Learning pattern of social work students: a longitudinal study

Research on learning patterns of social work students is scare. This longitudinal study addresses this issue by employing mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative study design to understand the learning pattern of students throughout their undergraduate social work studies. Six rounds of quantitative data collected by structured questionnaires and four rounds of qualitative data collected by focus group interviews have been conducted at an interval of every 6 months to track the learning pattern and to evaluate the continuous impacts of social work education on students. Results indicate that although students’ evaluation on the curriculum was positive and with significant difference in mean scores, paired sample t-tests found no significant difference between time 1 and 6 of all outcome variables. With regard to students’ change in attitude, acquisition of knowledge and skills, results indicate a ‘U-shape’ trend and a fluctuating learning pattern with a rebound in different outcome variables toward the end of the three-year study. Qualitative data echoes the findings and reveals that students go through the confused freshman stage, to disillusioned in practicum and finally with enriching experience upon graduation. The paper discusses meanings and implications of student learning pattern to social work education.     

An examination of student and provider perceptions of voluntary sector social work placements in Northern Ireland

Practice based learning in Northern Ireland is a core element of social work education and comprising 50% of the degree programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This article presents evidence about the perceptions of practice learning from voluntary sector/non-government organisation (NGO) placement providers and final year social work students on social work degree programmes in Northern Ireland in 2011. It draws on data from 121 respondents from189 final year students and focus group interviews with voluntary sector providers offering 16% (85) of the total placements available to students. The agencies who participated in the research study provide a total of 55 PLOs to social work students, and are therefore fairly representative in terms of voluntary sector (NGO) provision. The article locates these data in the context of practice learning pedagogy and the changes introduced by the Regional Strategy for Practice Learning Provision in Northern Ireland 2010–2015. Several themes emerged including; induction, support and guidance, practice educator/student relationship, professional identity and confidence in risk assessment and decision-making. Social work educators, placement providers and employers must be cognisant of newly qualified social workers’ needs in terms of consolidating knowledge within the formative stages of their professional development.     

Educating for Practice

Abstract

Few studies have profiled American Indian social workers or social work students in terms of their career objectives and practice interests. This article expands the current literature by reporting results from a secondary data analysis of a California statewide sample of 162 entering American Indian MSW students, from 1991 and 1998. Results are also helpful in understanding this unique racial/ethnic group with regard to their socio-demographic characteristics, views on poverty and the poor, career motivations, and future practice interests. Additionally, comparisons are made between American Indians and all MSW students regarding the above mentioned variables. Findings indicate that American Indian students demonstrate a noticeably stronger adherence toward supporting and maintaining social work's traditional mission in helping poor and dis-advantaged populations when compared to all MSW students. Implications for social work practice with American Indian populations are also discussed.     

Social work leadership: reflections on a student-led conference

Servant leadership encompassing collaborative mentorship, empowerment and a faculty/student partnership approach contributed to the success of an international social work conference led by undergraduate students and supported by faculty members. Using a retrospective case study design, data were collected from social work undergraduate students on the conference planning committee, reflections of faculty, and documentation from conference evaluations. This paper explores the findings of the conference planning experience and considers how social work principles can foster student engagement and build capacity for undergraduate students to practice leadership skills within higher educational settings.     

Identifying as an evidence-based social worker: the influence of attitudes,access, confidence,and education

This study explored United States-based social workers’ (N = 152) attitudes toward, access to, and confidence in engaging in evidence-based practice (EBP), the extent to which social work education prepared them to engage in EBP, and the factors that contributed to their identification as an evidence-based practitioner. Findings indicated that although practitioners had a positive attitude toward engaging in EBP, they were only moderately confident in doing so, rarely accessed evidence, and were only moderately prepared through their education. Believing that EBP should be implemented, more educational preparation, and positive attitudes contributed to greater identification as an evidence-based practitioner, areas that social work and continuing education should further support to enhance social workers’ EBP skills.     

Reflective ability,empathy, and emotional intelligence in undergraduate social work students: a cross-sectional study from India

The extant literature indicates that social work is a high stress profession owing to multifarious and complex demands of practice. There is also evidence of stress experienced by student trainees who aspire for a career in social work. Working with service users and the distressing life scenarios encountered on placement often involves negotiating complex emotions and requires reflective skills. Effective practice requires rapport building skills and the ability to demonstrate empathy is a core skill for effective practice. While there is a plethora of Western literature on these issues, the Indian literature has not adequately explored them. Framed against this background, this quantitative study collected data from students of all three years of their undergraduate social work course from a ‘women only’ college in India. Standardised instruments to assess empathy, reflective ability and emotional intelligence were administered. Statistical tests revealed a higher manifestation of these dimensions in final-year students than those in the first year. Further it was seen that the total emotional intelligence and empathy scores were positively correlated. Implications of these findings for the education and training of social work students has also been discussed in this article.     

