Notes
Key populations
Immigrant social workers (female and male)
Gaps identified
Lack of research that addresses gender-based experiences of immigrant social workers
Key recommendations
Remove barriers to social workers’ professional and personal adaptation in the following areas: “language, employment, housing, daycare, education, health, counselling, legal and social services”
Addressing gender-based similarities and differences in regard to needs, challenges and opportunities experienced by immigrants in Alberta into consideration when developing policies to address these issues.
Specifically:
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Credential recognition and professional registration
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Providing support with English
language proficiency, labour market access and, if desired, childcare
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Post-secondary education programs to educate their students to work within
a globalized social work context
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Creating bridging programs for internationally educated social work professionals
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Making support and transition programs more accessible by funding the programs from a provincial budget
Key findings
1) Migrant social workers arrive in Alberta on different education and career trajectories divided along gender lines.
2) Migrant social workers in Alberta follow “traditional” gender norms and roles within their family units and these have an impact on professional migration and adaptation experiences.
3) Migrant social workers in Alberta perceive proficiency in communicating in English as critical for successful professional adaptation.
4) Particular intersections of country of origin/nationality, race/ethnicity and language fluency/accent are given preferential status within the social work labour market in Alberta.
5) Migrant social workers in Alberta experience discrimination based their social identity profiles.
Migrant social workers in Alberta also do not appear to benefit from any sort of governmental assistance throughout the credential recognition, professional registration and job search processes.
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
~6-10 years
Accepted: 2016-12-20T16:50:47Z
Publisher: Graduate Studies