Session Name: Policy, Migration, and Trade between Asia and the West
An Examination of Pre-Departure Soft Skills Training for Filipino Healthcare Professionals Migrating to Germany
Monday, July 29, 2024
09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)
Paper Abstract: In many Asian countries, healthcare professionals are being recruited to fill the labor gap in aging industrialized countries. Focusing on the Philippines and Germany as labor-sending and labor-receiving countries, respectively, the author takes a look at how pre-integration efforts, which include language and cultural training, are perceived by stakeholders from different levels.
Applying qualitative content analysis to process semi-structured interviews with practitioners and participants in various training programs, this study gives insight into the experiences of healthcare professionals pre and post-departure while exploring possible gaps in the integration efforts of both countries. More importantly, the interviews highlight the differences in the perception of what pre-departure training needs to include, with the differences occuring between training managers, teachers and labor migrants.
This research can aid practitioners working in the context of German labor migration in identifying causes for unsuccessful migration efforts, which, in turn, result in lower than expected retention rates of healthcare professionals in the labor-hosting country. On a smaller scale, this paper will help identify actual training needs of labor migrants, in the hopes of creating a more data-based and service-oriented curriculum planning.
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