Space, Time and Relationships for Professional Growth: The Experiences of External Field Education Supervisors

Authors

  • Ines Zuchowski James Cook University

Keywords:

Social work education, Field education, External supervision, Supervisors

Abstract

Social work field education focuses on preparing students for professional practice. It relies on experienced social workers facilitating the socialisation of social work students into the profession. Generally this socialisation is assumed to take place through an apprenticeship- type model where students are placed to work alongside experienced social workers. How- ever, providing placement opportunities for social work students with social work qualified supervisors on site is becoming more difficult. There is an increase in placements with off- site supervision, where qualified social workers situated outside the placement organisations provide the social work supervision additional to supervision provided internally in the organisations. Previous research has illuminated some of the context of off-site supervision, but little is known about external supervisors’ experience of supporting social work students on placement.

This paper seeks to illuminate the specific experiences, views and concerns shared by external social work supervisors about social work placements with external supervision. The data discussed here are a subset of data derived from PhD research exploring the experiences of key stakeholders involved in placements with external supervision in Australia. External supervisors highlighted the challenges and opportunities posed by external supervision. They discussed the importance of creating space and time for formal supervision with a primary focus on promoting student’s professional growth.
External supervisors foregrounded relationship building and role clarification as important prerequisites of working supervision arrangements.

References

Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). (2012a). Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards

(ASWEAS) 2012 Guideline 1.2: Guidance on field education programs (pp. 1–69). Canberra ACT:Author.

Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). (2012b). Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards

ASWEAS 2012 v1.2(1) (pp. 1–27). Canberra ACT: Author.

Abram, F., Hartung, M., & Wernet, S. (2000). The non-MSW task supervisor, MSW field instructor, and the practicum student.

Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 20(1), 171–185. doi:10.1300/J067v20n01_11

Alston, M. (2007). Rural and regional developments in social work higher education. Australian Social Work, 60(1), 107–121. doi:10.1080/03124070601166752

Barretti, M. A. (2007). Teachers and field instructors as student role models. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 27(3), 215–239. doi:10.1300/J067v27n03_14

Barton, H., Bell, K., & Bowles, W. (2005). Help or hindrance? Outcomes of social work student placements. Australian Social Work, 58(3), 301–312. doi:10.1111/j.1447-0748.2005.00222.x

Beddoe, E. (2000). The supervisory relationship. In L. Cooper & L. Briggs (Eds.), Fieldwork in human services: Theory and practice for field educators, practice teachers and supervisors. (pp. 41–54). Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Beddoe, L. (2012). External supervision in social work: Power, space, risk, and the search for safety. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 197–213. doi:10.1080/0312407x.2011.591187

Camilleri, P. (2001). Educating for social work: Facing the new century. Australian Social Work, 54(1), 16–20. doi:10.1080/03124070108415259

Carroll, M. (2010). Supervision: Critical reflection for transformational learning (part 2). The Clinical Supervisor, 29(1), 1–19.

Chenoweth, L. (2012). Troubling times? Strategies for countering contemporary challenges in social work and human services practice. In V. Pulla, L. Chenoweth, A. Francis, & S. Bakaj (Eds.), Papers in strengths based practice (pp. 66–74). New Delhi, India: Allied Publishers Private.

Chinnery, S. A., & Beddoe, L. (2011). Taking active steps towards the competent use of self in social work. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 13(1), 127–152.

Cleak, H., & Smith, D. (2012). Student satisfaction with models of field placement supervision. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 243–258. doi:10.1080/0312407x.2011.572981

Cleak, H., & Wilson, J. (2013). Making the most of field placement (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Gair, S., & Thomas, Y. (2008). Ensuring safe passage: Identifying the threat of workplace violence against tertiary students.

Journal of Occupational Health and Safety Australia and New Zealand, 24(1), 43–51.

Healy, K. (2004). Social workers in the new human services marketplace: Trends, challenges and responses. Australian Social Work, 57(2), 103–114. doi:10.1111/j.1447-0748.2004.00125.x

Henderson, K. J. (2010). Work-based supervisors: The neglected partners in practice learning. Social Work Education, 29(5), 490–502. doi:10.1080/02615470903156352

Homonoff, E. (2008). The heart of social work: Best practitioners rise to challenges in field iInstruction. The Clinical Supervisor, 27(2), 135–169.

