Social work field education in a global world, views from educators
Social Workers in the field are operating under significant stress as workplace ideologies and neo-liberal market principles (Agllias, 2010) place pressure on the human service industry to focus on efficiencies rather than effectiveness (Chiller & Crisp, 2012). Schools of social work are also under pressure which is derived mainly from the need to graduate highly skilled and competent professional social workers within the confines of a neoliberal funding model which dictates that universities do more with less. Of particular concern is the effect on field education placement or practicum, the point where service providers and schools of social work join forces to enhance student learning. The current climate makes it increasingly difficult to source and maintain placements offering quality social work learning environments, particularly for some groups of students. It is therefore necessary to seek new and creative ways of working in partnership with the service providers to secure placement opportunities and enhance the experience for both service provider staff and social work students on placement. Informed by the experiences of field education academic staff from around Australia this presentation offers insight into some of the potential solutions to challenges faced in the current climate, with a focus on rural and remote placements, overseas placements and supporting students from culturally diverse backgrounds. In particular it provides practical strategies and argues for schools of social work and particularly field education staff to work more closely together to share information and guide the development of field education standards and requirements.
Professional Supervision: A Workforce Retention Strategy for Social Work?
Abstract Retaining social workers in the workforce is a significant challenge and a considerable amount of research has focused on identifying and examining the reasons why social workers choose to leave the profession. This paper presents findings collected as part of a small-scale exploratory study into why some social workers have chosen to remain in the social work profession for many years and who consider themselves to be passionate about their careers. In particular, the paper focuses on the potential of effective professional supervision as a factor that can facilitate social worker workforce retention. Supervision was mentioned by all participants in the study as being important for their wellbeing, either throughout their social work career or at particular points along the way, and supervision was also cited as one of the reasons they were still social workers. On the basis of this research, the authors argue that regular professional supervision can increase the retention rate of social worker employees; and it is, therefore, false economy not to allocate sufficient resources for effective supervision.
Understanding and working in welfare organisations: Helping students survive the workplace
In preparing students to function as competent social workers, educational establishments have to be mindful both of the need to communicate the ideals and values of the profession and the requirement to produce practitioners who are capable of functioning productively within the organisational environment. It cannot be assumed that these two tasks are necessarily complementary. Feedback from former students suggests they feel less well prepared for the latter. This paper explores the way in which one Diploma in Social Work programme attempts to prepare its students for the realities of the organisational context of their work with service users. It focuses on a module which aims to teach students about some of the key tensions inherent in social welfare organisations by arranging for them to interview managers and practitioners in their chosen pathway setting. Their findings are analysed in relation to the theoretical teaching given at the start of the module. The positive feedback from the students suggests the overall learning experience for the student group is very positive.