Solving Current Social Challenges: Engaging Undergraduates in Policy Practice

This article explores an innovation in teaching policy practice at the undergraduate level. It analyzes an experiential learning model that uses current social challenges as a compelling way to generate student learning about policy practice. Over the course of the semester, students examine antecedents, current issues, and potential solutions to a contemporary social issue through a series of assignments that build knowledge and skills and link the topic to larger social policy concerns. Using quantitative and qualitative evidence from seven semesters, the article explores benefits and challenges of this approach to teaching, and derives lessons for social work education.     

Homophobia within schools of social work: the critical need for affirming classroom settings and effective preparation for service with the LGBTQ community

Social work programs must effectively meet the needs of their diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) student populations as well as effectively train all students to work with minority groups including the LGBTQ community. While many undergraduate and graduate social work programs provide open, supportive, and affirming experiences for LGBTQ students, there remain ongoing challenges related to hostility, stigma, heterosexism, and homophobia within classroom settings across programs in the US and Canada. This study examines classroom experiences of homophobia among 1,018 social work students. Qualitative data associated with three optional open-ended questions were analyzed utilizing grounded theory. Main qualitative findings identified several major themes associated with social work student experiences of homophobia in the classroom including: (1) Coming out; (2) Faculty inaction; (3) Implicit and explicit content; (4) Direct language and actions; and (5) Religious rationalizations and non-affirming positions. Conclusions and recommendations for social work education are discussed that center around creating safe and affirming classroom settings; the vital role of out faculty, students, and allies; impactful integration of diversity content within curricula, policies, and accreditation standards; ongoing training and mentorship; understanding the role of power and oppression; and a call to action among social work educators and the profession.     

Audience Response Systems: Using “Clickers” to Enhance BSW Education

Among new technologies for enhancing classroom-based education are audience response systems (ARS), also known as “clickers.” These handheld devices record student responses to instructor questions and send them electronically to a receiver that tallies the responses. Summary results are then projected, usually as a graph. Instructors piloted the use of clickers in undergraduate social work research and practice courses. Instructor and student experiences with the clickers were examined by type of course, frequency of use, ease of use, perceived impact on learning, and use by students with disabilities. Instructors and students in both types of courses found the clickers beneficial. Minor differences by type of course were found. Some students with disabilities noted problems using the clickers. More use of clickers and research on their use in social work education is recommended along with continued attention to universal design in course preparation.     

Outcomes focused user involvement in social work education: applying knowledge to practice

Abstract

This paper discusses an innovative approach connecting service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education to social work practice. The research team, comprised service users, carers, social work students and module leader, worked collaboratively democratising the research process. At the University of Dundee, a core social work module facilitates students to spend 15 h with a service user and/or carer (host) gaining a unique insight into their everyday lives. During this time, hosts and students discuss two policy practice questions, responses to these questions are generating annual qualitative data, with study findings being disseminated at local and national level. The experiential learning students acquire from spending time with their host becomes the site of knowledge creation through involvement that is applied to practice. This paper reports on the narratives emerging from the longitudinal data (2012–2015, n = 90) on the changing landscape of social care in Scotland and the dissemination of project findings. We explore the intersection where the voices of service users and carers, student learning and social work practice coalesce. A model of outcomes focused SUCI is introduced as a template for meaningful, sustainable and outcomes-focused SUCI in social work education.     

Transparency of assessment in practice education: the TAPE model

This article draws upon empirical research which explored how undergraduate and postgraduate social work students, at one university in England, experienced working alongside practice educators. In-depth interviews with eight participants enabled them to explore their placement experiences and in relation to assessment, social work students predominantly focused on the direct observations of their practice and written work. The findings suggest that students were less clear about the range of assessment methods employed and how stakeholders contribute toward formative and summative assessment. This article presents the Transparency of Assessment in Practice Education: the TAPE Model, which is designed to make the elements of assessment explicit. This model outlines six Ws which comprise the measurement of assessment. It is suitable to use with social work students, newly qualified social workers undertaking their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, and can bring transparency to other assessment situations in the workplace or classroom.     