Hughes, C. (1998) Practicum Learning: perils of the authentic workplace, Higher Education Research & Development, 17(2), 207– 227, doi:10.1080/0729436980170206

Kadushin, A. (1992). Supervision in social work (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Kalliath, P., Hughes, M., & Newcombe, P. (2012). When work and family are in conflict: Impact on psychological strain experienced by social workers in Australia. Australian Social Work, 65(3), 355–371. doi:10.1080/0312407x.2011.625035

Karban, K. (1999). Long-arm practice teaching for the diploma in social work: The views of students and practice teachers. Social Work Education, 18(1), 59–70. doi:10.1080/02615479911220061

LeVasseur, J. J. (2003). The problem of bracketing in phenomenology. Qualitative Health Research, 13(3), 408–420. doi:10.1177/1049732302250337

Lizzio, A., & Wilson, K. (2002). The domain of learning goals in professional supervision. In M. McMahon & W. Patton (Eds.), Supervision in the helping profession: A practical approach (pp. 27–41). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

McAucliffe, D., & Sudbery, J. (2005). “Who do I tell?”: Support and consultation in cases of ethical conflict. Journal of Social Work, 5(21), 21–43. doi:10.1177/1468017305051362

McMahon, M. (2002). Some supervision practicalities. In M. McMahon & W. Patton (Eds.), Supervision in the helping professions: A practical approach (pp. 17–26). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

Minichiello, V., Aroni, R., & Hays, T. (2008). In-depth interviewing (3rd ed.). Sydney, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

Moriarty, J., MacIntyre, G., Manthorpe, J., Crisp, B. R., Orme, J., Lister, P. G., . . . Sharpe, E. (2009). “My expectations remain the same. The student has to be competent to practise”: Practice assessor perspectives on the new social work degree qualification in England. British Journal of Social Work, 40(2), 583–601. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn178

Morley, C., & Dunstan, J. (2013). Critical reflection: A response to neoliberal challenges to field education? Social Work Education, 32(2), 141–156. doi:10.1080/02615479.2012.730141

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ornstein, E., & Moses, H. (2010). Goodness of fit: A relational approach to field instruction. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 30(1), 101–114. doi:10.1080/08841230903479615

Patford, J. (2000). Can I do social work and do I want to? Students’ perception of significant learning incidents during practica.

Australian Social Work, 53(2), 21–28. doi:10.1080/03124070008414145

Plath, D. (2003). An experience based model of practice learning: International perspective from Australia. Journal of Practice Teaching, 5(1), 23–38.

Razack, N. (2000). Students at risk in the field. In L. Cooper & L. Briggs (Eds.), Fieldwork in the human services. Theory and practice for field educators, practice teachers and supervisors. (pp. 195–204). Sydney, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Schwandt, T. A. (1994). Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.),

Handbook of qualitative Research (pp. 118–137). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Unger, J. (2003). Supporting agency field instructors in Forgotonia. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 23(1), 105–121. doi:10.1300/J067v23n01_08

Wayne, J., Bogo, M., & Raskin, M. (2006). The need for radical change in field education. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(1), 161–169.

Zuchowski, I. (2011). Social work student placements with external supervision: last resort or value-adding in the Asia Pacific? In

C. Noble & M. Henrickson (Eds.), Social work field education and supervision across the Asia-Pacific (pp. 375–397). Sydney, NSW: University of Sydney Press.

Zuchowski, I. (2013a). From being “caught in the middle of a war” to being “in a really safe space”: Social work field education with external supervision. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 15(1), 104–119.

Zuchowski, I. (2013b, July). The importance of context for “external” social work supervisors in social work practice learning. Paper presented at the Joint Social Work Education Conference and Social Work Research Conference; 15th UK Joint Social Work Education Conference and 7th UK Social Work Research Conference: Positive Practice in Hard Times: Social Work Fights Back, London, UK.

Downloads

Published

2014-08-01

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>