Empowerment Theory Summary

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The writer will use the empowerment theory as she primarily has been working in the field of early childhood education. The writer works in a school environment for children with behavioral, developmental, and emotional difficulties. The application of Empowerment theory is relevant and utilized daily in the school setting when working with youth. Empowerment guides students to find their own individual strengths and values in who they are and their capabilities of achieving their goals despite their mental, developmental, emotional, and behavioral aspects. A tenet includes looking toward their own family and culture for support and encouragement in personal strength. This is especially relevant in working with Hispanic clients as understanding …show more content…

Hispanics come to the United States from collectivistic cultures, which contrast with the individualistic culture of the United States. Collectivistic cultures view their accomplishments as being dependent on the outcome of others. Rather than encourage competition and individual achievement, the writer prefers her clients to work with others to achieve their goals. The social worker has an understanding brought out by the NASW that the social work as a profession aims to address the impact of social problems on the lives of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. To achieve this, the members of the profession, the organizations through which they work, and the schools of social work must have the knowledge base, theories, and values to understand relevant social issues, especially for the purpose of creating positive change (National Association of Social Workers, 2010). The writer aims to break the cycle of institutional racism and hopefully through these three theories change the early childhood educational system by addressing the issues that impact people of Hispanic ethnic backgrounds along with other ethnicities that are of the low socioeconomically backgrounds to positively help children so they can easily achieve means to higher education in the United

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