Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies
The year 2015 marked a rupture in the post-war development of refugee reception and integration policies in Sweden. This rupture involved both a radical change in refugee policy and practice, and a rupture in the long-held collective self-image of Sweden as a country with generous reception and int...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Social Work & Society
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Social Work and Society |
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| Online Access: | https://ejournals.bib.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/sws/article/view/999 |
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| author | Norma Montesino Christel Avendal Carolin Schütze Erica Righard |
| author_facet | Norma Montesino Christel Avendal Carolin Schütze Erica Righard |
| author_sort | Norma Montesino |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The year 2015 marked a rupture in the post-war development of refugee reception and integration policies in Sweden. This rupture involved both a radical change in refugee policy and practice, and a rupture in the long-held collective self-image of Sweden as a country with generous reception and integration policies (Scarpa & Schierup 2018). This article responds to the question of how social work students in Sweden understand and conceptualise these changing conditions. It draws on the concept of ontological insecurity and on two qualitative studies conducted in 2015 involving individual- and group interviews with social work students at different Swedish universities. The article discusses how the students' responses reflect this moment of rupture. On a personal level, they express confusion and uncertainty as they experience the consequences of changing narratives in the public and private spheres. The analysis shows that although the students are engaged with the current political and social refugee situation, the social work education does not provide them with tools to unpack the situation. This reveals the limitations of a conceptual apparatus learned in social work education that is not up to date in responding to contemporary challenges.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-607bc48d970f403c97c964c6bb8323ee |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1613-8953 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Social Work & Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Work and Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-607bc48d970f403c97c964c6bb8323ee2025-08-20T01:58:03ZengSocial Work & SocietySocial Work and Society1613-89532024-12-01221Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policiesNorma Montesino0Christel Avendal1Carolin Schütze2Erica Righard3Lund UniversityHalmstad UniversityMalmö UniversityMalmö University The year 2015 marked a rupture in the post-war development of refugee reception and integration policies in Sweden. This rupture involved both a radical change in refugee policy and practice, and a rupture in the long-held collective self-image of Sweden as a country with generous reception and integration policies (Scarpa & Schierup 2018). This article responds to the question of how social work students in Sweden understand and conceptualise these changing conditions. It draws on the concept of ontological insecurity and on two qualitative studies conducted in 2015 involving individual- and group interviews with social work students at different Swedish universities. The article discusses how the students' responses reflect this moment of rupture. On a personal level, they express confusion and uncertainty as they experience the consequences of changing narratives in the public and private spheres. The analysis shows that although the students are engaged with the current political and social refugee situation, the social work education does not provide them with tools to unpack the situation. This reveals the limitations of a conceptual apparatus learned in social work education that is not up to date in responding to contemporary challenges. https://ejournals.bib.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/sws/article/view/999Swedenontological insecurityturning pointrefugee crisissocial work education |
| spellingShingle | Norma Montesino Christel Avendal Carolin Schütze Erica Righard Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies Social Work and Society Sweden ontological insecurity turning point refugee crisis social work education |
| title | Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies |
| title_full | Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies |
| title_fullStr | Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies |
| title_short | Prepared for the future? Social work students, ontological insecurity and the turning point in Swedish refugee policies |
| title_sort | prepared for the future social work students ontological insecurity and the turning point in swedish refugee policies |
| topic | Sweden ontological insecurity turning point refugee crisis social work education |
| url | https://ejournals.bib.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/sws/article/view/999 |
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