Socio-Cultural Context Of Professional Practice

This assessment is a written critical reflection of your experience of the learning journey towards culturally responsive and safe practice .You will make explicit links to how this learning impacts on your developing professional practice framework. You are encouraged to keep a learning journal throughout the semester to support this assessment item.

 You will be shown a short video on a current Indigenous topic in the last seminar on 18 May. After watching this DVD and discussing the issues in a facilitated in-class discussion with your peers, you should reflect on your individual knowledge, beliefs and attitudes at the beginning of semester and how these may have changed over the course of semester and what challenges you may have confronted.  You also need to make explicit links to how this learning will impact on your future professional practice and why this is important.

This reflection should be written in the first person; however, it needs to draw on relevant academic theory and literature.  You are encouraged to keep a reflective journal throughout semester to note your learning and thoughts to help you complete this assessment piece.

Introduction

We were shown a video clip that was in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia. The video clip shows about various offences that are made in Australia includes most of the indigenous population. As a result, these children grow up with less cognitive development and commit domestic violence, substance and alcohol abuse and various other criminal incidences (Fook, J., 2012). 

This assignment is a reflective piece of work showing my personal understanding of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia using the DIEP (describe, interpret, evaluate and plan) strategy (Montie et al., 2009).

Description

I saw a video clip that shows the present criminal offences made by the indigenous people of Australia, which is a result of discrimination, traumas in childhood and keeping them as the marginalized sections of the society. It shows that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia have had poor childhood experiences that have discriminated them at every level. These past experiences led them into alcohol and substance abuse. Most of the criminal cases and incidence of domestic violence occurring in Australia are committed by the indigenous population group. This group of people have no received decent education and social support that would have uplifted the community and led to its development. The scholars in the video have suggested that such past traumas have led to poor cognitive and emotional development in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community (Australian Health minister’s advisory council, 2010). 

Interpretation

The video has provided me with some new insights about the community of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. I have always known the fact that these groups are marginalized sections of the society and that the process of colonization have had negative impacts on them. The present laws that have been made in the interest of indigenous people have not uplifted them properly and facilitated their growth and development in a holistic manner. But the video has also given me new information in this case and enlightened me about the fact that implication of discrimination has had seriously negative impact on them. It was disappointing to know that the children of indigenous people suffer a lot and get traumatized just because of their colour and social status. The adults have had poor development, which has made them to commit numerous crimes. This video shows that power and privilege is exercised only by the whites in Australian society and passive racism is still prevalent in every sphere. Moreover, the whiteness theory is also practiced in the country today since, white skin colour of a person is not considered as a biological concept, but as a social concept in the society. Furthermore, in this video it was good to see that the people who provide with social justice are aware of the fact that indigenous people are discriminated at every level and that they are not responsible for the situations that they have created for themselves. However, I would also like to state that the Australian government should develop appropriate strategies that would ensure the development and change in the figures of indigenous people committing violence (Thompson, A., 2009).

Evaluation

In my opinion, this video has been a new experience for me and provided me some more insights about the discrimination and ethnocentric practices that are still prevalent in Australia. I do not belong to the indigenous population, which can pose the main challenge in my professional practice. Moreover, it is also extremely important to work with the fundamentals of objectivity and neutral values. Personally and professionally, I need to develop more understanding towards this ethnic group and place my professional experiences without any preconceived notions, in order to do full justice with my practice. Furthermore, a professional need to be aware of the social challenges that the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders have been going through from several decades, and it is not easy to get success in a short period of time.  Therefore, immense hard work and good strategies are required to achieve holistic and fair development for the indigenous people of Australia (Rickwood, D., 2009).