Cultural Competency Flashcards
7 cards from real SSW practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Cultural Competency flashcards as text
A school social worker who makes assumptions about a student's needs based solely on the student's racial or ethnic group is demonstrating:
Answer: Cultural stereotyping
Stereotyping involves applying generalized cultural assumptions to individuals without regard for their unique experiences and identities.
Which approach emphasizes maintaining an ongoing attitude of openness and self-reflection about one's own cultural identity rather than claiming cultural expertise?
Answer: Cultural humility
Cultural humility, developed by Tervalon and Murray-García, emphasizes lifelong self-reflection and a commitment to redressing power imbalances.
A Muslim student requests to leave class during the school day for prayer. The culturally competent school social worker should:
Answer: Advocate for accommodation in line with religious freedom protections
Religious accommodation is both a cultural competency issue and a legal right protected under Title VII and school nondiscrimination policies.
When conducting a culturally informed mental health screening, the school social worker should:
Answer: Consider whether the screening tool has been validated with the student's cultural population
Assessment tools must be evaluated for cultural validity, as many standardized tools were normed on White, middle-class populations.
A school social worker notices that a community has a cultural tradition of using physical discipline that does not meet the legal threshold for abuse. The most appropriate action is:
Answer: Educate the family about school and legal expectations while respecting their cultural background
When practices are legal but differ from school norms, education and culturally sensitive dialogue are more appropriate than punitive action.
The concept of 'code-switching' in the school context refers to:
Answer: Students alternating between their home cultural/linguistic style and the dominant school culture
Code-switching describes the cognitive and emotional work students do to navigate between home cultural norms and dominant school cultural expectations.
Which systemic factor most significantly contributes to disproportionate minority representation in special education?
Answer: Culturally biased assessment practices and systemic inequities
Research consistently shows that culturally biased assessments and systemic racial inequities drive disproportionate minority representation in special education.