Migrant Social Workers’ Experiences of Professional Adaptation in Alberta Canada: A Comparative Gender Analysis
Abstract
There is limited global research addressing the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in general, and a dearth of scholarship specific to the unique context in Alberta, Canada. While academic attention on the broad topic of professional migration of social workers has gained some traction over the past decade, the emerging literature has so far lacked a comparative gender analysis of the experiences of professional migration among social workers. The purpose of the present study was to develop enhanced understanding of the experiences of professional adaptation of migrant social workers in the Albertan context through a comparative gender analysis. This dissertation emerged from my involvement as a research assistant on a national study on the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in Canada. While coordinating data collection for the Alberta site of the national study, I conducted in-depth interviews with 17 male and female migrant social workers that had migrated to Alberta, Canada within the past decade. From these 17 interviews, 10 transcripts of interviews were selected as cases for secondary analysis in order to answer the question: How do female and male migrant social workers in Alberta experience their professional adaptation to practice in their new context? The research method employed in the secondary study was interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), a form of qualitative inquiry that examines how people make sense of significant lived experiences. Intersectionality theory and postcolonial feminisms provided the theoretical framework for the study, facilitating attention to both the macro-level factors that structure lived experiences and interactions, and the micro-level processes and interpretations that shape social identities. Engaging with the detailed personal accounts of the participants provided new understandings of how male and female migrant social workers both similarly and differentially interpret and make meaning out of their experiences of professional adaptation. The study makes an important contribution to existing knowledge about professional adaptation in the context of transnational labour mobility. Notably, it is among the first studies to explore the professional adaptation processes of migrant social workers in Alberta, as well as among the earliest works to engage in a qualitative comparative gender analysis that explores these experiences.
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:
Credential recognition and professional registration
Providing support with English
language proficiency, labour market access and, if desired, childcare
Post-secondary education programs to educate their students to work within
a globalized social work context
Creating bridging programs for internationally educated social work professionals
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.
Location
Alberta
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
~6-10 years
Open-access – Yes
http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3494
Community organizations