As Hong Kong’s ethnically diverse population has grown over the last two decades,
social work education faces challenges in equipping students with the cultural
competence and sensitivity needed to serve our clients. To ensure registered social
workers embrace and practice cultural diversity, the Social Worker Registration
Board (SWRB) established criteria and standards for assessing qualifications.
However, according to the principles, criteria, and standards for recognizing
qualifications in social work, the core courses related to multicultural education,
such as diversity and cultural sensitivity, are seldom included in the aspect of human behaviour and social environment. Other foundational courses, such as Introduction to Social Work, typically cover only basic concepts of respectful attitudes and values related to diversity, social justice, and anti-discrimination.
Under an intensive curriculum with a social work practicum, there may be limited
capacity to design new courses that encompass the professional knowledge, skills,
and values of cultural competence and sensitivity. Instead, embedding the new
competence and sensitivity framework across essential courses and the fieldwork
preparatory workshop can ensure consistent, reflective learning for students
throughout the teaching and learning journey.
Enhancing the cultural competence and sensitivity of social work students through an embedded course structure
This project will develop a new cultural competence and sensitivity framework for the social work curriculum across both undergraduate (BASW) and postgraduate (MSW) programmes in the department. Three features of the teaching and learning experience are emphasized:
- Developing Flipped Learning experience in cultural competence and sensitivity social work education, such as: interactive experience through human library, case dialogue and discussion, and role play analysis within and outside the classroom.
- Embedding the curriculum into existing courses with a consistent learning of skills, knowledge, and values as a culturally competent social worker.
- Using AI and immersive technology to experience oppressive and discriminatory experiences in a “do-not-harm” principle for social work students and the clients, such as: Chatbot dialogue with clients
Beyond the project’s features, it aims to achieve the following objectives:
- To equip the cultural competence and sensitivity of the social work student within the existing courses of the social work curriculum
- To develop a teaching pedagogy of using AI in social work education about anti-oppressive and discriminatory practice
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