Abstract
Professional identity development in social work students and graduates is complicated by intertwining internal and external factors. This article reports findings from a subset of data from a longitudinal qualitative study which aims to understand what factors contribute to this group’s sense of professional identity. It draws on multiple interviews conducted with six international students/graduates in Australia, at approximately six-monthly intervals between 2021 and 2023. Findings indicate that the participants encountered intersecting barriers to professional identity, which outweighed facilitating factors. The study makes a unique contribution by addressing the current knowledge gap about how international students and graduates become social workers.
Introduction
Professional identity is a contested and dynamic concept; how it is considered and understood is typically shaped by the contexts of each profession (Webb, 2017). With specific regard to social work, having a sense of professional identity is seen to contribute to an individual’s sense of meaning and worth (Dent, 2017). The process of developing professional identity in social work often begins when individuals undertake formal education (Wheeler, 2017), and it can be complicated by various intertwining factors, including students’ values, personal identities, and their experiences with social work education, placement, and supervision (Craig et al., 2017; Wheeler, 2017; Wiles, 2017). Workplace culture and practice settings bring further challenges and complexity to professional identity when students become newly graduated social workers. Issues such as high workloads and working within a statutory or neoliberal political context can create value conflict and a sense of disempowerment (Hunt et al., 2017), leading to low job satisfaction and a decision to leave the profession among some new practitioners (Tham and Lynch, 2021).
Longitudinal research in Australia and Canada has explored professional identity in social work students and/or graduates. During the new graduates’ transition into practice, individual and systemic factors, such as individual commitment to ongoing learning, or resources and support available in the initial period of employment, can impact on how they further develop their professional identities (Moorhead, 2021). While social work education has a significant influence on professional identity formation, the development of professional identity clearly continues in the new social workers’ workplace contexts (Moorhead, 2021). A sense of established coherence between personal, professional and organisational values appeared to be key to a strong professional identity among the social workers in Pullen Sansfaçon and Crête’s (2016) study. Although there is a significant and growing body of literature exploring professional identity development in social work, insufficient attention has been paid to international students and graduates. This is despite sustained growth in international students studying social work in the Anglosphere (Lin and Appleton, 2018; Zuchowski et al., 2014). This inattention means that issues commonly experienced by this cohort, such as cross-cultural learning and visa requirements, and their impact on professional identity development remain under-researched in social work.
Studies conducted with migrant social workers in Australia (Bartley, 2018), Canada (Pullen Sansfaçon et al., 2014) and the United Kingdom (Hussein et al., 2011) have found that frustration associated with immigration, such as visa restrictions and a slow process to obtain professional credentials or assessments, a need to adjust to new cultural and professional practice contexts and languages, along with a lack of local experience, knowledge, and networks created barriers for migrant social workers to enter the professional workforce and to engage with professional development. This created a sense of disconnect between the social work values and migrant social workers’ reality (Pullen Sansfaçon et al., 2014), feeling discriminated against and undervalued as a social worker in the host countries (Bartley, 2018; Hussein et al., 2011).
A strong and positive sense of professional identity contributes to social workers’ ability to respond to challenges in different organisational or workplace contexts, and to work effectively with professionals from other disciplines (Webb, 2017). To date, there has been no research on professional identity development conducted specifically with international social work students and graduates (Yao, 2021). Yet, the increasing numbers noted above highlight the need for educators across the globe to establish a better understanding of how to effectively support students to establish a social work identity when studying in a foreign country. Subsequently, to understand how international students and graduates can be better supported in their learning and becoming social workers in Australia, it is important to first establish an understanding of factors contributing to the formation and progression of professional identity in this group.
Social work in Australia
Social work currently is a self-regulating profession in Australia, and all social work qualifying programmes are accredited through the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). Both Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work (Qualifying) are considered entry-level programmes which provide eligibility for AASW (2023a) membership once students complete the programme. The AASW (2023b) as the peak body for the profession publishes the code of ethics, practice standards and the accreditation standards for Australian social work education.
