The Effectiveness of Field Education in Social Work Education: A Student Perspective
Keywords:
Social work, Field education, Placement, Qatar, Culture, ChallengesAbstract
The importance of field education and practice in student learning has been documented and investigated by educational scientists and scholars. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of field placement and its contribution to training in social work from a student’s perspective. Students from a social work program at Qatar University parti- cipated after their placements at various agencies and settings in Qatar.
The study utilised a phenomenological approach; data were collected using five focus groups of students. The coding of the student responses to the focus group questions yielded three major themes, classifying the field placements’ effectiveness in supporting their learning in terms of: (1) opportunities to link theory to practice; (2) supervision and assessment; and (3) courses that helped them better prepare for the field placement. Challenges specific to each sub-theme are also outlined.
References
Bell, K., & Anscombe, A. W. (2013). International filed experience in social work: Outcomes of a short-term study abroad programme in India. Social Work Education, 32(8), 1032–1047.
Birkenmaier, J., Curley, J., & Rowan, N. (2012). Knowledge outcomes within rotational models of social work field education.
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 55(4), 321–336.
Bogo, M. (2015). Field education for clinical social work practice: Best practices and contemporary challenges. Clinical Social Work Journal, 43(3), 317–324. http://www.cswe.org/File.aspx?id=41861
Crisp, B. R. (2011). If a holistic approach to social work requires acknowledgement of religion, what does this mean for social work education? Social Work Education, 30(6), 663–674.
Eltaiba, N. (2015). Teaching Ethics to Social Work Students in Qatar: A Vibrant Challenge. In Bioethics Education in a Global Perspective (pp. 73-80). Springer, Dordrecht.
Fox, M. (2017). Student isolation: The experience of distance on an international field placement. Social Work Education, 36(5), 508–520.
Gray, C. (2013). Reflective practice: Experiential learning in the early years. International Journal of Early Years Education, 21(1), 1–3. doi:10.1080/09669760.2013.782971
Gursansky, D., Quinn, D., & Le Sueur, E. (2010). Authenticity in reflection: Building reflective skills for social work. Social Work Education, 29(7), 778–791. doi:10.1080/02615471003650062
International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). (2004). Global standards for the education and training of the social work profession. Retrieved from http://www.iassw-aiets.org/global-standards-for-social-work-education-and-training/
Oxhandler, H. K., Parrish, D. E., Torres, L. R., & Achenbaum, W. A. (2015). The integration of clients’ religion and spirituality in social work practice: A national survey. Social Work, 60(3), 228–237.
Pawar, M. (2017). Reflective learning and teaching in social work field education in international. British Journal of Social wWork, 47, 198-–218.
Pienkos, E. S. (2014). Using phenomenology to understand hallucinatory experiences. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 10(4), 260–270.
Reamer, F. (2012). Essential ethics education in social work field instruction. Field Educator, 2(2). Retrieved from http://search. proquest.com/docview/1609362916?accountid=14681
Romdenh-Romluc, K. (2011). Merleau-Ponty and phenomenology of perception. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
Sunirose, I. P. (2013). Fieldwork in social work education: Challenges, issues and best practices. Rajagiri Journal of Social Development, 5(1), 79–94. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1547935865?accountid=14681
Thampi, K. (2017). Social work education crossing the borders: A field education programme for international internship.
Social Work Education, 36(6), 609–622.
Wiebe, M. (2010). Pushing the boundaries of the social work practicum: Rethinking sites and supervision toward radical practice. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 21(1), 66–82. doi:10.1080/10428231003782517
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Advances in Social Work & Welfare Education by Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research (ANZSWWER) is licensed underCC BY 4.0