Culture, Diversity, Interculturality and Cultural Competence: Knowledge and importance of the concepts in Social Work perspective

Abstract

In a more global and diversified society, it is of utmost importance to identify the main elements of cultural diversity and to understand the difference in all its dimensions in order to create, develop and mediate a trust relationship with others. The main objective of this research is to obtain information on Social Work student´s knowledge about some key concepts such as: cultural diversity, interculturality and cultural competence and its relevance on their education. The main results of this study carried out with social work students of a Lisbon University shows that students do have a clear understanding about the culture concepts, cultural diversity and interculturality and are aware of the importance of interculturality in their professional future practice.