MSWPG7109 Race, Ethnicity and Identity

Introduction

Reflective practice is a key aspect of the social work profession and is found at the heart of the discipline. It presents a way to become competent as well as a confident social worker (Knott & Scragg, 2016). Reflective practice contributes to both learning as well as development on the course but its usage does not end there as it is also a significant aspect of the practice of social work. It basically involves a review of any personal or professional approach or experience and after analysing the situation extensively it contributes to making positive changes for future practices (Ferguson2018). Reflection helps to convert the knowledge from experiences into learning which can be applied in the practice as well as personal life. Critical reflection usually involves more stages as it encourages an individual to inspect their decisions and judgements, approach as well as interventions. It focuses on objective assistance rather than on an individual’s own beliefs and values. Reflection creates self-awareness among social workers which in turn encourages the social worker to engage with various service users and generate effective relationships with them, one which will benefit both of them (Mantell & Scragg, 2018). The aim of this paper is twofold; one is to reflect on my past values, experiences and personal beliefs and show their connection to my growing professional social work identity and the other one is to identify forms of oppressions and privilege that shape social worker’s approaches towards social issues.

Discussion

I have recently relocated to Australia for engaging in a course of Social Work (masters) which started in July 2020. I was born and brought up in India and have completed my bachelor’s degree in law from there. Although I believe that in the profession of social work it is important to collaborate with others and constantly improve self-learning as well as performance, when I first came to Australia or rather on the first day in a new university I remember people being extremely helpful although I was very nervous. I was extremely relieved that everyone was so helpful as I was worried about how I will be treated over here. I have had several encounters with bullying and discrimination back in India when I was pursuing law which can get extremely bizarre as far as real experiences go. My friend came from a minority background and often had to face several discrimination as well as bullying from other students as well as other people. The discriminations and bullying became more prominent and frequent with time. More than the physical bullying he became a victim of the relational type of bullying. Relational type of Bullying can be more fatal to the mental health of a person than their physical health (Chester et al., 2017). He had to face various issues on a daily basis which can take a heavy toll on anybody, he was ostracized from various groups in the university as well as in the hostel. People used to spread many kinds of rumours about him which affected his social image and other people who believed the rumours started to maintain their distance from “us”. Although I was never bullied directly, I was harassed and discriminated for my decision to support my friend in his difficult times. As I was one of the closest friends and acted as a support system for my friend, I was heavily manipulated by the people who bullied and discriminated my friend on a daily basis. They tried to change my views about my friend so that they can bully and discriminate him without anyone trying to stop them. I was a witness to the effects of discrimination and bullying as I saw for myself that my friend was slowly succumbing into depression. He was an ambitious student who wanted to support his family members by establishing himself as a lawyer who can fight for the disadvantaged people. After a few months, his time table started to disrupt and he became completely numb against his emotions. His mental state was so bad that at times he had to be reminded about his assignments and other important work. After a while, I thought of taking this to the university authorities as higher intervention was needed to stop this behavior. The authorities carried out a thorough research into the case and after confirming the entire situation, rusticated the students who were involved in serious bullying and discrimination. My friend had to be put in therapeutic care and is still recovering from the condition. Such a hazardous personal experience had me worried about my experience in Australia but I was extremely shocked at first as I could not even comprehend that I will be faced with something like this right off the bat, on my first day in campus I was invited to become a member of the International Student Organisation which handled the international student activities and events for the university. My orientation process within the campus grounds included academic procedures as well as recommendations and learning about the daily campus life in general. After a few weeks from the incident, I was faced with another one concerning my entry to the other university clubs. Now these clubs are fairly open to all as I have heard before and students can choose the clubs which they like which is why I chose sports and a couple of other entertainment clubs where I was received extremely graciously.

