Jane Mudd provides a personal perspective on her experience of participating in a European project.
Background
Within University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, the Centre for Applied Social Science has a solid background in inter-professional working, sharing knowledge and skills and developing good practice across a broad social care spectrum. Between 2008 and 2010 Social Work, Housing and Health and Social Care academic staff and students, along with partners from six other European countries, were involved in the INCOSO (Inter Cultural Competence for Social Care Workers) Project. This EU funded project offered an opportunity to share knowledge and skills and develop good practice in social care within the European context.
INCOSO brought together staff and students engaged in social care education, training and practice from Estonia, Finland, Austria, Germany, Greece, Belgium and Wales. Funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme enabled partners to undertake mobilities (travel) to meet project partners in their home countries; Finland, Germany, Belgium, Estonia and Wales. Our meetings, involving a large number of staff and students, were used to exchange ideas, coordinate plans for research development, learn something of the educational practices in each country and, of course, experience different cultures.
The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) hosted visit to Cardiff included study workshops and practical sessions and an introduction to the more refined cultural aspects of Welsh life. The group was very generously invited to the Wales Millennium Centre by Cymorth Cymru as guests at the launch of the Life Begins @ Home Art Exhibition which gave partners an opportunity to learn more about housing-related support in the Welsh context and enjoy the fantastic exhibition of service users’ work. We treated our visitors to a tour of Cardiff Bay, a visit to the Museum of Welsh Life and a tour of Big Pit on a very wet and windy Saturday afternoon! And, of course, no visit to Cardiff would be complete without a taste of our traditional cuisine…Caroline Street’s finest was enjoyed by all!
The project
The primary aims of the INCOSO project were to raise awareness of the importance of intercultural competence, or, to use terminology with which we might be more familiar with in the UK, issues relating to equality and diversity:
- in the training of social care workers
- to develop recommendations for good practice, and
- establish a bank of resources to support their implementation
The project adopted a more focused definition of inter-cultural competence choosing to concentrate upon ethnic, linguistic and religious differences within and between nation states. The group agreed that the shared vision for this was ‘the ability to offer as good a service to someone from a culture different from one’s own as to someone with whom one shares the same cultural background’.
Each partner country conducted primary research with students, educators and employers which explored learning needs in relation to inter-cultural competence. This research revealed the quite significant divergence in education, training and practice between the partner countries. The expectations of both service providers and service users varied considerably from country to country reflecting the fact that the project partners represented some very diverse national contexts within Europe. For example, countries such as Belgium and Wales have long established ethnic minority communities and more recent immigration from many different countries and ethnic and religious groups. This was in significant contrast to Estonia where the only minority culture of any size is of Russian descent and has a particularly sensitive history and relationship with the majority population. The primary research underpinned the development of workshop exercises for teaching intercultural competence which were piloted by the partners and the identification of recommendations of good practice.
Project recommendations
The European Union provides a framework for assimilating new citizens into member states, but national legislation and social policy differ significantly between the states. The project made a range of recommendations, some of which apply to all national contexts within the European Union, and are supported by a range of country specific recommendations for individual partner countries.
One of the primary recommendations was that training in inter-cultural competence should be seen as a core part of training for workers in the broader social care context and should be integrated into the curriculum of all training programmes. This recommendation is already firmly embedded within the Welsh context. However, across Europe, attitudes to training and indeed the quality of provision, varies considerably. Within this context it is essential that training includes ‘understanding one’s own culture and accepting it as one possible perspective among many’. The project acknowledged that:
‘One impact of globalisation is that, increasingly, people create dual or multiple identities, presenting themselves differently and following different rules of behaviour at home and in the workplace. However, learning some contrasting aspects of other cultures can help us understand our own culture better and help us learn to view our own culture as one perspective among many.’
Although the policy landscape within the UK in increasingly varied, there are considerable benefits to looking beyond our boundaries to develop a shared approach and understanding to issues that affect us all.
On reflection, the experience of participating in the project was very useful and informative. From a professional perspective, as educators, we learnt a great deal about levels of awareness, teaching methods and good practice within the European context. At a personal level, I have developed and enhanced my own knowledge and skills, including those that we might take for granted, like communication skills, which proved to be essential to the project. Indeed, the most challenging aspect of the project was agreeing a shared definition of inter cultural competence at our first project meeting in Finland! We enjoyed each other’s cuisine, culture and countries, worked together to produce training materials and have consolidated our relationships in the spirit of partnership working within the European context.
The project report, training materials and supporting information can be found at http://incoso.wikidot.com/start
Jane Mudd is Programme Director – Housing at UWIC, jmudd@uwic.ac.uk
Matters European
WHQ provides a quick guide to some European organisations and networks relevant to housing and regeneration.
Brownfield European Regeneration Initiative is a European transnational network which was established in order to share experiences and collaborate on Brownfield development within Europe.
CECODHAS, is the European network for the promotion of the right to decent housing for all. Its membership includes 45 regional and national federations which together represent over 39.000 public, voluntary and cooperative social housing enterprises in 19 countries that provide over 21 million homes across the European Union. CECODHAS has a research branch called the Observatory.
Europa – portal website for information about the European Union.
European Housing Ecology Network aims to identify and develop good practice in all aspects of ecology involved in or affecting the provision, management and serving of housing.
European Housing Forum promotes the importance of the housing sector in Europe by creating awareness amongst EU policy makers about the impact of a growing number of EU decisions on domestic housing policies.
European Network for Housing Research is composed of researchers from a variety of social science disciplines dealing with housing and urban issues.
European Urban Knowledge Network aims to enhance the exchange of knowledge and expertise on urban development throughout Europe, bridging urban policy, research and practice.
Feantsa, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, is an umbrella of not-for-profit organisations which participate in, or contribute to, the fight against homelessness in Europe.