Cultural Identity Influence on Social Work Practice

Duc Anh (Tony) Tran

S00172577

Australian Catholic University

Assignment 1

Reflective assignment

Word Count:

Part A: Briefly introduce yourself, focussing in particular on your cultural identity. How might your cultural identity inform your professional identity and practice as a social worker?

My name composed of two words: Duc – stands for moral, and Anh – stands for smart and prominent in Vietnamese. My parents named me “Duc Anh” with the expectation that I will be a good and bright individual that would contribute largely to the community. Moreover, they also expect me to consider moral aspect before I made any decision or choices in life. The majority of the names come with a history behind them. My family comes from the North

In 2011, there were 74,538 Republic of Korean (ROK)- born people in Australia compare to 52,762 in 2006 Census (ABS, 2011). There was an increase in the number of South Koreans people coming to Australia since the 1970s onwards. Most of the Koreans came to Australia as students and around 100 came under permanent migration (Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship – ADIC, 2011). After the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the Australian Migration Program was introduced to encourage migrations from Western countries to fulfil labour shortage and to boost the economy. However, the White Australia Policy still remained in which favoured the Western immigrants until the 1970s (Australia Government, 2015). As such, there was a few number of immigrants from the Republic of Korea during that period of time. When the White Australia Policy was abolished, Australia had started to become more of the culturally diverse country. When the immigration policy started to be more opened in the late 1960, there was an increase in the number of South Korean born people entering Australia. Starting from the 1970s, the number of South Korean people arrived in Australia had increased significantly as can be seen from the table above with 2,748 people from 1971 to 1980; and 9,996 from 1981 to 1990. From 1991 onwards, there was a further increase in the number of

However, these changes will not place a significant impact on the number of South Korean people coming to Australia for migration purposes. In 2014-15, most of South Korean migrants came to Australia under the Permanent Employer Sponsored program and partner visas with 1,502 and 996 people respectively (DIBP, 2016). In consideration of working holiday visa, there was 25,589 visas granted to people of ROK within 2014-15. The purpose of working holiday visa is to encourage the cultural exchange and the closer ties between Australia and the eligible countries (DIBP, 2016). Within this period, there was 13,229 student visas granted to people of ROK. The international students might have pathway into permanent residency if they meet the requirement of the migration program to fulfil the labour shortage in some areas such as nursing, IT, accounting and so on. The ROK is Australia’s fourth-largest sources of international students in which brings a huge economic benefits for the Australian economy besides the ROK people of working-holiday