Where Does it Begin? A Comparative Perspective on the Professional Preferences of First-year Social Work Students

Intercultural learning among community development students: positive attitudes, ambivalent experiences

“…While no studies have explored community development students' attitudes to diversity, several overseas studies of social work students indicate that they have broadly liberal values and seek to actively engage with victims of disadvantage. For example, Weiss (2005) and Weiss et al (2002;, in a cross-national comparative study that examined the commonalities and differences in professional ideology among social work graduates in 10 countries, found substantial similarity in the students' professional ideology despite the different contexts of their professional socialization process. They recognized structural sources of poverty, expressed high levels of support for individual well-being, and saw social justice as a major goal of social work.…”

“…While engagement with cultural diversity was not a separate aspect of this ideology, it fits with its general tenor. However, the research by Weiss (2005)and Weiss et al (2002Weiss et al ( , 2003 did not compare social work graduates with graduates of other professional courses, so it is unclear whether these graduates were more concerned with such issues than others.…”

“…Based on prior research with students enrolled in social work courses (Weiss, 2005;Weiss, Gal, Cnaan, & Maglajlic 2002;Weiss, Gal, & Dixon 2003), we expected that community development students would have more positive orientations to diversity. (2) How do community development students' identities affect their orientations to cultural diversity?…”

The Productivity Commission Inquiry into Aged Care: A Critical Review

“…And if the sector doesn't seem much interested in social work, how interested is social work in the sector? It is well documented that social work students continue to identify working with older people as one of their least preferred areas of practice (Volland & Berkman, 2004), and residential care as one of their least preferred settings to work in (Weiss et al, 2002).…”

Using Observation for Reflective Practice with Older People

“…Concerns have recently been expressed that despite population ageing, social work with older people is less popular than other areas of practice, such as work with children and families (Volland & Berkman, 2004;Weiss, Gal, Cnaan & Maglajlic, 2002). Consistently studies indicate that although social work students may not be overtly negative towards older people, they do hold less than positive views about them and are unlikely to identify an interest in working with them in the future (Anderson & Wiscott, 2003).…”