Impressions of an international social work placement in an Indian school in Dubai

This paper accounts the development of our propositions and agrounded theory in the wake of an international field placement ofan Australian university master’s qualifying student of social work,in an Indian private school in Dubai. We define the components ofthis journey that allowed a constructive involvement in the crosscultural milieu. We undertook relevant comparative methodadvancing and testing the efficacy of relevant theoreticaldevelopments; conducting literature reviews and finally the processof conducting action research that allowed for testing beliefs andimpressions in a systematic way (Glaser, 1978; Strauss, 1987). Aschool social work placement has all the action which brings thenotions of human agency and the emergent processes. It providesopportunities to attempt problem solving approaches and allowsresearchers to keep an open ended approach to the study of action.The association of reflective practice throughout the placementallowed the authors to add ‘new pieces to the research puzzle orconjure entire new puzzles’ during the data collection, thus gaininga clear focus on what is happening in the data without sacrificingthe detail of the what is being enacted (Charmaz, 2006). Thisarticle additionally provides a reflection on the sensitivities ofinternational social work practice in the context of striving for culturalcompetence whilst providing robust critical analysis.