Due to migrations that took place in the past and are still happening today, Slovenia is an ethnically diverse country. The Serbian, Bosnian, Kosovo, and Roma ethnic groups are the largest in our country, but they do not have adequate and sufficient rights to protect them from discrimination, stigmatization, and racism. Consequently, their position in Slovenian society is still unequal and they face many obstacles, challenges and problems. The values of the majority are also reflected in social work, so employees in helping professions must be aware of their beliefs, recognise systemic inequalities, and actively strive for good changes. The purpose of my research was to determine the extent of social workers' positive and negative attitudes towards ethnic groups that students of the Faculty of Social Work recognise during practical training.
I divided this thesis into two parts, theoretical and methodological. In the first part, I present the migrations, that are a constant movement of people, the reasons for which are numerous. Because of immigration, Slovenia has many ethnic groups, especially immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. The largest ethnic minority in our country is the Roma, which is also one of the most oppressed. Based on prejudices, stereotypes, and the separation of 'us' and 'others', discrimination, stigmatization, and racism appear. That is why social workers, working with users of different cultures, races, and backgrounds, must be aware of their personal values. The basis for tolerant, non-discriminatory, and fair social work is a quality education at the Faculty of Social Work and diverse practical training, so the students can learn and master concepts such as tolerance, inclusion, and advocacy as well as anti-racist, ethnic sensitive, and culturally competent social work.
In the second part, I present my quantitative research, which explored the attitude of employees towards immigrants and ethnic minorities that students of the Faculty of Social Work perceived in practical training, whether they spoke about it, if they were heard, and to what extent the changes happened in the organizations. I obtained the data through a survey, using an online questionnaire, filled out by 89 students of the Faculty of Social Work. I used the results to answer my research questions, refute or confirm my hypotheses, and draw meaningful conclusions from the findings. These are that students perceived the most positive attitude toward immigrants from Serbia and Bosnia, and the most negative toward the Roma. Of the given forms of positive attitude, students most often perceived tolerance, and least often anti-racist social work. Prejudices and stereotypes predominated among the negative attitudes, and racism was the least common. The answers showed that the students did not talk about bad practices with their mentors, but if they did, most of the time nothing changed.
Finally, based on the findings, I proposed some positive changes for more efficient, inclusive, and just social work education and practice. Some of these were that the Faculty of Social Work would need to dedicate more time and discussion on topics related to racism and ethnic discrimination as well as the history and experiences of immigrants, ethnic minorities, and refugees, that students should be prepared to use and recognize different methods and principles of social work, and that regular training should be provided for employees in helping professions to increase their knowledge about the latest concepts of working with different ethnic groups thus providing them with appropriate, equal, and just assistance.
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