In the past two decades, scholars have identified that the social, political and economic context in Australia has created new challenges for the profession, as the social work and welfare sector has become increasingly dominated by neoliberal discourse and marketisation (Lonne, 2016). As an example, Horsell (2023) argues that social workers working within the context of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) may find the neoliberal principles underpinning the NDIS, such as the emphasis on the market, risk mitigation, and service users’ self-reliance, are inconsistent with social work values and principles.
The ongoing workforce shortage in the social and welfare sector (Lonne, 2016), which has been sustained, contributes to social work remaining on the Skilled Occupation List for skilled migration in Australia (Department of Home Affairs, 2023). Individuals seeking to be recognised as social workers for migration purpose are required to undergo a skills assessment conducted by the AASW (2023c) on behalf of the Australian government. However, as Papadopoulos (2017) argues, the current assessment process raises ethical issues as it requires international students to demonstrate their English proficiency upon graduation by undertaking an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test, which is not a requirement for the AASW membership for other social work graduates who hold Australian citizenship or permanent residency.
International students and graduates in Australian social work
International social work students in Australia represent a heterogeneous student cohort, and their experiences of social work education are influenced by intersecting factors which are unique to each individual (Battaglia et al., 2018). International social work students’ learning experiences and outcomes are likely to intersect with their vulnerability as temporary visa holders who may have limited legal, financial and social support in Australia (Tsang and Goel, 2021). Unexpected and/or significant events such as the COVID-19 pandemic were observed to add additional stress and disruptions to their learning to become social workers in Australia (Fronek et al., 2023).
Critics of existing literature on international social work students note a deficit-focused narrative about this cohort, as the research tended to focus on student limitations (Ross et al., 2019). Subsequently international students’ lack of local knowledge and communication skills had been identified as a common issue by social work educators, including field educators (Felton and Harrison, 2017; Ross et al., 2019). It is argued by Ross et al. (2020) that the problematisation of international students’ lack of understanding of the Australian context and English language skills limited their access to quality placements; further this deficit focus has been seen to affect their confidence in practising as new practitioners (Battaglia et al., 2024).
While research shows international social work students are likely to seek employment and migration in Australia upon completion of their education (Battaglia et al., 2023), there is no current action or change to better prepare international students for practice in the professional contexts (Ross et al., 2019), despite the awareness of a lack of diversity in Australian social work education (Zuchowski et al., 2022). Instead, some initial Australian research has shown that international students and graduates overcome their sense of otherness and create ‘fit’ for themselves in both educational and practice settings (Battaglia et al., 2018, 2024; Hicks, 2020). This often involves international students and graduates observing and replicating actions of their colleagues to demonstrate their competence in professional practice (Battaglia et al., 2024; Hicks, 2020). Furthermore, international students seeking to remain in Australia experience the stresses of additional ‘testing’. This includes the IELTS test and the AASW skills assessment. Hicks (2020) in her research with 16 international students found, however, that these stresses were often not recognised by educators or supervisors; this can impact on international students’ ability or willingness to seek support when needed.
While existing research has explored key issues encountered by international students and graduates during their social work education, with some beginning exploration of transition into practice in Australia, little attention has been paid to how international students and graduates perceive their social work identity. A strong professional identity contributes to social workers’ ability to deal with challenging practice contexts (Webb, 2017). Existing research shows this can be supported and bolstered by practitioners’ sense of value coherence and access to a nurturing practice setting with adequate support and supervision (Moorhead, 2021; Pullen Sansfaçon and Crête, 2016; Wheeler, 2017). However, while we have seen increasing numbers of international social work students in the past decade – many of whom remain and enter practice in Australia (Battaglia et al., 2023), there has been limited focus on this growing cohort and what enables or limits their opportunities to flourish in social work. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining the research question ‘What contributes to international students’ sense of professional identity during social work education and as they transition into practice?’
Methods
This study reports on a subset of data from a doctoral study exploring professional identity development in international students and graduates in Australia, a not well-understood topic. The doctoral study was designed to be exploratory, with an aim to establish initial knowledge and hypotheses. A longitudinal approach (Henn et al., 2009) was used to reflect the continuous nature of professional identity development in social work (Moorhead, 2021; Pullen Sansfaçon and Crête, 2016). The ethics approval was granted by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (Project ID 21913).
