ABSTRACT

Australian universities are situated within a capitalist economic and social context where self-interest and self-responsibility is seen as paramount. Students pay high fees and manage complex lives to meet the demands of higher education and after their degree they may face uncertain employment prospects. Preparing social work students for their professional roles and a professional identity has been topical in social work literature in recent years. Less studied is how neoliberal discourses and material realities position students and the impact of this on those who have been in social service positions and are returning to the student role at university. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of ‘technologies of the self’ and the notion of identity being in progress and context dependent, researchers based at Deakin University interviewed Master of Social Work (MSW) students about their sense of identity in making the transition from professional social worker to being a student. Findings show they are impacted by relationships, material realities (named here as student experience) and the goals or outcomes they sought in choosing to become students. Within these, we identify they adopt both enthusiastic and ambivalent positionalities.

摘要

澳大利亚大学处于资本主义经济和社会背景下，自我利益和自我责任被视为至高无上。学生支付高额费用并管理复杂的生活来满足高等教育的需求，获得学位后他们可能面临不确定的就业前景。近年来，让社会工作学生为他们的专业角色和专业身份做好准备一直是社会工作文献中的热门话题。较少研究的是新自由主义话语和物质现实如何定位学生，以及这对那些曾担任社会服务职位并正在返回大学学生角色的人的影响。借鉴福柯的“自我技术”概念和身份不断发展且依赖于背景的概念，迪肯大学的研究人员采访了社会工作硕士（MSW）学生，了解他们从专业社会工作者转变为学生的身份感。调查结果显示，他们受到人际关系、物质现实（此处称为学生体验）以及他们选择成为学生时寻求的目标或结果的影响。其中，我们发现他们采取了热情和矛盾的立场。