We participated in the Erasmus+ BIP exchange in Germany 7-11.4. 2025. Erasmus+BIP is a short exchange program of about five days, involving students from at least three different countries and higher education institutions. In addition to the exchange itself, the course included distance learning meetings both before and after the exchange (Savonia.) The exchange took place in cooperation with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, University of Latvia, University of Hradec Králové and Mykolas Romeris University.

Erasmus provides financial support to students participating in the program, including travel and accommodation costs. Erasmus +BIP exchange funding covered travel and accommodation costs, lunches in Frankfurt, a weekly local ticket and an entrance ticket to one of the sights.

The theme of the week was diversity at social work. We discussed diversity in small groups on the very first day. The groups were multinational and diverse in terms of age and background, so the reflection was varied. On the following days, we explored in small groups social workers from the municipal, private and third sectors, their areas of work and their communities. The visits gave us a concrete insight into diversity and a comparison of services and practices with Finnish practices and services. After the visits, we were able to share our experiences with students from other participating countries.

Diversity and disadvantages

Diversity brings you face to face with your own beliefs, prejudices and barriers that limit your thinking. This provides an opportunity to challenge one’s own humanity, to be more open-minded, more tolerant and to learn to find one’s own professional tools to see the other person as a whole and valuable.

When looking at the phenomenon of diversity, one learns not to pigeonhole all substance abusers, homeless people, nationalities or religious groups into one. Finding and understanding ways to see the person behind them. As a concept, diversity is now widely discussed. On a concrete level, diversity can be thought of as a “garment”, a “mask” or a “barrier” that can be considered in work in social and healthcare, but it is more important to be able to see behind the mask. This is what we were able to delve into during the Erasmus+ BIP exchange through experiential learning.

At the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences Chaitali Das lectures (2025), we discussed not only diversity but also disadvantages, based on Marion Young’s classification. According to her, oppression takes five forms: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence (Rebolledo 2023). According to Young, social work is first and foremost about the disadvantages and oppression produced by the system, i.e. society.

We discussed how society produces norms that define all non-normative people as diverse, which in turn can reinforce stereotypes, create a perception of an ideal culture and commodify diversity. The problem can be that we try to normalize diversity and diverse people rather than try to change structures that create disadvantages and discrimination. A focus on diversity – on demarcating client communities – can shift attention away from power structures that create inequalities and can cause different diverse client groups to compete for resources.

Welcome to BIB exchange week. Cassandra Löfberg.

Lessons learned and differences

Identifying disadvantages without problematizing the target group is an important issue when considering diversity in social work. This was well illustrated during our visit to a third-sector agency working with released prisoners. People released from prison are easily stigmatized by society. This is to the detriment of these people. It is difficult to find a job and housing, and it is difficult to integrate into society without them. These disadvantages exist, of course, without talking about released prisoners as a problematic group in the first place and allowing the prison state to define one such diverse group.

Another example was a visit to a reception center for minors. It was for undocumented immigrants who are minors and have no guardian in Germany. For them, this status, falling outside the norm, is a disadvantage. These field visits illustrated very clearly the negative impact of marginalization in social work. Being unemployed is different from being an unemployed ex-convict. And being an immigrant is different from being an undocumented immigrant from a third country.

Marginalization was also reflected in racism, for example among local landlords, but also among social workers. This problem was identified by the social work unit specializing in asylum seekers. It depended on the worker what kind of service clients of certain nationalities received – not all clients were of equal value. Landlords were also sensitive to certain ethnic groups. For example, dark-skinned asylum seekers from African countries were worse off in terms of access to housing than European asylum seekers fleeing war.

During our visits, we found that the forms of social work are not very different from the work done in Finland. The legislation is slightly different, but the target groups are more or less the same. Deprivation (homelessness, prostitution, drug use) is more visible than in Finland, but it is regionally distributed according to the locals. When we visited Heidelberg, we did not see much deprivation. In Frankfurt, it was clearly present even during the day.

One striking difference between the Finnish and German systems was the absence of electronic patient and client databases in German social work. All transactions were paper based, whereas in Finland, the Czech Republic and Latvia, patient and client records are in electronic systems.

What we could bring to Finland from Germany is a focus on the problems of the human being and the human being himself, not on the stigma he carries through his difference and stigmatization. We could also learn from Germany about creating a sense of community in residential areas and involving residents in community life through social work, as well as from the work of third sector actors there.

Although we came as a group of students from different countries and different life situations, we had many common elements and similar interests. Working in English made our heads spin, but we did well and got a lot out of the week – international insight and experience, new friends, new ideas for work, confirmation of our own ideas and the experience that Finnish expertise is not overshadowed in international arenas. Good job us!

Writers:

Veera Lindholm, Cassandra Löfberg, Anne Salin, Aino-Mari Uppa and Markku Virta, Students of Master’s Degree Program, Savonia UAS

Pirjo Turunen, Principal Lecturer, Savonia UAS

Sources:

The artificial intelligence application ChatGpt has been utilized in translating the article into English.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, https://www.frankfurt-university.de/en/ Referred to 29.4.2025

Das, Chaitali 2025. Challenges in Diversity Work. Lecture. Diversity in Social Work. Frankfurt University of Applied Science. Referred to 8.4.2025.

Mykolas Romeris University, https://www.mruni.eu/en/. Referred to 29.4.2025.

Rebolledo, Mauricio 2023. Iris Marion Young’s Five Faces of Oppression. Julkaistu 24.4.2023 https://criticallegalthinking.com/2023/04/24/iris-marion-youngs-five-faces-of-oppression/. Referred to 22.4.2025

Savonia. Erasmus blended short-term intensive course BIP. https://www.savonia.fi/en/study-with-us/other-studies/exchange/bip/ Referred to 15.4.2025.

TEPA-termipankki. https://termipankki.fi/tepa/fi/haku/diversiteetti. Referred to 18.4.2025.

University of Hradec Králové, https://www.uhk.cz/en/university-of-hradec-kralove. Referred to 29.4.2025.

University of Latvia, https://www.lu.lv/en/. Referred to 29.4.2025