Recruitment
Participant recruitment commenced in February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a target group of international students who were in the final year of a qualifying social work programme in Australia. The recruitment approaches utilised the first author’s established networks with international students, graduates, migrant social workers, and social work academics in Australia, with information about the research being shared by email and social media (Facebook) through professional and personal contact. Snowball sampling (Flynn and McDermott, 2016) was further applied to widen the pool of respondents. A total of 16 participants agreed to partake in the study, with written consent completed by all participants before their first interview.
Data collection and analysis
The larger doctoral study involved three interviews scheduled with each of the 16 participants: while enrolled as an international student (February–March 2021); shortly after course completion (predominantly in November 2021); and 6 months post-completion (predominantly in June 2022). Given the exploratory nature of the study, the participants were invited to share their own construction and perception of the social work profession and professional identity at all stages of the data collection. The participants were also asked if they perceived themselves to be a ‘social worker’ at interviews conducted after course completion; this was followed by exploratory and probing questions from the first author, seeking to identify key factors and processes contributing to the formation of their professional identities.
Three participants did not complete all interviews; hence, their data were excluded from analysis. Seven of the remaining 13 participants were working in professional roles and described themselves as ‘social workers’ at their third interviews. Findings from their interviews are discussed in a separate publication. The remaining six participants, by their third interview, did not perceive or describe themselves to be social workers. To further explore and better understand the circumstances leading to this poorer professional identity, these participants consented to an additional interview, approximately 6–12 months after graduation. These data are drawn from in this article.
Extreme case sampling is an effective method to establish deep insight into a phenomenon through analysing ‘deviant’ cases, such as exceptional successes or failures (Patton, 2002). It inspired this article’s particular focus on those six participants who did not articulate a clear or consistent sense of professional identity as noted above. This included participants who either did not describe themselves as a social worker or questioned the legitimacy of any claim they made to this title/identity. Through close examination of these six participants, researchers identified key factors contributing to their struggles, seeking to develop knowledge which can be harnessed to better understand and assist professional identity development for international students and graduates.
This article draws from 24 interviews (6 participants, who each did 4 interviews) conducted by the first author in person, by phone or Zoom. As the author is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese, translanguaging (García and Wei, 2014 [2013]), which enables bi/multi-lingual speakers to freely communicate in more than one language in conversation, was adopted with all Mandarin speaking participants (n = 5). Interviews with the one non-Mandarin speaking participant were conducted in English. All interviews were voice recorded and transcribed by the first author or professional transcribing services in the same languages used in the interviews. No difference in the quality or quantity of the collected data was observed during data collection and analysis.
Data coding and theme (re)development were undertaken by the first author manually and guided by Braun and Clarke’s (2022) six phases of reflexive thematic analysis. A case-based approach for code development was used to identify significant factors which contributed to each participant’s professional identity development across the 2-year period. Themes were then developed and refined through comparing the codes across the six cases.
Researcher positionality and ethical practice
Researcher positionality and the ethical dilemmas related to researchers and participants having shared characteristics, including ethnicity, language, and/or nationality, have been explored in the literature, including in Voloder and Kirpitchenko’s (2014) research on migration and mobility. In this study, the first author’s ‘insider’ status and multi-faceted identity, as a former international student, a member of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and a practising social worker in Australia, brought unique complexities and strengths to the data collection. For example, some participants actively sought to engage with the researcher’s ‘other’ identities; this typically involved them asking during interviews for her experiences or observations on social work practice in Australia.
To maintain research integrity, a clear boundary was set during the interviews with the first author positioning herself as a PhD candidate conducting research. The power relations with the participants were addressed through active engagement in self-reflection and supervision as well as maintaining a clear focus of discussion and a respectful, non-judgemental approach to all interviews. Topics initiated by the participants during the interviews, such as the author’s experiences or perspectives of social work education and/or transition to practice were not discussed during the interviews. At times, however, the discussion continued after the interviews ended, when the author shifted her position to a practising migrant social worker and formal international student in Australia. Regular supervision, the use of reflective journaling, and conference presentations of the preliminary research findings were the primary strategies used throughout the longitudinal study to maintain and enhance the researcher reflexibility and study credibility (Flynn and McDermott, 2016). More detailed discussion on researcher positionality and ethical dilemmas associated with the doctoral research is beyond the scope of this study and is addressed in a separate publication.
