Examining the terminology of race issues in assessments for international exchange students

Abstract

The rationale for this study emerged from teaching developments in a student exchange scheme between a university in Scotland and a university in a southern state of the USA. To date, exchange students on this scheme have participated in a taught classroom-based module. A possible development is for visiting students to undertake a practice placement in the UK. This study explored the terminology used by students in both countries when referring to race issues in assignments linked to practice. The terminology of race issues matters because, as Dominelli (2008: 8) reminds us, 'Words indicate understandings of reality, shape interactions within discourses that produce them, and expose specific conceptualisations of power relations and people's place in the world.' Examining students' assignments would provide some insight into their understanding of racism and the extent to which the terminology of race issues in existing assessment tools might be adapted for visiting students undertaking a placement in the UK.

The international student sojourn, identity conflict and threats to well-being

“…Indeed, there is a growing body of research that calls for a culturally sensitive curriculum and practice in counselling and education (Bektas, Demir, & Bowden, 2009;Heron & Pilkington, 2009;Muto, Hayes, & Jeffcoat, 2011;Seo, 2005;Woodward, 2010). But in their study of international trainees' experience of their multicultural counselling training in the US, Smith and Kok-Mun (2009) reported significant negative evaluations.…”

Field education in international social work: Where we are and where we should go

“…To effectively perform in non-western environments, professional knowledge developed in the context of western paradigms needs to be combined with local knowledge and traditional approaches to helping (Gelkopf et al, 2008; Midgley, 2001). It has been claimed that because it assumes a homogenized professional knowledge base and is built on a western ideological ‘infrastructure’, social work has often failed in achieving this goal and has practiced professional and intellectual colonialism by ‘importing’ western thinking into other cultures rather than adopting local, culture-specific wisdom (Heron and Pilkington, 2009). The tendency to impose a western perspective of social work worldwide has been evident as professionals in non-western countries tried to assimilate western theories, models, concepts, literature and education and apply it in their own countries (Alphonse et al, 2008; Gray et al, 2008; Yunas, 2007).…”

Reflective Learning and Teaching in Social Work Field Education in International Contexts

“…Smith (2004) asserts that social work students and new graduates themselves can contribute towards building the social work knowledge base. There has therefore been an increase in the number of relevant publications in the past decade, such as books by Gilchrist et al (2009), Lager et al (2010 and Cox and Pawar (2013), and several articles (Barlow, 2007;Cleak et al, 2014;Crabtree et al, 2014;Das and Anand, 2014;Gilin and Young, 2009;Hawkins and Knox, 2014;Heron, 2005;Heron and Pilkington, 2009;Jung and Tripodi, 2007;Kreitzer et al, 2012;Lalyants et al, 2015;Lam et al, 2007;Lindsey, 2005;Loakimidis, 2011;Nadan, 2014;Nuttman-Shwartz and Ranz, 2014;Pawar et al, 2004;Pettys et al, 2005;Wehbi, 2009).…”