Creating Community within the Child and Youth Care Student Society

Abstract

In 2015, the JCURA research student projects conducted surveys to both on campus and distance students in the undergraduate Child and Youth Care program at the University of Victoria. The focus was on their sense of belonging to the School of Child and Youth Care (SCYC) and the Child and Youth Care Students’ Society (CYCSS). They provided several recommendations for further study. The focus of our research was towards examining the factors that exist as to why international students and transfer students (new students coming on campus with diplomas from other institutions) do not feel as though they belong within the Child and Youth Care community. Furthermore, our research aims to provide informative recommendations for the CYCSS and SCYC to promote improvements of international students' sense of belonging. Our research methodology was to facilitate one focus group each with a sample population of International students and transfer students using a semi-structured interview process and then to do a thorough qualitative analysis of the data.