Findings
As noted above, this article reports findings based on those six participants who did not articulate a clear or consistent view of their professional identity as social workers 6 months after graduation, to provide insights into challenges faced by international graduates in the context of professional identity development. Data are drawn from across all semi-structured qualitative interviews (24 in total). These six participants were all female and from three countries in East Asia. Table 1 provides further information about the six participants. More detailed discussion of the participants’ demographics is not provided, so as to minimise the risk of identification of the participants, given the small sample size being presented in this study.
Participant information.
As the six participants did not articulate a consistent or clear professional identity as a social worker approximately 6 months after their graduation, the discussion of findings first sets out the five primary challenges and barriers identified, namely: (1) lack of readiness for practice, (2) lack of connection with Australian social work, (3) temporary residency in Australia, (4) AASW English policy, and (5) working in a privatised practice context. It is important to recognise that despite the challenges to formulating a clear professional identity that all experienced, some participants identified enablers and facilitators (albeit in a more limited way); a discussion of these follows: (1) contact with social work peers and practitioners, (2) exposure to practice fields, (3) accessible and tailored support, and (4) engagement in supervision and reflective practice.
Challenges and barriers
The five key challenges and barriers identified to affect the participants’ professional identity development as a social worker during their education and transition to practice in Australia are discussed here. While the factors are discussed separately to provide detail, the challenges and barriers experienced by the participants are often interrelated, and conjointly created a ‘waiting period’, as described by P1 in her third interview, during which their engagement with the professional and identity development as social workers was paused and/or disrupted.
Lack of readiness for practice
All participants expressed not feeling ready or confident in their professional practice upon graduation; this was primarily due to a lack of professional experience and their English skills. P1, P2, P3, and P6 identified inadequate learning opportunities and insufficient exposure to ‘real’ social work practice fields and service users during their field education 1 as a main barrier for them to develop confidence and strong identity as a social worker. English as a core skill for social work practice in Australia was an issue that all six participants expressed concerns about at various or all stages of the data collection. Interestingly, P4 attributed her lack of confidence in English to a lack of training and exposure to professional writing, such as case note writing, during social work education.
Participants’ perceived lack of job readiness was, however, wider than lacking confidence in their practice or language skills; it also included lack of knowledge of practical job-seeking skills. None of the six participants had any experience of applying for employment in social work-related field during their social work education. They all expressed unfamiliarity with employment pathways in Australia as new graduate social workers, which included not being clear about which roles they could apply for and/or what the standard pay rate may be for new practitioners. Once the participants commenced employment seeking, they described various barriers. Common barriers included a lack of a driver’s licence, no access to a car, no professional referee(s), and a need to obtain additional certificates, such as First Aid or the NDIS Worker Screen Check. P5 communicated her frustration seeking professional employment:
I thought when I completed my degree, I was qualified. But no, there were still many items I needed to tick off. (fourth interview)
The multiple and unforeseen barriers during P5’s transition to practice resulted in a growing sense of being excluded from the Australian social work profession and a lack of connection with the professional community in Australia, a clear barrier for other participants.
Lack of connection with Australian social work
A lack of connection between the participants and Australian social work became more noticeable after the participants completed their education, with all consistently reporting no or minimal interactions with any social workers or peers after graduation. A key contributing factor identified by P1, P3, P4 and P6 was associated with the pandemic, as all the participants completed a significant portion of their education, including some field education, online. All six participants believed online education limited their opportunities to develop rapport and build connections with their peers during their education, which subsequently limited their opportunities to establish or maintain a professional network as international graduates.
A lack of connection with the Australian social work profession and practitioners, including their peers, after graduation created a sense of isolation and loneliness, especially when the participants encountered difficulties with their transition to practice. P1 described herself and her struggle with transition to practice as ‘a baby bird leaving the nest’ and believed a lack of access to a social work alumni community after graduation to be a missed opportunity for her to form an engagement with the profession and to strengthen her identity as a social worker.
