Record Details

A Complicated Welcome: Social Workers Navigate Policy, Organizational Contexts and Socio-Cultural Dynamics Following Migration to Canada

International Journal of Social Science Studies

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title A Complicated Welcome: Social Workers Navigate Policy, Organizational Contexts and Socio-Cultural Dynamics Following Migration to Canada
 
Creator Brown, Marion
Pullen Sansfacon, Annie
Ethier, Stephanie
Fulton, Amy
 
Description Canada prides itself on a reputation of being a welcoming and inclusive country, promoting a collective pride in upholding a multicultural mosaic wherein a rich diversity of ethnicities, cultures and religions co-exist. A priority of the Canadian federal government is the attraction and retention of skilled foreign workers into the labour market, and social workers have been targeted for this government initiative. Alluring though this ideal picture may be, the experiences of forty-four migrant social workers who undertook their social work education outside Canada and currently practice social work in Canada suggest significant barriers on the levels of policy, organizational context and socio-cultural dynamics. On the level of policy, participants navigated processes for immigration, recognition of foreign credentials, and licensure with the provincial regulatory body. On the level of organizational context, participants faced a range of challenges in securing social work employment. On the level of socio-cultural dynamics, participants detail the many interactive subtleties experienced as they sought to ‘fit in’ in order to connect with their new colleagues and communities. Analysis draws on the concepts of institutional and embodied cultural capital as the means though which social status is differentially available for these migrant social workers, based on the ascribed value of their citizenship characteristics, educational preparation, and practice experience. These forms of capital facilitate mobility by enabling access to opportunities and the tools to acquire status and entry to a particular class, that of the social work practitioner in Canada.
 
Publisher Redfame Publishing
 
Contributor Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
John Graham, Florida University of the Atlantic
 
Date 2014-12-10
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/569
10.11114/ijsss.v3i1.569
 
Source International Journal of Social Science Studies; Vol 3, No 1 (2015); 58-68
2324-8041
2324-8033
 
Language eng
 
Relation http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/569/537