Ensuring The Future Of Rural Social Work In Australia
Social work has an important role to play in remote, rural and regional Australia in combating social disadvantage like poorer health, lower education standards, fewer employment opportunities and lower wages. The future of rural social work in Australia can be guaranteed by supporting those wishing to live and work in rural communities through education programs, industry support programs and ongoing professional programs.
Preparing masters’ students for social work practice: the perspective of field instructors
ABSTRACT In the United States, successful field placement is increasingly challenging as educators strive to meet the needs of agencies as well as students. Field instructors, whose supervisory role is critical to the success of the field education model, are often absent from this dialog. In response to this challenge, we surveyed field instructors (n = 161) at one large Southeastern university in the United States to elicit their feedback on Masters-level field education policies and requirements for field placement. The descriptive, cross-sectional survey was completed anonymously online and consisted of 24 multiple choice and short answer questions that elicited demographic information and respondents’ opinions on key field placement criteria. Findings indicated that although field instructors were willing to work with students to create field placements that accommodated flexible or nontraditional hours, most of them were unable to do so given agency constraints. The results of this study have important implications for field education, as it suggests field instructors are open to nontraditional field placements when feasible. Future research should incorporate feedback from students, field liaisons, and field directors.
A Framework for the use of competencies in rural social work field practice placements
Abstract The Australian Social Work Competency Standards for Entry Level Social Workerspublished by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) in 1994 covers generic skills, knowledge and values. While acknowledging the necessity of developing two additional competency strands, rural/remote and cross-cultural competencies, the AASW has not as yet undertaken work in this area. In developing a new social work course, staff from the Bunbury Regional Campus of Edith Cowan University in Western Australia in conjunction with local social work practitioners have developed a rural and remote competency strand. Local practitioners insisted on the development of a competency strand which explicitly describes the work of practitioners in rural and remote areas and prepares students for practice in rural Australia. The synthesis of information obtained from social work professionals who have rural practice experience and from relevant literature has provided the basis for identifying specific skills necessar...