Discussion about employment indicated the multi-faceted roles which employment has in shaping the participants’ identification with the social work profession in Australia and their sense of professional identity. P1 and P2 were hesitant to contact their social work peers due to their unemployed or paraprofessional status after graduation. P2 questioned whether her paraprofessional role as an assistant may imply that her worth as a new practitioner was lower than her peers who worked in professional roles and received higher pay.
For P3, P4 and P6, not having professional employment and receiving external validation as a social worker through a professional role were the key factors preventing them from describing themselves as social workers approximately 6 months after obtaining a social work degree:
Definitely not [seeing myself as a social worker] . . . not until I find a job, and my title is Social Worker. (P3, third interview)
Although P5 self-identified as a social worker, she described that her lack of professional employment meant her identity as a social worker was not being recognised externally.
My identification [as a social worker] is not accepted by the society because I don’t have a [professional] job. I cannot even enter the field. (P5, fourth interview)
P1 and P6 were graduate members of the AASW and had attended networking groups facilitated by their local AASW branches. However, they reported that being a member of the AASW had little effect both on their sense of belonging or identification as a social worker in Australia:
To me, the [AASW] membership is simply something I can get as long as I spend money. (P6, fourth interview)
Temporary residency in Australia
The need to obtain another Australian visa immediately after graduation further complicated all participants’ transition to practice experiences as they consistently judged the benefits and risks of each step they took, in the context of a strict timeframe for their visa applications. P4 was a qualified social worker in her home country and had more than 5 years of professional work experience. Although she was offered a professional position in her interested practice area, she decided to work in hospitality management for reasons associated with her visa and finance:
Permanent residency . . . will give me more advantage when I look for [professional] employment . . . I need a job with a higher pay because sitting in an IELTS test and applying for a permanent residency visa cost a lot. (P4, fourth interview)
As securing professional employment and obtaining the required IELTS test scores both have direct implications for the participants’ ability to seek skilled migration in Australia, they reported feeling torn or uncertain about what to prioritise during their transition to practice. Unfortunately, a lack of support or connection with other social work peers or practitioners during this period, as discussed previously, means the participants often dealt with the stress and uncertainties alone, further affecting their confidence, sense of belonging, and identity as a social worker.
AASW English policy
Five of the six participants planned to apply for skilled migration as social workers, and therefore needed to meet the AASW English requirements as part of the skill assessment for migration purpose. Four of these five decided to prioritise passing the IELTS test over seeking professional employment, as the test was essential for them to seek skilled migration as a qualified social worker. P5 felt the AASW English language policy created discrimination and an additional barrier for her as an international graduate to the social work field in Australia:
Not all Australia-born people working in the field would be able to achieve IELTS 7.0 . . . it makes me feel I am not qualified and affects my confidence. (P5, first interview)
Although P5 had built her confidence in her communication skills through her final year direct-practice placement, her experience reinforced her view that the AASW English requirements for the skill assessment did not reflect the acceptable standard or preferred style in the field:
Not all practice settings require academic writing . . . We even got corrected if we wrote too academically. (P5, third interview)
Working in a privatised practice context
P1 and P2 obtained employment in different private companies offering services funded through the NDIS. Both participants described the values and practice approaches adopted by the companies as being at times incompatible with social work values and ethics; this created inner conflict for the participants as new practitioners. As P2 articulated the challenges:
I was doing everything for [the clients], but not really empowering them. It’s not really the social work value so it was a conflict. (P2, fourth interview)
P1 spoke about a lack of acknowledgement or discussion in her social work education about how to be prepared to work in a privatised welfare sector, despite practice issues associated with privatisation, such as a need to secure funding and meet key performance indicators (KPI), being commonly experienced by practitioners working in the field:
My values were challenged as I was unsure if I should follow the company policy . . . [Social work educators] didn’t tell us anything about funding. We always assumed the clients had funding . . . I was in a peer group today and everyone was asking what KPIs each other’s company set. (P1, fourth interview)
Access to supervision and professional development were critical for these two participants as they established their identity as a social worker in a neoliberal workplace setting. However, adequate supervision or opportunities for ongoing learning and development were not available or inconsistently provided, contributing to decisions by both P1 and P2 to leave their first employers as new graduates and to seek employment in organisations where professional supervision and development would be provided by the employers.
