The Future of Fieldwork in a Market Economy
The economic reforms of the past decade have had a dramatic impact on social services. The application of market forces to the welfare sector—including competition, contestability, contracting and diminishing funding of strictly defined policy objectives—has exerted an influence on social work education. This impact has been particularly sharply felt by those engaged in supervised field practice programmes in schools of social work. In this paper, the writers outline their experiences and undertake a process of analysis and reflection with the aim of creating a shift in thinking about fieldwork which encourages the development of new models for the achievement of fieldwork goals.
If Field Education is socital Why Isn't Everyone Doing It?
This article examines the literature which suggests that despite the increasing emphasis given to fieldwork in the curriculum it is becoming progressively difficult to secure sufficient suitable placements for the student population. It outlines the results of a survey undertaken locally which discussed the reasons proffered by social workers for their support or otherwise of the field education program at the University of Queensland over a six-year period. The results indicate that there is still much to learn about the phenomenon of field education and how it can become more central to the preparation of social workers. There is a need for the training institutions, the professional organisation and the employing bodies to work towards providing a stronger training base for the acolytes of the profession.
Community Service Clinic: A Fieldwork Model at the University of Texas at Arlington.
A social welfare agency, owned and operated by the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington, is depicted as an innovative field placement setting. The model offers an alternative to traditional agency-based field practice. Additionally, the model is examined relative to one view of the stages of development of the social work profession.