Content of cultural competence training

What should be included in cultural competence training? A focus group convened to identify the skills and attributes that Indigenous Australians and various employer groups argued should attain provided detailed suggestions for the content of training.

The main issues arising from the focus group were:

  • 'The lack of awareness amongst professionals about Indigenous clients, cultures and contexts,
  • 'The absence of specific skills and strategies for working in Indigenous contexts
  • 'The culturally specific nature of the assumptions and practices of professions and agencies
  • 'The failure of the professions to engage in broader issues of justice and human rights - including an advocacy role and a role for the professions in developing understanding of, and strategies for challenging prejudice, ethnocentrism and racism
  • 'The need for individuals to be aware of their own values, assumptions and expectancies, and how these impact on their interaction with Indigenous clients and communities' {Ranzijn, 2007:25)

In the area of understanding Indigenous cultures, histories and communities, the group thought that the content should include:

  • The basis of Indigenous spirituality and belief systems
  • 'The sources and contemporary characteristics of families and family structures.
  • Relationships with land and the interconnectedness of land, family and spirituality.
  • The diversity of concepts of identity - different concepts of identity across cultures
  • The importance of understanding the impact of historical processes
  • 'The impact of historical processes on identity (colonialism, institutionalization, discrimination, stolen generations etc.)
  • Community and individual responses to colonialism
  • The broad characteristics of contemporary Indigenous communities,
  • An awareness of relevant social indicators
  • Relevant national and international legislation and obligations 

Finally, the group felt that exploring the nature of the profession should include:

  • Critically exploring the major paradigms of professions and the impact of these paradigms on how the profession impacts on clients from diverse backgrounds.
  • Analysing the extent to which professional activities are structured around un-recognised assumptions which are culture specific and recognize the need for the profession to identify and question these assumptions
  • Exploring issues of power relations within a range of contexts, including researcher/researched contexts, client/practitioner contexts and more general issues about cultural dominance
  • Examining the extent (or lack) of engagement of their professions in broader social/political issues as a significant issue
  • Examining personal values and belief systems within a context which is both supportive and challenging

These points can be grouped into six categories, two for each of the three main attributes of cultural competence, namely, knowledge (steps 1 and 2 below), values (steps 3 and 4), and skills (steps 5 and 6). Developing cultural competence in relation to Indigenous Australians in a thorough and comprehensive manner involves progressing more or less in the following sequence from basic knowledge through to professionally specific skills:

  1. Obtaining a generic understanding of the nature and significance of culture
  2. Obtaining a general understanding of Indigenous cultures, histories, contemporary societies and issues
  3. Exploring individual and societal values and attitudes (Individual, institutional and cultural racism).
  4. Critically examining the nature of one's profession or occupation
  5. Developing generic skills for working in Indigenous contexts
  6. Developing professionally specific skills for working in Indigenous contexts

 

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