Although my university experience is extremely satisfactory and pleasant, my work experience is not so great. I work at the supermarket in the night shift and my work is primarily to stack and arrange the products in a certain manner. Although there were many other workers who belonged to international backgrounds as well as people who were Australians. I felt that I along with some of the other international students/people were always given more amount of work to do but under the same shift as compared to the local workers who had much less work. I also noticed that my supervisor was a bit more cautious about my work as he always focused on me as well as other Asian workers over the local workers. My supervisor also intervened in the smallest of mistakes and ordered us to do the entire work again. After a while, I started to draw personal biased values and beliefs about the people of Australia and at one point even thought to myself that I cannot practice social work here. It took me quite some time to shake the negative feelings off and develop counter arguments against the beliefs and values that I had. I tried to tell myself that being a social worker does not mean I will back away from my fights, on the contrary, it means to fight other’s battles for them and in order to do that, social workers need to be extremely strong, ethical, vigilante in the face of social issues like unequal privileges and discrimination.

When thinking back I noticed how privileged they were in terms of getting into the best colleges as getting into top colleges for Australians were extremely easy as they do not have to go through so many tests like the international students. Apart from being privileged they have a tendency to bring up racial and discriminatory discussions. Many people bully other “non-white” individuals inside the workplace. These incidences used to shape my personal beliefs as well as the values that I hold in my personal life.

Soon I had made a friend who helped me to shape my negative views, beliefs and values through the practice of self-reflection. She was also in Social work and we used to do our assignments and projects together. She helped me to understand why the core values of the practice of social work were so important for social workers. The core values which include service, worth and dignity of individuals, social justice, significance of human relationships, integrity as well as competence are the foundation of the personal values of social workers (Barsky, 2019). These core values of social work should shape the social workers principles and values which will then ensure efficient and effective practice (Maxim, 2018). However, there were several times when my personal values and beliefs did not align with hers. As her approach was shaped by her identity as a budding social worker. She often stressed on the significance of positive thinking and principles which according to her will contribute to building a professional identity. Professional identity can be defined as training, knowledge as well as education concerning a specific industry or a particular profession or practice (Webb, 2017). There are many components of professional identity according to her which includes but are not limited to, reflection, goal orientation, mentoring, self-efficacy, professional socialisation, critical thinking, perception of the profession, commitment to the profession as well as work environments (Day, 2018). Strategies that I can adopt to develop my professional identity in social work according to her primarily includes adopting a positive attitude towards negative issues which helps to solve the negative issues faster (Samson, 2016). Other strategies include; assessing my skills, working hard and being the best, avoiding workplace behaviours that are categorised as toxic, purposeful networking, developing appropriate and effective communications skills, keeping an organised attitude throughout work, presenting myself as a proud social worker.

I have realised that my negative personal beliefs and experiences do contribute in shaping my professional identity which can later on hinder or affect my professional work on a large scale. As a social worker I need to equip myself with the right knowledge and means to fight the diverse social issues that have grasped the modern society. Social issues like unequal privileges, discrimination, oppression have been living in the society for far too long and have been ingrained in the minds of some people which is why it may be harder for the professionals of social work to quickly come up with ways to solve or mitigate these issues (Pawar & Thomas, 2017). My time in the social work course which is still continuing as well as the influence of my friend has taught me to think more deeply about the things and behaviours I showcase to people. She also encourages me to determine my own personal principles and values from time to time to see how much they can be compared with the principles and values that I have been studying throughout my course and the ones which I will learn about in the future. According to Payne & Askeland (2016), it is evident from a long time back that knowledge has been based upon facts which are observable in nature but this signifies that knowledge which is based on the experiences is not highly thought of in the community.

As a social worker, I have borne witness to several forms of discrimination, oppression and prejudice that has taken place around me. In five out of ten cases, this behaviour stems from preconceived ingrained beliefs that have been fed to us since birth. The idea of privilege stems from the idea of whiteness, which essentially refers to the fact that a person is considered better than another on the basis of their skin colour. This very belief system is faulty and is based on the historical sentiment of colonialism. Australia, like India was one of the colonies undertaken by the British. Therefore, it is no surprise that racial disparity is an integral part of its system today. I came face to face with this behaviour while studying as a social worker when I saw the white members of the Australian community bully a few girls who were from aboriginal communities. It shocked me at first because it is a known fact that the aboriginals are considered to be the First People in the continent of Australia. However, my surprise soon turned into avid recognition as this issue is also prevalent in the United States of America. This shed light on the fact that racial discrimination, hate and disparity is not only a global problem but also is a systematic practice that advocates oppression.

