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Black Minority Ethnic Students Navigating their Way from Access Courses to Social Work Programmes: Key Considerations for the Selection of Students.
- Source :
- British Journal of Social Work; Dec2011, Vol. 41 Issue 8, p1477-1496, 20p
- Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- This paper explores the experiences of predominantly black minority ethnic (BME) students navigating their way from further education (FE) college Access courses to undergraduate social work programmes. It discusses tensions associated with balancing academic and professional entry requirements for social work education with principles of social justice enshrined in policy to widen participation to higher education (HE) and to the professions for those from less privileged social backgrounds. Drawing upon her doctoral study (Dillon, 2010a, 2010b) and insights from social reproduction, life course development and critical race theories, the author argues that entry to social work education is not without problems for some students. The central contention of this paper is that increased competition for social work education places and an overemphasis on academic qualifications and credentials may have had some unintended consequences for less privileged students, but particularly for BME students. The introduction of new national social work admission criteria giving equal weighting to academic and non-academic skills related to life course experiences and other ‘softer skills’ denoting personal suitability for social work is advocated to address this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Subjects :
- BLACK people
FOCUS groups
INTERVIEWING
MINORITIES
MOTIVATION (Psychology)
NURSING practice
QUESTIONNAIRES
RESEARCH
RESEARCH ethics
SOCIAL classes
SOCIAL justice
SOCIAL work education
JOB qualifications
WHITE people
GOVERNMENT policy
JUDGMENT sampling
SOCIOECONOMIC factors
SCHOOL admission
THEMATIC analysis
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00453102
- Volume :
- 41
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- British Journal of Social Work
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 69899222
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr026