Speaker
Dr Robert Barney
Assoc Professor
Stockton University
Exploring the potential for social development in the use of career exploration workshops at a school in Uganda.
Abstract Narrative
Background: Mustard Seed Academy (MSA) is a school based in Lukaya Uganda. MSA was founded not only to offer a nursery school, primary school, and secondary school for children in the local community, but also to help address the social and economic needs of the broader community. MSA, in conjunction with international partners, offers child education sponsorships, food, housing, agricultural initiatives, and a community water station. In the broader Ugandan society, one of the challenges is that students who achieve secondary school education often find themselves unprepared for employment, accept low paying jobs or are unemployed (Samer and Bennell, 2007). In order to help bridge the gap between education and future careers, members of the research team worked with MSA teachers to design “A Career Opportunities Exploration Workshop.” The program was first delivered to students in the final year of their studies at the Secondary School in 2016. It assisted students in exploring their interests, talents, and educational preparation to date, while learning from a variety of Ugandan adults about the career paths these adults had taken.
Method: In 2018, the research team returned to Uganda to explore what 2016 MSA graduates had been doing since graduation from secondary school, and to explore education and career-based outcomes. Thirty of the graduates were invited to participate in the research, and 29 agreed to participate. Data was collected about their performance on the Ugandan government’s school-leaving examinations. One-hour focus groups were also conducted with respondents to explore what education, vocational training, or internships the respondents had been involved in since graduating from MSA. Questions were also directed at understanding the degree to which the “Career Opportunities Exploration Workshop” as well as their broader education at MSA had prepared them for these post-graduation opportunities. Data was analyzed using coding and theme development.
Results: Researchers found that the 2016 graduates all received examination scores that would allow them to continue their education. All 29 students indicated that they had participated in additional academic or vocational studies since graduating secondary school, representing a variety of fields of study. Respondents indicated that the career preparation workshop had helped them to identify a variety of possible career paths and some of the steps that would be needed to obtain these types of careers. Students also provided positive feedback about the opportunity to meet with a variety of professionals and to have the opportunity to visit institutions that offer post-secondary programs of study. Students spoke of how MSA’s rigorous education had prepared them for the next stages of their studies, and the impact that the social and economic support has had on their continued educational development. Suggestions for MSA improvement included the development of science labs and further A-level course offerings.
Conclusions: Respondents indicated successful transition from MSA secondary school to post-secondary education opportunities. Discussion will explore the ways in which education, social and economic supports, and social capital helped facilitate this transition. Implications for future research on employment and other social development outcomes will be discussed.
Biography
Dr. Barney is the MSW Program Chair and Associate Professor of Social Work at Stockton University. His research interests are in the areas of International social work, family and community development, cultural diversity, research practice, and disasters.
Dr Aamir Jamal
Associate Professor
University Of Calgary
CACEP – A community supported model for girl’s education in fragile and conflicted affected region of Northwest Pakistan.
Abstract Narrative
Developing a culturally relevant and socially appropriate approach for social change among diverse communities is a challenge for social development policy and practice. Pakistan has some of the largest gaps in access to education and gender equality globally. Interventions in this area are often ineffective when they fail to take local community needs and values into account. Developed based on research and practice experience, the Canadian Association of Children’s Education in Pakistan (CACEP) uses an innovative, community-oriented model to promote education of resilient children in a conflict affected region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
The unique cultural, political, economic, and religious context of this region provides both challenges and opportunities in promoting education and gender equality. Rather than building new institutions, CACEP prefers to leverage existing supports from the local community, teachers, community elders, and parents to facilitate the process of educating a child. CACEP’s goal is to engage the whole community in education and development of their children, which is supported through a sponsor a child model. Children are sponsored for ten years to provide their tuition, books, clothing, food, and transportation costs. A community oriented qualitative research design was developed to understand and evaluate CACEP’s work. We are conducting this research in three phases: 1. Individual interviews with CACEP parents or guardians of children, volunteers, sponsors, and board members; 2. Participatory photo-voice research with children sponsored by CACEP; and 3. Qualitative Delphi method with key stakeholders who are involved in various girls’ education initiatives in the region to determine best practices.
Outcomes of this research are expected to include an increased understanding of best practices for girls’ education initiatives in the region, the unique perspectives of Pakistani girls’ engaging in education interventions, and strengths and areas for improvement in CACEP’s model.
Biography
Dr. Aamir Jamal is Associate Professor of International Social Development and Social Policy and Director Global Engagement and International Partnerships at the University of Calgary. With a unique background that combines a PhD in International Social Development from the University of Calgary, a MBA from Adelphi University, New York, and over 25 years of work in the development sector, Dr. Jamal brings a valuable blend of knowledge and experience to research, policy and practice.
Dr Mukovhe Masutha
Research Associate
University of Johannesburg
Beyond the veil of diversity and equality talk: Examining South Africa’s free higher education policy experiment through the experiences of black-working class students.
Abstract Narrative
How university students are funded is central to the sector’s future and our understanding of class, gender and racial disparities in educational attainment between and within different universities. Transforming and widening participation in higher education (HE) to financially excluded households continues to carry the promise of a more equitable and just society. Notably, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 affirms HE as a critical vehicle to improving societal wellbeing. Post-apartheid South Africa, has entrusted HE with a responsibility to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty, a colonial legacy that bred one of the most unequal nations in the world (RSA, 2019). Despite the strong global and national level policy commitment to achieving equitable HE outcomes, persistent inequality in attainment continues to weaken society’s faith in HE as a vehicle towards a just and equitable society. Race, class and gender-based disparities in students’ aspirations, the type of university and field of study accessed, institutional experiences and their odds of completion persist, with youth from low income households largely in the margins (Reay , 2017).
Even as working-class students gain increased access to HE, social inequality in patterns of access and attainment has been “maximally and effectively maintained” (Boliver, 2010, p.229). In South Africa , our research context, the rise in access by black working-class students has occurred alongside very low attainment rates, with over 60% of financial aid funded black working-class students not completing their studies (DHET, 2011; RSA, 2019). Such stark statistics denote the need for research that critically examines the tenets of the dominant equality of access, ‘raceless’ and meritocratic master narrative on which universities continue to function and justify themselves (Carnevale et al., 2020).
Against the background of persisting race, class and gender disparities despite massification and diversity policies in HE, the overarching aim of this study is to examine how racial inequity is sustained in South Africa’s traditionally white universities by drawing on institutional student data, lived realities and outcomes of black working-class students funded by the recently introduced (2018) “free higher education policy for poor and working-class students in South Africa. Our research will examine how South Africa’s recently introduced (2017) “free higher education policy for poor and working-class students” is contributing to the reduction and/or widening of the attainment gap, and advance ways in which HE policymakers can achieve more transformative and less reproductive outcomes. This project is particularly timely given the reforms that followed the 2015/16 nationwide #FeesMustFall protests which were anchored by calls for decolonisation and decommodification of HE. Conducting a detailed qualitative policy document analysis of financial aid funded black working-class students and drawing on critical race theory and Bourdieu’s reproduction theory, we aim to contribute to and further develop a growing body of research that foregrounds realities of marginalised youth. We aim to contribute to the work of university managers and policymakers tasked with improving working-class students’ HE experience, and to prevent HE policies from becoming instruments for creating the very inequalities they were designed to prevent.
Biography
Dr Mukovhe Masutha is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. His research examines the journeys, experiences and outcomes of financial aid funded black working class students and how race, gender and class inequalities are produced and reproduced in South African higher education. Mukovhe is also co-founder of Thusanani Foundation and Director of the Centre for Emerging Researchers based at the University of Johannesburg.
Mrs Peixuan Zhao
Co-founder
Re-look Social Innovation Studio In Shenzhen, Mainland China
Stay or Leave? Social engagement among Hong Kong Drifter under COVID-19
Abstract Narrative
As the Hong Kong government increased policy support to attract mainland elites, a gradually rising new immigration composition, Hong Kong Drifter has changed Hong Kong’s talent structure. However, social exclusion as a recognized phenomenon has been investigated widely in previous studies on Mainland Chinese youth in Hong Kong. Also, high talented person fluxion nowadays determined that brain drain still becomes a chronic problem in Hong Kong.
Social movement in 2019 and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong further turned the immigration status of Hong Kong Drifter into a complicated and stressful process. They unsatisfied with government’s anti-infection measures and policies, stay or leave becomes a new challenge for them. Besides, characters of Hong Kong Drifterstill vague and imprecise in restricted studies. This study attempts to use ecological system theory guided by a strength-based approach to analyze the different reasons and social engagement behind the choice of Hong Kong Drifter who stay in Hong Kong less than seven years or leave Hong Kong no more than half of a year. Through an indepth interview with 5 Hong Kong Drifter’s life changes in past 2020, the study hopes to explore 1) What is the overall situation of Hong Kong Drifter’s social engagement aspects and changes? 2) What is the effect of social engagement (i.e., economic, political and community participation) on different aspects of their social inclusion (i.e., economic integration, social adjustment, cultural integration and psychological identification)? And how these effects further influence their future choice? 3)What is the effective way/method to company Hong Kong Drifter social engagement?
This research will draw the whole picture of Hong Kong Drifter, Hong Kong Drifter group under COVID-19, probing into and quantifying the factors behind the social engagement of “Gangpiao”, thus giving insight for policymaker and researcher in future.
Keyword: Hong Kong Drifter, social engagement, ecological system
Biography
Master of Social Science in Social Work, Master of Arts in Social Service Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong;
Registered Social Worker in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
✔️Designing urban integration project for young Shenzhen drifters and Hong Kong drifters based on the strengths perspective, promoting more than 140 events along
✔️Designing several exploration toolkits for youth participation in social welfare, promoting it to Guangzhou, Wuhan and other cities through institutional cooperation, based on which to launch social work innovation design training and competitions, accompanying 7,900 youths in their growth and socialization
✔️Built a communication platform between Shenzhen and Hong Kong dedicated to the urban integration for youths, winning multiple awards
Publication：
Zhu, X., Shek, D. T. L., Zhu, Z. L., & Zhao, P. X. (2020). Promotion of well-being and leadership qualities among university students after taking a credit-bearing Service Leadership subject [Reprint]. In D. T. L. Shek, X. Zhu, & J. Merrick (Eds.), Service leadership education in an era of service economy. (pp. 33-55). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Zhu, X., Shek, D. T. L., Zhu, Z, & Zhao, P. (2020). Promotion of well-being and leadership qualities among university students after taking a credit-bearing Service Leadership subject. International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, 13(2), 125–136
Leung, J. T. Y., Shek, D. T. L., & Zhao, P. X. (2019). Subjective outcome evaluation of a service leadership subject: Findings based on university students in Hong Kong. Paper presented at the 17th International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies Annual Conference, Granada, Spain.
Shek, D. T. L., Lee, T. Y., Leung, J. T. Y., Sun, R. C. F., Law, M. Y. M., Wu, F. K. Y., Zhu, X., Zhao, P., & Leung, A. C. Y. (2018). Overview of the Tin Ka Ping P. A. T. H. S Project-The curriculum development, program implementation, and evaluation. In D. T. L. Shek, X. Y. Hang, & J. T. Y. Leung (Eds.), Review on child, youth and family social work (pp. 03-20). Shanghai: East China University of Science and Technology Press.
Shek, D. T. L., Ma, C. M.S. ,& Zhao, P. (2018,). Evaluation of a Community-Based Positive Youth Development Program for Adolescents with Greater Psychosocial Needs. In D. T. L. Shek, J. T. Y. Leung, & Joav Merrick, M.D. (Eds.), Soft Skills and Aspirations in Chinese Children and Youth (chapter 4). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Shek, D. T. L., Ma, C. M. S., Law, M. Y. M., & Zhao, Z. (2017). Evaluation of a community-based positive youth development program for adolescents with greater psychosocial needs: views of the program participants. International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 16(4), pp. 387-393.
Peixuan Zhao. (2014) “Research on the Influence of Social Work Practice on Professional Recognition-Taking a University as the Example”, National University Social Work Student Forum.
Peixuan Zhao. (2013) “Research on Gender Differences and Corresponding Adjustment Methods in Social Work Learning”, Journal of Suzhou Education Institute, 16(003), pp. 71-73.
Dr Jason Ostrander
Assistant Professor
Sacred Heart University
Challenge Accepted: Equity, political power, and inclusion: Student reflections on voter engagement
Abstract Narrative
Background/Purpose: While social workers vote at higher rates than the general population (Rome & Hoetchstetter, 2010), Hylton (2015) found that social work students demonstrated low political voice and electoral activity. Furthermore, almost half of licensed social workers feel unprepared for political engagement and more than half of social workers describe themselves as politically inactive or only somewhat active (Ritter, 2007). McCabe et. al. (2017) posit that due to a general decline in civic literacy, schools of social work have an increased responsibility to ensure that social work students gain the knowledge and skills they need through the curriculum and their field experiences to become effective policy advocates. Nonpartisan voter engagement projects provide students opportunities to develop important knowledge, skills and dispositions fundamental to effective policy advocacy.
This presentation describes the outcomes of voter engagement projects conducted by over two hundred social work students over a period of three years. Through an assignment embedded within their macro practice courses, BSW students in their senior year and generalist-level MSW students completed voter engagement projects within their field placements. As a component of this assignment, students submitted reflective essays in which they connected the outcomes of their projects to the CSWE core competencies.
Method: Two hundred essays were analyzed using a three-step thematic analysis process. First, a representative sample of the essays were open coded to identify common themes. Open coding was done by three separate researchers to ensure inter-rater reliability of initial codes.
Second, initial codes were compared and then collapsed into larger themes, which were then used in the third step of the analysis to code the remainder of the essays.
Results: Findings were organized into four broad categories: 1) client populations engaged, 2) engagement objectives, 3) engagement strategies, and 4) lessons learned. Students reported working predominantly with or on behalf of populations frequently underrepresented in elections, including: young adults, low-income people, recipients of social welfare benefits,
people who are disabled, and people who are incarcerated.
Additionally, the students focused heavily on raising awareness and educating potential voting groups with the intent of empowering these groups. Students used a variety of strategies that fit both their objectives and population groups, including: creating materials to educate groups about their rights, organizing information events, translating material relevant to voting into Spanish, and door knocking. As a result of their efforts, students reported increases in their critical thinking, critical awareness, and generalist skills, including assessment and engagement.
Conclusion and Implications: The findings from this study illuminate the important role that applied voter engagement assignments can play in facilitating student competence in social justice, advocacy, critical thinking, and engaging the planned change process. Students illustrated a commitment to ensuring equity in voter participation by targeting their outreach to underrepresented groups and through attempts to empower these groups to vote. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of how other social work education programs can incorporate nonpartisan voter engagement within their courses.
Biography
Jason Ostrander, Ph.D., MSW, BSW, is an Assistant Professor at Sacred Heart University’s Department of Social Work and Director of the Congressional Policy Practice Internship. He has a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Elms College and both a master’s and a doctorate in social work from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. He currently teaches on-ground and online courses in policy, research, and integrative practice. His scholarly work focuses on political social work, civic and political participation of social workers, child welfare policy, social work education, integrated social work practice, and community-based participator research methods. Dr. Ostrander currently serves on the Research Committee and Advisory Board for the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work and is Director of Research for the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy. Dr. Ostrander’s practice experience comprises political social work at the local, state, and federal levels. This experience includes serving as a congressional aide to a former U.S. Congressman.
Prof Robert Chaskin
Mccormick Foundation Professor
The University of Chicago
Young People’s Perspectives on Civic and Political Engagement in Three European Cities
Abstract Narrative
Concerns about the extent to which young people, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, are increasingly disengaged from civic and political life are prominent in contemporary discourse and increasingly serve as an impetus driving youth policy. In response, a number of youth-oriented policy frameworks identifying youth civic and political engagement as important goals have been developed at both the supranational (UN, EU) and national level, particularly in Europe. Effectively engaging disadvantaged urban youth, however, can be difficult, and the factors that contribute to these challenges are complex and multi-layered. This is particularly true with regard to the engagement of young people as citizens—both civic and political actors with autonomy and responsibility for contributing to the common good. This paper focuses on young people’s perspectives on citizenship and civic and political engagement and on the policies, opportunities, and barriers that shape their engagement in three cities—London, Belfast, and Dublin. Each of the countries in which these cities sit has generated national policies with a specific focus on youth engagement and citizenship in recent years. This allows us to explore the relationship between policy ideas and provision, the dynamics of their implementation and influence on the ground, and how they align with the perspectives and experiences of marginalized young people in specific urban contexts.
While there is a substantial literature on young people’s civic and political engagement, this paper joins a smaller but growing body of scholarship focusing specifically, directly, and qualitatively on young people’s perspectives on civic and political participation (e.g., Collin, 2015; Flanagan, 2013; Marsh et al., 2007; Pickard, 2019; Sloam, 2007). Based on 18 months of in-depth field research in the three cities, the paper contributes to this literature by providing a nuanced and qualitative understanding of young people’s ideas and experiences across a range of participatory opportunities, with a particular focus on young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and neighborhoods, and with the goal of specifying some practical policy and front-line responses to better supporting and promoting meaningful, responsive, and effective youth engagement. The paper provides an analysis of the perspectives of urban, primarily disadvantaged young people in the three cities regarding their orientations toward civic and political life, their views about the opportunities available to them to participate civically and politically, and the barriers they face to engagement. Based on this analysis, we outline some of the implications that young people’s perspectives and experiences provide for informing policy and practice to promote and support youth civic and political engagement.
Biography
Robert Chaskin is McCormick Foundation Professor and Deputy Dean for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, where he holds the UNESCO Chair for Inclusive Urbanism. His work focuses primarily on the conceptual foundations and principal strategies of contemporary community intervention in the context of urban poverty. He has written widely on the topics of neighborhood intervention, community capacity building, the dynamics of participatory planning and neighborhood governance, and the role of nonprofit organizations in community development and participatory democracy. Among other projects, he recently completed a study on the civic and political engagement of marginalized urban youth in Belfast, Dublin, and London; completed work on an edited volume, Social Exclusion in Cross-National Perspective: Actors, Actions, and Impacts from Above and Below (with Bong Joo Lee and Surinder Jaswal, Oxford University Press 2019) that provides a comparative, cross-national analysis of policy and community responses to social exclusion; and is currently engaged in a study of slum clearance and social housing policy in Mumbai and work focused on urbanization and migration in China. His recent book, Integrating the Inner City: The Promise and Perils of Mixed-Income Public Housing Transformation (with Mark Joseph, University of Chicago Press 2015) received the honorable mention award for the best book in urban affairs from the Urban Affairs Association. Professor Chaskin received an AM in anthropology and PhD in sociology from The University of Chicago.