Students take on various jobs and voluntary positions throughout their university life, it is their experience of these, specifically at The University of Kent, which will be the focus of this writing. Although, my methodology used for my ethnographic research will also be evaluated and discussed, with reference to the students studied, as well as a brief discussion of definition of the meaning of ethnography, and how this impacted my ethnography. This is to help understand why specific methods were chosen above others, and what effect this had on my research. The findings of my ethnographic project will then be laid out and theoretically analysed through anthropological understandings of money, exchange, and alienation. This theoretical perspective …show more content…
Reasoning behind this being it would create a more natural conversation and discussion of their own experiences, as opposed to a formal interview between myself and them, which would create a new and uncomfortable dynamic between us, which would hinder the research I was trying to carry out. Therefore, the more fluid and candid approach of the unstructured interviews was more innkeeping with the style of my study, and allowed me to obtain more detailed and fluid answers, as opposed to rigid and short answers to a survey or questionnaire. Whereas, if I wasn’t studying my peers I may have chosen a more formal style of interview, to allow them more respect, and to acknowledge they are my superior, as a less formal style of interview would mix the power dynamics between us. Furthermore, due to the experienced based nature of my research, formal interviews wouldn’t allow me the detail I needed to understand the students feelings towards their jobs and volunteering. Moreover, this relaxed style meant the interviews were not restricted to a singular time or place, but allowed an ongoing conversation about their experiences, which gave them time to reflect upon our discussion and make changes to their responses. Overall, this created a more reliable and …show more content…
All the students I talked to did entry level, minimum skill required jobs, including, customer assistant, waitress and cleaner. These kinds of jobs do not necessitate previous experience as they are easy to pick up and can be trained easily, and tend to be many peoples first jobs because of the ease of entry into them. Generally, the work carried out in these jobs isn’t heavily taxing, and is able to “be done by almost anyone” as one student said, although, during peak hours they can be stressful and require much patience due to the contact with sometimes irrational customers. Regarding their hours, the consensus was that 16 hours was the perfect number to take on during term, being split between 3 shifts was “ideal” according to one student, as it would allow for “maybe one long 8-hour weekend shift, and then two 4 hour shifts to fit around lectures.”. However, working during summer was a different matter, as shifts could be up to 12 hours for one student, working around 40 hours a week, which would be classed as the hours for a full-time job, although this was an outlier, as other students upped hours to around 20-30 per week. As for volunteering, generally one short shift, of around 4 hours would take place once a week for a set term, or sometimes until the student felt it was time to
It is of paramount consideration that social workers are conscious of, aware and sensitive to the cultural demands of their clientele. This is because culture is a pivotal factor upon which a great deal of conduct, norms, social connections and mindsets of clients revolve. For social workers there is need to understand and appreciate how cultural traditions influence relationships with a diverse panorama of client needs and demands. This literature review seeks to create a foundation regarding the facts stated above through filtering and analysis of relevant and interesting research studies and works by previous authors. This review of literature focuses on how social workers develop or maintain cultural competence following graduation from Masters of Social Work Program. It aimed at providing answers for further research regarding how social workers maintain cultural competence post graduation. In addition, this literature review seeks to consider that social workers are not enhancing their cultural awareness post graduation as mandated by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) code of ethics.
Identify and explain the three major sources of conflict and misinterpretations in social work practice: culture-bound values, class bound values, and language variables.
Social Workers are very important to everyday life. They are the ones that help people in need when they have nobody else to turn too. Also, they provide resources and better understanding of predicaments that you could be experiencing. I will reflect on how the class has affected me, my own experiences and how some theories have connected to my life experiences, and lastly, if the class helped toward my major. This class is important for someone that wants to become a social worker and wants to learn about the different theories used. Also, learning about me during this process of completing this class is fun and a way to see if the social work profession is right for me. There was many theories explained throughout this class but many will not be said because it wasn’t the main points that I was trying to get across. There are two tools that are used that can help a social worker organize a client’s life: Bubble map and Briefcase exercise. There are so many different ways a social worker can help a client deal with their problems and come up with a solution. It is up to that social worker to identify the client’s problem and see what theory fits.
I started working as a Social Work Assistant in a Welsh child protection team in August 2014 until I gained my social work qualification in October 2014 and started practicing as a Social Worker. The team that I work in gains a lot of its staff intake from newly qualified Social Workers and it appears to be well geared to developing and supporting people who may be unexperienced in social work, but have a wide and varied set of skills from other arenas.
