Mentoring is embedded in social work education, but little is known of how workplace mentoring supports the career progression of Black social workers. Using narrative analysis this UK-based study interviewed five Black social workers. Findings highlight the importance of psychosocial mentoring provided by same-ethnicity mentors and sponsorship mentoring provided by cross-ethnicity mentors. This study also raises challenges for all mentors when working in contexts of disadvantage. Accepted for publication: 19 May Published online: 01 June Mentoring is one mechanism used to support the career progression of the working population but within the UK people of colour are not progressing as expected Ogbonna, Within the social work profession, the lack of racial diversity in leadership is noticeable.
Workforce statistics also reveal that the UK social care workforce is largely White-dominant, as highlighted in figure 1. Working in a White-dominant profession is likely to impact the career progression of Black social workers.
This view is based on Harris and Ogbonna's paper, which suggests workplace discrimination is likely when demographically similar groups are dominant in a workplace. This is because a dominant group is likely to maintain its dominance by recruiting and promoting people who are demographically like them. In the case of a White-dominant workplace, this behaviour maintains the social order of White power Ogbonna, Furthermore, it has been noted that people of colour are likely to experience psychological stress when attempting to negotiate White-dominant workplaces and to reduce this stress they adopt working identities that counter common cultural stereotypes with this behaviour emotionally taxing Carbado and Gulati, Psychological stress does not appear to abate when people of colour are in leadership positions within White-dominant workplaces.
Indeed, Hekman et al. These challenges result from long-standing systems and structures which subtly maintain racial inequality Mutua, It is therefore important to consider the mentoring of Black social workers within this context. This study seeks to contribute to the understanding of how mentoring can support the career progression of Black social workers. Following a literature review, this paper outlines the method used to collect and analyse the data. Findings are then documented which suggest a synergy should exist between psychosocial provided by same-ethnicity mentors and sponsorship provided by cross-ethnicity mentors mentoring.
These two mentoring functions provide a collective value that contributes to mitigating the effects of workplace inequality. The study concludes by making recommendations for the future education, training, and continuing professional development of mentors. Within the social work profession, the benefits of mentoring include professional development in early-stage career through to role transition at the management level McMurray et al.
