Racial, Social and Spatial Inequalities
Supporting Black African students on practice placement using Ubuntu Philosophy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v20i2.2148Keywords:
Placement, Black social work students, practice education, support, UbuntuAbstract
This paper highlights racial, social and spatial inequalities that impact Black African social work students. It also considers the implication for Practice Educators in Ireland to address gaps identified from a review of relevant literature. It encourages field coordinators and practice educators to ensure a culturally responsive and supportive practice placement for Black students using the philosophy of Ubuntu, which is underpinned by showing humanity towards others. This practice Note, uses the principles of Ubuntu to support Black African students, a visibly increasing population in Irish social work education. There is limited literature regarding the challenges experienced by social work students and ways of supporting them in Ireland; that which exists deal with issues students commonly experience (Roulston et al., 2021). Literature from the UK and USA reveals that Black social work students experience differential attainment compared to their white counterparts (Fairtlough et al., 2014; GSCC, 2012; Liu, 2017; Mbarushimana and Robbins, 2015). In light of this limited definitive knowledge base, it is necessary to highlight the inequalities impacting Black social work students on placement and how their practice educators can support them to complete and achieve quality learning on placements using the Ubuntu Philosophy.
Various definitions of the term Black have been provided; indeed, this paper will use Black and Black African interchangeably to refer to social work students of African descent who are of black skin colour (Singh, 1992; Gabriel & Tate, 2017). The existing scholarship provides valuable insights into how the interplay of racial hierarchy and social inequality impacts most Black students throughout their social work education. Additionally, significant disparities of inequity, inequality in education and other social necessities lend to the poor representation of Black students, practitioners and educators (Kavroudakis et al., 2013). Such spatial inequality contributes to differential outcomes for Black social work students., Ubuntu translates as, 'I am because we are'. Bangura (2005) identifies that the principles of Ubuntu exist in other worldviews. The author recognises that it provides a unique African interpretation of social work education given that the philosophy is holistic in its approach and, endeavours to meet the needs of individuals and groups; hence, its uniqueness as an underpinning guideline for supporting Black social work students in practice placement.
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