern is the returnees\u27 relationship with the diaspora upon return. The purpose of the article is to discuss whether the notion of diaspora may contribute to an understanding of the situation of the returnees. Diaspora is widely used in migration studies, although the concept is not particularly related to studies on refugees and their return. The article is based on interviews with Chilean returnees from Norwegian exile. The authors argue that their situation may be best understood as one of continued diasporic identity and diasporic consciousness
Encouraging girl child education in my village
Get PDFMy critical reflection will be drawn from an experience I had just a year after my graduation from the university where I was appointed as one of the X-students to lead a student cultural week in my village with the theme “raising awareness on education”. At the university, I was a member of my association in which students from my tribe generally come together to promote unity and encourage others in education. My role was to present a discourse on girl child education all the entire villagers who were gathered at the village square that evening. A high dropout rate at school and illiteracy are major problems in my region, in which there is still a great deal of gender disparity when it comes to educating children, especially the girl child. This programme is in line with the government’s policy of promoting education in my country, whose priority is for education to reach the grass-roots communities
Professional work in the squeeze: Experiences from a new control regime in residential care for children and youth in Norway
Get PDFThis article examines the effects on the professional system of creating a new system for the quality assurance of residential care in the Norwegian child welfare service. Since 2004, all institutions, private as well as governmental, have undergone a quality evaluation process. A set of indicators was given by the Ministry, with the regional authorities expected to assess the institutions according to these indicators.The main purpose of the article is to discuss to what extent, and in which way, the new control system may exert an impact on the jurisdiction of social work and professional practice in the everyday life of the institutions. The discussion is based on empirical data from a project entitled, “A control regime in transition”, which is supported by the previous Ministry for Children and Family Affairs. The project work started at the end of 2004, and followed the new control regime for three and a half years
The courage to face yourself: About being a social worker in an unknown culture and in unfamiliar situations
Get PDFI have called this essay, The courage to face yourself; in it, I use stories from my internship in Cuba to reflect on being a Norwegian social worker in another country. I also consider the many challenges that arise in this situation, and focus on the two different cultures and their attendant values, norms and morals. The stories are also about being a social worker in an unfamiliar culture and being in new situations. They are about the importance of getting to know yourself, daring to fully face yourself and having the courage to be the person you want to be, both privately and professionally. They are about developing yourself through interactions with others. They are about giving voice to the uncomfortable and incomprehensible. They are about having the courage to be yourself