Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) is amongst the leading Institutes of Technology in Ireland. DKIT is a Government funded Institute of Technology with almost 5,000 students and hosts a full range of Bachelors, Masters and PhD programmes. Among the many programmes offered by the college is the Social Care Programme hosted under the Department of Humanities which I work under. This department is responsible for the training of Social Care Students who when qualified work with the most disadvantaged in our society including asylum seekers and refugees. The training of students involves student placements in areas in the community where we teach students about developing integration programmes for immigrants and refugees alike. The teaching methods used on the course are designed to enable students develop skills to work within a multicultural context and be able to facilitate work with people from all ethnic minority backgrounds. Most of our work is based on the works of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy.
Since DKIT is an educational organisation most of the work we do is around education of young people. On the social care programme the work most relevant to this project is that on cultural diversity and integration work which is taught in the classroom and students then go on to design well researched project in the community to facilitate integration of new communities. The tutors who teach on the social care programme are qualified social workers who are experienced in the area of working with people from disadvantaged backgrounds.