Manager’s perceptions of challenges facing migrant social workers

Dr Sue Hanna Division of Social Work

Brunel University – London

UK based study - Recruited London & Home counties

Aim To investigate migrant social worker’s post-arrival

integration, professional practice and development.

Funded by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation

Include managers perspective

The project – Back ground

Social Work characterised politically as an essential service but beset with unresolved problems

One problem - supply and retention of staff in child and family work

Regular recruitment/ employment by local authorities of overseas trained & qualified social workers to fill staffing shortfalls (Crisp, 2009; Welbourne et al, 2007; Walsh, Wilson & O’Connor, 2009).

Strategy most apparent in statutory child protection services (Welbourne et al, 2007).

Rationale

Problem statement

Transferable skills - delivery of social work services are affected by broader geographical and institutional contexts (Healy, 2005)

Experiences / motivations of immigrant social workers have not been systematically investigated.

Discussions conceptualised in terms of labour supply and basic practice readiness

Fails to appreciate the complexity and pressures of child and family practice & the psycho social impacts of immigration as workers attempt to build new lives and establish themselves professionally in the U.K

(Lee & Westwood, 1996; Casado, Hong, & Harrington, 2010).

Significantly reduce net migration Permanent cap on immigration outside EU Tighten the points based system & consider other

routes Cut link between temporarily migration and

permanent settlement Increasingly less antipodeans in social work

market. Growth in EU recruitment

Policy Direction – Managed Labour immigration

Method

Qualitative study -50 participants

15 managers

Snow ball sample

Semi structured individual interviews

Thematic / Comparative analysis (Attride – Stirling, J. 2001)

Thematic networks as web like illustrations that summarise the main themes comprising a piece of text.

15 managers – Child & Family Services 6 overseas managers 9 Born & trained in UK 3 men12 women

1 inner London borough, 2 greater London Boroughs, 2 county councils

Management sample

Task- Managing International SW relatively common

Motivations - Vary from country to country

Preparedness –Shock - degree depends on country of origin

Expectations – Experience confounds people expectations

Findings (1) – Global themes

Again I think the people who are coming from like Australia and New Zealand they tend to have the correct expectations I think they are not fazed by cases we give them. As I say I think people coming from maybe the sub continent struggle because it’s just so alien to everything they have done before, the whole court process, the fact that we challenge parents we don’t just take at face value what they say....I think that has been a struggle its the different training, it’s a different thought process.

Mangers Quotes

Challenges – diff cultures have diff challenges but its challenging exp for everyone

Multi systemic challenges - professionally occupationally socially emotionally practically.

Reception by service users - Problems with language, communication and accent can compound a difficult job.

Findings (2)

Strengths – valued for motivation, diverse experiences and skills

Post arrival issues – Recognition of pressures and issues

Stay or Leave? - Most return home but if stay there are critical points /events

Induction – Not a forgone conclusion

Findings (3)

Mangers Quotes (2)

Induction Nothing outside of what anyone else gets nothing at all.

There is no attention to country of origin and maybe that’s about London because it’s such as diverse place that everyone is from somewhere and everyone has a background from somewhere and there is no attention to it.

How has it been for you – Positive but hard work

Support for the role – Variable not a forgone conclusion

Particular staffing challenges – leave, internationals don’t stay, some cant adjust

Preparing teams – No specific preparation, norm turnover accepted

Acceptance – Over time- need to stay

Findings (4)

How effective as a strategy – Qualified support

Need to build our own capacity

Brings strengths but need to stay at least two years for it to be cost effective

Expensive - group recruiting & locums

Less jobs - Recruit more from Europe

Findings (5)

‘One of the biggest benefits at the time was recruitment was very hard and we are in a different climate now and recruitment is not so hard so in that sense that was a benefit at the time and I think people from different countries different cultures bring different things and make us think about different things so that’s a benefit as well. I think if they then don’t stay very long it’s a bit of a… whether the investment is value for money it’s hard to work out really.’

Manager Quote

International social work – may be a global profession, but not necessarily a common professional project. (Weiss-Gal & Welbourne 2008)

Form of social work practiced in a locality is

structured by the welfare regime in that country and any analysis must be informed by consideration of power relationships in that given society and profession (Hugman et al, 2010)

Despite good qualifications, knowledge of theories & methods , the reality of English social work was something overseas workers had never experienced (Simpson, 2009)

Literature - International social work

Knowledge transfer via mobility not a given (Dominelli, 2010)

Arrivals positioned as learners rather than co learners.

Ascribed a peripheral position within work groups move along a continuum stranger – friend ( Williams & Balaz, 2008)

Exchange rate between sending/receiving countries affects migrants and returned migrants.

Experience of migrant professionals

Learning & Development continuous and life long professional activities

Supervision is valued, supported and well resourced Even the most senior staff participate in supervision &

professional development Mistakes and problems are viewed as critical opportunities

for learning Good practice action, reflection, new thinking, planning &

action Individuals & teams review their effectiveness Ongoing feedback between different levels of the

organization

Learning & development culture

‘They move country and we expect then to start work the next day’

‘my experience is that they have, made the decision to come here, they have gone through the interview process and they’ve come. I don’t get a sense they think about that too much … it’s the excitement and the adrenaline of moving and I think it only hits you when you are here.’

‘That’s mine and there is your locker over there … this is not something we have though enough about from an organisational point of view.’

References Attride – Stirling, J. (2001) Thematic networks: analytic tool for qualitative research, Qualitative

Research, vol.1 (3): pp 385-408.

Casado, B., Hong, & D, Harrington. (2010) Measuring migratory grief and loss associated with the experience of immigration. Research on Social Work practice online firstpublished April 1, 2010 doi: 10.1177/1049731509360840.

Crisp, B. (2009) Is there a role for ‘Foreigners’ as Social Work Educators? Social Work Education, Vol.28, No.6, pp.668-677.

Dominelli, l ( 2010) Social Work in a Globalising World, Polity, Cambridge.

Hardill, I., & S. McDonald. (2000) Skilled international migration: the experiences of Nurses in the U.K. Regional Studies, 34. (7) pp.681-692.  

Gray, M. (2005) Dilemmas of international social work: paradoxical processes in indigenisation, universalism and imperialism. International journal of social welfare, 14: 231-238.

 Healy, K. (2005). Social Work Theories in context - creating frameworks for practice.Basingstoke, Palgrave MacMillan.

Hugman, R. Moosa- Mitha, M.& Moyo, O ( 2010) Towards a borderless social work Reconsidering notions of international social work, International Social Work, 53 (5), 629-643.

Lee, G., & Westwood, M. (1996) Cross cultural issues faced by immigrant professionals. Journal ofEmployment Counselling, 33, (March), pp. 29 42.

 

References

Simpson, G ( 2009) Global and Local issues in the training of overseas social workers Social Work Education, Vol 28, No 6, September 2009, 655-667

Walsh, T., Wilson, G., & E. O’Connor. (2009) Local, European and Global: An exploration of migrations of social workers into Ireland, British Journal of Social Work Advance access published 13 December,2009 doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcp141.

Weiss-Gal, I. & Welbourne, P. (2008) The professionalization of social work: cross national approach. International Journal of Social Welfare, 17: 281-290.

Welbourne, P. Harrison, G., & D. Forde. (2007) Social work in the U.K and the global labour market: recruitment, practice and ethical considerations. International Social Work, 50(1), pp 27-40.

Williams, A, & Balaz, V. (2008) International return mobility, learning and knowledge

transfer: casestudy of Slovac doctors, Social Science & Medicine, 67, p. 1924-1933.