Enablers and facilitators
Although participants reported various factors benefitting their learning and understanding of social work in Australia, none appeared to have constant or consistent exposure to these supportive factors, either as international students or graduates. In addition, any benefits of these enabling factors tended to be outweighed by the more dominant and/or prevalent challenges and barriers, discussed previously, which the participants experienced throughout their education and transition to practice.
Contact with social work peers and practitioners
For all the participants, contact with other international students created opportunities for mutual support and learning while connection with domestic peers facilitated further learning about the Australian society, cultures, and norms. Small group work and face-to-face workshops were highly valued by the participants as they had more opportunities to establish bonding with peers. After graduation, social work peers whom the participants had established close connections to during their education often became the main and/or only source of support and information about social work practice fields and roles, professional employment pathways and vacancies, professional development opportunities and skilled migration.
P1, P2 and P3 noted that interactions with practising social workers, both experienced and new graduates, were useful for their conceptualisation and consolidation of what it meant to be a social worker. Although P1 was hesitant making regular contact with her social work peers while she was still seeking employment, her hesitation resolved after she was able to secure professional employment and started making connection with other social workers in similar roles.
The connections established by participants with practicing and/or experienced social workers were mostly through their social work education, typically with their social work educators and field educators. The participants made connections via their employment, existing social and ethnic networks, and interestingly, and perhaps unexpectedly, through their participation in this longitudinal research conducted by the first author, a social worker with approximately 10 years of practice experience in Australia, and a previous international student. Experienced social workers were perceived to be as a source of knowledge about social work practice fields; however, as the participants had not established a strong connection with other practitioners, it was common that the six participants sought information, guidance and/or advice associated with social work profession and practice during or following the interviews with the first author.
Exposure to Australian practice fields
All participants highlighted the value of having exposure to practice fields, despite not always experiencing it. Direct practice placement was considered as the most significant to the participants’ learning of social work practice in Australia as it allowed the participants to gain insights into Australian workplace culture and learn how to communicate in a professional context with guidance and supervision. However, the participants’ exposure to practice was limited or insufficient, which affected their confidence in professional practice as discussed previously.
The participants’ exposure to Australian practice fields through employment included being employed in professional and paraprofessional roles, predominately as a disability support worker. P2 commenced her paraprofessional employment in disability during her social work education and identified that the employment had offered her learning opportunities, such as practical knowledge about the disability sector and communications in a professional practice setting, which were missed in her field education. P1 commenced professional employment approximately six months after graduation. Through her direct contact with service users and frequent interactions with other professionals, P1 established a better understanding of the unique strengths and qualities social workers shared. This enhanced P1’s identification with the social work profession and P1 shared her sense of pride for being a social worker in her fourth (final) interview.
Accessible and tailored support
P1, P2 and P3 were able to access academic skills support and resources specifically developed for social work and they considered the services were critical to their confidence building both in their academic performance and capacities to practise social work upon graduation. P3 and P6 both accessed 1:1 counselling support and discussed in counselling the specific issues they encountered as social work students. They explored strategies with their counsellors to enhance their confidence and performance as a social worker. Both participants noted the transferability of their own experience of receiving formal counselling support to their learning as social work students.
Engagement in supervision and reflective practice
Regular professional and peer supervision during field education and after graduation enabled the participants to engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection, as the participants required guidance and support on how to apply social work theories in practice contexts, to address value conflict or ethical dilemmas and to enhance their professional knowledge and skills as a student or a new practitioner. P1, P2 and P5 highlighted the importance of having ‘social workers’ as field educators or supervisors, which were not consistently accessible by the participants via of their field education or employment.
