Reviewing the benefits and challenges of overseas practice: Reflections upon coming home
Liz Beddoe,Allen Bartley +1 more
TL;DR: The authors explored the experiences of Aotearoa New Zealand qualified social workers who have practised in another country and have returned home and reported overall satisfaction with overseas experiences which had provided professional opportunities for learning and development, and better pay and conditions.
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Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Given the diversity of practice and understanding of social work across the globe and its distinctive shape in specific national settings, practitioners working in a new country encounter different community, professional and workplace cultures which may pose challenges. This current study contributes to a larger programme of work undertaken to address the transnational nature of the social work profession in Aotearoa New Zealand and elsewhere. METHOD: The study aim was to explore the experiences of Aotearoa New Zealand qualified social workers who have practised in another country and have returned home. Participants in an online survey were recruited via an invitation to all members of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. The questionnaire was designed to obtain broad data about the experiences of social workers in their overseas employment and perceptions on their return home. FINDINGS: Many participants had layers of transnational experience having practised as social workers in multiple countries. Participants reported overall satisfaction with overseas experiences which had provided professional opportunities for learning and development, and better pay and conditions. Coming home presented new challenges and interesting perceptions of social work in Aotearoa. IMPLICATIONS: Adjustment to new practice locations and, as shown in this small exploratory study, returning “home” can be disruptive to professional perspectives. While overseas practice is enriching, it carries with it both relocation benefits and costs, confirming earlier research. Better employer recognition of the challenges of returning social workers, and the enhanced skills they bring home may offset any dislocation experienced.
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Citations
Navigating the territories of transition: An exploration of the experiences of transnational social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand:
TL;DR: This article conducted three focus groups with transnational social workers (TSWs) in three cities of Aotearoa New Zealand to examine the transitional experience of social workers in the context of transnational migration.
Northern Social Workers’ Experiences with Reflective Practice: Analyzing Power in International Development Work
Brianna Strumm
- 05 Apr 2022
TL;DR: This article explored whether social workers' engagement with reflective practices impacts their understanding of their own positioning, power, practice strategies and negotiation with their managerial workplaces, and found that powerful neoliberal ideas in the workplace and location-specific challenges constrained reflective practice activity.
References
Transnational Social Workers: Making the Profession a Transnational Professional Space
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on research conducted in New Zealand from 2009 to 2011 with overseas-qualified social workers as members of a global profession experiencing both great international demand for their skills and unparalleled flows of professional transnationalism.
International social workers in England: Factors influencing supply and demand
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present trends in the international labour mobility of social workers migrating to work in England alongside information on the supply of UK-trained social workers and conclude that demographic changes and policy imperatives have accentuated structural issues making it difficult to ensure an adequate supply in the number of domestically trained social workers.
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Adaptation and Acculturation: Experiences of Internationally Educated Social Workers
TL;DR: In this paper, a study with 15 social workers who undertook their professional education outside Canada and have migrated to Canada within the past 10 years, regarding their professional acculturation and adaptation is presented.
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