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

Continuous refugee crises have led to increasing numbers of social\r\nworkers working in the migration field, yet the subject is underrepresented\r\nin social work curricula in many European countries. This\r\ninternational research project aimed to investigate undergraduate\r\nsocial work students’ opinions and feelings about social work practice\r\nand migration through photovoice in two Universities in Italy and\r\nGreece. Two focus groups took place and subsequently two events\r\nabout social work practice with migration were co-organized for the\r\nwhole student cohorts in each University with the participation of social\r\nwork professionals in the migration field and migrants as experts by\r\nexperience. Data were analyzed based on qualitative thematic analysis.\r\nThe findings revealed that social work in migration field is an unknown,\r\nfascinating but also unattractive theme for social work students, resulting\r\nin shallow understandings and negative representations of the\r\nmigrant identity as well as their own professional role. Several implications\r\nfor social work education are highlighted such as the need to\r\nprioritize content on social work practice and migration as well as the\r\nvalue of using creative and participatory approaches in class, such as\r\nphotovoice.