Rethinking the meaning of “family” for war-affected young people: implications for social work education

Abstract

This article examines how the experiences and realities of young people affected by war challenge the “typical” portrayal of family in social work education. Using aspects of duoethnography as a method of inquiry, the authors discuss war-affected social work students’ experience of elements of their curriculum and training. The discomforts shared point to important tensions and discords with prevailing traditional social work teaching concepts and approaches. War-affected young people feel that their realities often do not correspond to Western theories of human and child development and resettlement expectations. In making social work education more relevant and useful, there is a need to rethink the portrayal of family as well as teaching strategies. As part of this process, an increased sensitivity among social work educators is paramount, not only to the cultural, religious, geopolitically and ethnically diverse realities of children and families, but also to engaging young people directly in the learning process.

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