‘Say it with a photograph!’ exploring Greek and Italian students’ opinions and feelings about social work and migration through photovoice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Continuous refugee crises have led to increasing numbers of social workers working in the migration field, yet the subject is under-represented in social work curricula in many European countries. This international research project aimed to investigate undergraduate social work students’ opinions and feelings about social work practice and migration through photovoice in two Universities in Italy and Greece. Two focus groups took place and subsequently two events about social work practice with migration were co-organized for the whole student cohorts in each University with the participation of social work professionals in the migration field and migrants as experts by experience. Data were analyzed based on qualitative thematic analysis. The findings revealed that social work in migration field is an unknown, fascinating but also unattractive theme for social work students, resulting in shallow understandings and negative representations of the migrant identity as well as their own professional role. Several implications for social work education are highlighted such as the need to prioritize content on social work practice and migration as well as the value of using creative and participatory approaches in class, such as photovoice.