Ongoing engaging in reflective practice and/or critical reflection appeared to enable P2, P3 and P6 to (re)define the meanings of being a social worker and to become clearer and more confident in their identity as social workers, regardless their employment status at their fourth interviews:
At the beginning, my definition of being a social worker was based on whether I found [professional] employment . . . However, I feel I am [a social worker] now . . . because I have the knowledge and degree . . . and I applied my learning in my daily life. (P3, fourth interview)
All participants described their participation in this longitudinal study facilitating their ongoing engagement in reflective practice and professional identity development. P2, P3, P4 and P6 felt that through the discussion of their experiences and perspectives of learning and practising social work in Australia, they (re)evaluated their sense of professional identity and their own definition of what it means to be a social worker.
I haven’t been thinking about social work. However, after today’s interview, I realised deep down I still want to practice social work. (P5, fourth interview)
Concluding discussion
This study explores the key factors contributing to reduced professional identity development in international students and graduates in Australian social work, by focusing on a subset of data from a broader doctoral study. This subset included six participants who did not, or were hesitant to, claim a social worker identity approximately 6 months after their course completion. A lack of access to quality placement opportunities has been identified previously as an issue for international students in Australian social work education (Ross et al., 2019). This is found to affect their sense of readiness for practice and connection with Australian social work, jeopardising their professional identity development. In this study, online learning and project-based placements brought multiple challenges for the participants’ professional identity development, primarily due to a lack of or reduced access to their social work peers and direct Australian practice. It is critical for social work educators to consider how to minimise such gaps while innovating and testing non-traditional placement opportunities, to ensure the facilitation of strong professional identity among international students and graduates.
Previous studies have highlighted the impact of the workplace on professional identity development and job retention in newly qualified social workers (Hunt et al., 2017; Moorhead, 2021; Tham and Lynch, 2021). In this study, workplace-related issues were only raised by two participants, both working in the disability sector, as the participants struggled to enter the professional workforce in Australia within their first 12 months after the course completion. This underscores the substantial bearing of international students and graduates’ temporary residency status and the associated stress and restrictions on professional identity development, which has not been identified in previous longitudinal studies (Moorhead, 2021; Pullen Sansfaçon and Crête, 2016). The participants of this study faced increased barriers to entering professional practice fields, reflecting what is commonly experienced by many migrant social workers in host countries (Bartley, 2018; Hussein et al., 2011; Pullen Sansfaçon et al., 2014). This demonstrates a need for government and professional bodies across the globe to examine current policies associated with skilled migration and international mobility, so qualified social workers can engage in professional employment and contribute to a sustainable workforce internationally.
This study is limited by its scope as PhD research and a focus on the experiences of six international students and graduates who completed their social work education in Australia during the pandemic. The participants were all females and from the East Asia region, which does not reflect the heterogeneity of international students and graduates in Australia or globally. While the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to explore professional identity development through an extreme case study lens, the pandemic and its associated uncertainties and/or restrictions are likely to magnify challenges and barriers experienced by these participants, which may not be readily applicable to the post-pandemic education and practice contexts. The limited study scope does not allow the researchers to examine how the identified contributing factors intersected and affected professional identity development in the participants, indicating a need for future research to provide more in-depth analysis of the interaction of the identified factors.
It is clear from the findings that the challenges and barriers identified were commonly and persistently experienced by all six participants. These factors are more typically meso- and macro-system issues, such as social work education and government or organisational policies or requirements, such as the NDIS funding structure and AASW skills assessment requirements, which all exist outside of the pandemic conditions. Meanwhile, facilitators and enablers for professional identity development were unevenly, and often intermittently, experienced by the six participants, with these being typically more the micro- and meso-system issues, such as their connection with social work peers, practitioners and practice fields. These facilitators of professional identity development were, however, more often outweighed by the barriers identified, likely due to the long duration and the participants’ inability to make change as an individual.
The study provides a unique contribution to knowledge, addressing an important knowledge gap about professional identity development in international students and graduates in social work, a significant group in the profession. It provides insights into how social work educators, practitioners and professional bodies globally may implement strategies to address barriers and facilitate strong professional identity development for this cohort.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical approval
Ethics approval granted by Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee–Project ID: 21913.