Social workers play a very important role in many situations. Most people can only help an individual up until a certain point then they have no clue what to do to help the individual. A social worker comes up with a plan to help an individual that cannot help themselves. Without social workers many individuals will not know how to manage certain situations. They will come up with an idea that they believe is suitable and move on without thinking about it. Social work has come a long way from when it first began. Comparing then and now, social work is much better and very well organized. The people that are in need whether they are mentally ill or someone that cannot support themselves, are being taken care of properly. It is known that years
I think we need to start with discussing what social work is and where it started. Social work, social problems, and the organizations that were developed is an attempt to cope with problems have had almost a parallel history. There are many people who have helped develop more progressive attitudes and programs toward the poor, the mentally ill, the unemployed, and children at risk. Many of the social welfare policies and programs we take for granted occurred quite recently in our history. Social work is an exciting career area that is highly related to psychology. Many individuals earn an undergraduate degree in social work and then go on to their masters. You can do so much with a social work degree. Social worker has a broad range
Ms. Apple is a 45 year old African American woman who has been a widow for about 4 years. Ms. Apple has three children, whose ages range from 5-12 years old. Ms. Apple has been struggling to keep her family afloat since the death of her husband. Ms. Apple convinced herself that she would not require the extra assistance. However, she realized in attempting to provide alone has not only become very strenuous, but also quite costly. Expenses have become overwhelming for Ms. Apple to maintain, since her husband took care of the finances and was the breadwinner for the family. Ms. Apple has minimal education as she is able to read and write at grade school level. Ms. Apple also has never been employed as she was a home maker. At this point, Ms. Apple is in need of financial assistance to provide for her family. In this paper, I will address how the following concepts would handle the need of Ms. Apple, according to the Elizabethan poor laws of 1601, the Charity Organization,, societies, and the position of an Institutional and Residual Worker.
Social workers are increasingly recognized as an inevitable part of interdisciplinary teams in addressing the needs of clients who seek for legal remedies and services. The relationship between social work and law has been developing since 1917, when Mary Richmond, an architect of modern social work, acknowledged the role of legal authorities while developing her conceptual model for casework (Forgelson, 1970). Later, Mary Richmond drafted an early social work code of ethics in the early 1920s (Reamer, 1987). However, from the development perspective, all 50 states in the US have passed statutes requiring professionals from certain disciplines, including social work and law, to report any abuse or crime happened in the past or is going to happen in the nearest future if there are good reasons to believe that is true. Dubose and Morris (2005) stated that very few states passed similar mandatory reporting statutes for attorneys. It is not surprising that only a few states accepted these statutes because of the presence of the attorney-client privilege statute, which is true for all states. Due to differences in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and NASW Code of Ethics, professionals from the respective disciplines may have conflicts while both provide social and legal support to the same client from a domestic violence organization. There are two main reasons that allow the tension to happen, social workers are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect but lawyers, on the contrary, have an ethical responsibility to maintain client confidentiality (Taylor, 2006).
The social workers in both videos gathered information regarding each of the client’s issues. Another common denominator in both videos is that both of the social workers repeated what the client had said in their own words to allow the client to feel heard and understood. In the first video, social worker Karen asked direct questions relating to Mike’s alcohol addiction while also addressing how the addiction impacts his relationships including his marriage. Karen also addressed inconsistencies with the client doing so appropriately and quickly. It appears that in the first video, Karen focuses on the reality of the issue at hand to assist the client with establishing and accepting
Social work practice requires many skills, which need much practice themselves. This needs social work students to be open to trying within safe environments and scenario’s for mistake, such as with their peers and with emotional safe scenarios such as stress at University. This begins with a requirement to do 5 minutes of interviewing with a peer which includes many social work skills such as active listening, encouraging, paraphrasing, being/creating a welcoming and safe environment and other such basic and beginning skills.
Social work is a multifaceted, ever adapting profession, which has had many purposes and identities through the years. It is imperative for the vocation to constantly evolve alongside the social climate and the new ways in which we identify and treat those who are in need of support. Social workers can be required to take on the role of counsellor, advocate, case-worker, partner, assessor of risk and need, and at times (as the government seeks to push social work further and further towards the health and education sectors) a servant of the state. The profession is dramatically subject to affection by societal change, thus demanding social workers have a duty to be up to date with the latest developments in understanding how and why people get to the point of requiring social work intervention, and how best to prevent and cater for it.
1. Understanding of problems and concerns relative to social work: Describe your understanding of the social work profession and the problems social workers address by using one example to discuss a particular social problem and how a social worker could intervene.
Critical social work has its ideological origin in the 'critical theory' ,which evolved from the German social thinkers from Frankfurt School in 1930. The critical traditions of social work began in 1960's with influence of radical social work (which criticised individual social work practice) and community work in UK in 1970's. However, critical social work, as a coherent term, has only been used more explicitly mostly in literature from Australia & Canada, in the last two decades. According to Fook (2002, p. 18), 'Critical Social Work practice is primarily concerned with practising in ways which further a society without domination, exploitation and oppression'.
On July 7th I had an interview opportunity with the Oasis Shelter in Owensboro, Kentucky. This was one of the numerous opportunities that I placed on my possible field interest to receive an internship at. I met with the director of the Oasis shelter in Henderson, Kentucky that afternoon for the interview. The interview went well, and I informed the director that I was a Sociology undergrad student looking to expand my knowledge with domestic violence. Towards the end of the interview, the director informed me “we do not accept many Master of Social Work students because MSW’s are know it all. The student thinks they know more than individuals in the social work field with five or more years of knowledge.” I received the directors contact
Nowadays, the numbers of students who are always looking for a part time job while they are attending college is increasing every day. According to an article was published in 1998 on The Futurist, the number of students who have a part-time job increased from 5% of students in the 1950s to almost 70% of the students in some communities (“Jobs hurt school performance” n. page). Because of a bunch of fee and cost that students have to handle, working during college seems to be a necessity than an option. The part-time jobs provide not only paychecks but also experience, skills for the students. It is very helpful for the students after they graduate college and look for a real job. Although there are some people who argue that having a job during