Australia is historically considered as a white nation, which is the root cause for its discriminative behaviour against people of different ethnic backgrounds. During my education in this continent, I have seen several people from aboriginal communities being denied their rights and also falling victim to the oppressive nature of the community around them. This practically shoved me into trying to learn more about the history of this continent. I personally believe that every behaviour has a reason. If there is racial hate, then there also must be a reason behind it. It can either be because of the historic influence of colonialism or it can be because of the blatant ignorance of the people. Either reasons are not correct, however, they do answer the ‘why’ in regards to this behaviour.

Upon further research, I realised that just like in the United States of America, Australia too had once tried to assimilate the indigenous community of Australia (Moreton-Robinson, 2020). This essentially refers to the practice of coercing people of aboriginal descent into living lives in the same way as white Australians. This elucidates the fact that in order to enjoy equal rights and privileges, the aboriginal community was coerced into leaving their culture and heritage behind and conform to a life that was deemed acceptable by the white Australians. The fact that this resembled the American’s behaviour with the Native Americans had not escaped my notice. After educating myself about the matter, I realised that this need to change and assimilate stemmed from the idea of the unknown. One of the main reasons behind the idea of assimilation was to get rid of the unknown and embrace the “right” way of life. This faulty reasoning was a big part of Australian history that has been passed on by generation after generation. This has resulted in the oppression and discrimination in the Australian community today.

Another form of oppression that is prevalent not only in Australia but also in other parts of the world is the oppression of people of African descent. It is no secret that the British practice of colonialism encouraged and broadcasted the idea and concept of slave trade among the white people. This essentially meant that not only were the black people considered inferior but also good for nothing but manual labour. This systematic hate has been so deep rooted that it has found its way into society today. The horrifying incident with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others raised a global outcry in regards to the heinous crime but also brought forth the degree of this systematic racial discrimination and oppression.

Studying as a social worker has not only helped me to look at the problem head on but also enabled me with the ability to notice the pattern and reasoning behind such behaviour. Oppression in Australia has been prevalent in many forms. For instance, the indigenous population has forever been denied equal rights and is later oppressed on the basis of their poor standing in society. This essentially sheds light to the harsh reality that people are denied positions in the professional sectors based on their descent, something that the white folks of Australia do not have to experience at all. This rather hard economic blow, forces the indigenous population to limit themselves to agricultural opportunities only. Furthermore, the deliberate oppression of people from ethnic descents in terms of their social standing, economic stature and educational opportunities has been a longstanding practice among the white people of Australia. While studying as a social worker, I have developed an objective outlook when viewing a problem. However, looking at such evil practices are bound to affect an individual personally. Coming from India, I have not seen racial discrimination on a first-hand basis since it is not as prevalent in India. However, upon my arrival in Australia, I have realised that there has been a colour bias instilled within me as well. The truth is we do not notice it because it seems so trivial to us. However, in light of recent events, if I have learnt anything it’s the fact that our words have weight and that it will most definitely hurt people who identify with those groups. It has been a hard task to not only identify the racism within me but also to unlearn the racial beliefs that have been ingrained in me.

The first and foremost rule of being a social worker is to practice empathy and understanding and that it is not something that I can only provide to people I personally care about. This work has taught me to look at things objectively. I have had to face many instances where I personally would have reacted differently, however, studying my masters has taught me that empathy does not come with a limitation tag. As a social worker, I have to be an empath for both the oppressed as well as the oppressor in order to notice the pattern and thought process behind the behaviour. It is important to note that Australia also sees discrimination and oppression on the basis of people’s gender and sexual identity. This stems back to the fear of the unknown. This belief that what is unknown is also incorrect and unnatural is what causes the white folks of the continent to discriminate against people who identify differently. This is also an acute example of the thought process of the majority of the people. Being a social worker, I have not only noticed the traditional style of thinking of some people here but also experienced first-hand how these affect people belonging to different gender. In recent times, Australia has borne witness to several strikes, parades and marches advocating for equal rights for all genders and races. This sheds light on the fact that while the continent does have several issues regarding the evil practices of oppression, discrimination and privilege, it also has a group of people who identify this issue and are willing to fight against it for as long as it takes.

Thus, from the above paper, it can be understood how whiteness, privilege, oppression and discrimination are prevalent issues in the continent of Australia. The paper also elucidates on the ways that understanding the reason behind these issues and researching the origin of these issues has helped in growing my personal as well as professional identity as I study as a social worker in Australia. Finally, the paper expresses the key skills I have developed in analysing these social issues that are prevalent in the continent.

References

Barsky, A. E. (2019). Ethics and values in social work: An integrated approach for a comprehensive curriculum. Oxford University Press.

Bastos, J. L., Harnois, C. E., & Paradies, Y. C. (2018). Health care barriers, racism, and intersectionality in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 199, 209-218.

Bessant, J., & Watts, R. (2020). Sociology Australia. Routledge.

Briskman, L. (2016). Decolonizing social work in Australia: Prospect or illusion. In Indigenous social work around the world (pp. 111-122). Routledge.

Chester, K. L., Spencer, N. H., Whiting, L., & Brooks, F. M. (2017). Association between experiencing relational bullying and adolescent health‐related quality of life. Journal of school health, 87(11), 865-872.

Davies, L. (2017). Social work in a corporate era: Practices of power and resistance. Routledge.

Day, C. (2018). Professional identity matters: Agency, emotions, and resilience. In Research on teacher identity (pp. 61-70). Springer, Cham.

Ferguson, H. (2018). How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: The possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work. Social Work Education, 37(4), 415-427.

Knott, C., & Scragg, T. (Eds.). (2016). Reflective practice in social work. Learning Matters.

Mantell, A., & Scragg, T. (Eds.). (2018). Reflective practice in social work. Learning Matters.

Maxim, S. T. (2018). The role of the core moral values in social work. In Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice (pp. 18-24). IGI Global.

Moreton-Robinson, A. (2020). I still call Australia home: Indigenous belonging and place in a white postcolonizing society. In Uprootings/Regroundings Questions of Home and Migration (pp. 23-40). Routledge.

Pawar, M., & Thomas, M. (2017). Social work education in Australia and the USA: Comparative perspectives and contemporary issues. Social Work Education, 36(6), 648-661.

Payne, M., & Askeland, G. A. (2016). Globalization and international social work: Postmodern change and challenge. Routledge.

Samson, P. L. (2016). Critical thinking in social work education: A research synthesis. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(2), 147-156.

Shepherd, C. C., Li, J., Cooper, M. N., Hopkins, K. D., & Farrant, B. M. (2017). The impact of racial discrimination on the health of Australian Indigenous children aged 5–10 years: analysis of national longitudinal data. International journal for equity in health, 16(1), 1-12.

Triana, M. D. C., Jayasinghe, M., Pieper, J. R., Delgado, D. M., & Li, M. (2019). Perceived workplace gender discrimination and employee consequences: a meta-analysis and complementary studies considering country context. Journal of management, 45(6), 2419-2447.

Walter, M. M., & Baltra-Ulloa, A. J. (2019). Australian social work is white. Our voices, 65-85.

Webb, S. A. (Ed.). (2017). Professional identity and social work. Taylor & Francis.

Looking for academic assignment samples online? Need professional paper writers to back you up with advanced resources and other addons? Here we are! MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk takes up the responsibility to provide you with the following backups every time, on the move. 

• Free samples 
• Signup bonus 
• Seasonal discounts 
• Free access to blogs & more 

So, now that you are aware of our potential and the numerous perks that we have got in store for you, take a smart call. Our assignment help services in the UK shall make sure to help you secure a straight A+ every semester.