Social Work Students' Perceptions of Poverty

ABSTRACT

Over a period of 14 years (1991-2004), graduate social work students (n = 2,213) in ten California schools were surveyed about their perceptions of poverty as they entered and exited their graduate programs. Entering students expressed preferences for societal/institutional change methods to address poverty, as opposed to methods of individual adaptation and were even more inclined upon graduation. Implications for social work education and practice are identified.     

Culturally sensitive social work: promoting cultural competence

In current times of great conflict and clashes between different cultures and worldviews, cultural competencies should be a well embedded feature of social work education. This is a fundamental and cross-cutting issue; however, we question whether it is an obvious concern in social work education in European countries, specifically in Portugal, and if the curriculum of social work courses covers this topic. This article is based on research that seeks to find out if there are mandatory curricular units of the disciplinary field of social work that explicitly address culturally sensitive social work and cultural competencies. Thus, this article presents a study that focuses on educational institutions that provide social work courses in Portugal, and has the potential to be extended to other countries. An online survey and a document analysis of the curriculum programmes of all Portuguese courses in social work were conducted. The study results revealed the lack of curricular units with clear terms relating to the topic of culturally sensitive social work. The implications for practice and educational policy are also discussed, which lead to a reflection and analysis of the evaluation and accreditation process of social work education in Portugal, with a conclusion that it is incomplete and faces major challenges in curriculum development and course accreditation. Challenges and opportunities in developing social work curricula, as well the debate around a generic or specialist social work education are also discussed. Finally, the authors suggest an opportunity to develop cultural competencies through continuing and lifelong learning for social workers.     

In-depth learning in field education: evaluating the effectiveness of process recording

Process recording is the anamnestic recollection of narratives and behaviours of the participants in client interviews. Through critical incidents of teaching, this study explores how the process recording teaching and learning activity was operationalised in a field education seminar for postgraduate social work students, at an Australian University. Further, the study evaluates the student satisfaction aspect of the effectiveness of the activity. Assuming the practitioner/lecturer-researcher role, the author adopted a psychodynamic theoretical framework to identify relational roots in client problems, support students to carry out holistic bio-psychosocial assessments, correct practice mistakes and separate facts from thoughts—conceptualised as theories of practice—and emotions. An anonymous mixed-method questionnaire evaluated the satisfaction of students with the activity. The clear majority evaluated process recording as very beneficial for their learning and rated the reflections of the lecturer on the process recorded material as highly satisfactory.     

Finding common ground: how superdiversity is unsettling social work education

For social work education in the Netherlands, the rapid transition towards superdiversity means that its capacity to adapt to this new reality and to adjust to diverse students’ backgrounds is fiercely challenged. The key aim of this article is to discuss how social work educators are dealing with the unsettling challenges of increasing diversity, based on the research outcomes of an explorative study amongst Turkish–Dutch and Moroccan–Dutch female professionals. Two different groups of educators were asked to comment on the outcomes of this study. One of the dilemmas for educators is to determine what can be considered supportive and inclusive and as reducing inequality in education. The authors used two key theoretical concepts, ‘superdiversity’ and ‘the capability approach’. These theoretical perspectives were used to deconstruct the rather massive concepts of diversity and social justice, by emphasising contextual approaches. Both perspectives stress the urgent need to involve students as ‘active agents of change’, by building a social work community to stimulate and facilitate an on-going dialogue. To successfully fulfil a pivotal role in the upward mobility or emancipation of ethnic minority students, social work education needs to be adjusted to accommodate diverse student groups.     

An Exploratory Study on Attitudes Toward Persons with Disabilities Among U.S. and Japanese Social Work Students

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study was conducted to understand and compare attitudes among social work students in the United States and Japan toward people with disabilities. The Modified Issues in Disabilities Scale (MIDS), designed to measure attitudes toward people with physical disabilities, was implemented on convenient samples of 92 U.S. and 73 Japanese social work students. The findings suggest that social work students in both countries hold moderately positive attitudes. Other similarities as well as differences among the sampled students from the two countries, and their implications to social work education, will be discussed in this paper.     

Practice supervisors’ perceptions of social work students and their placements – an exploratory study in the Norwegian context

Practice placement has been a basic component in Social Work Programmes for many decades in Norway as elsewhere, and supervision of students has been a valued role for social workers. Here, we have carried out a pilot study of nine supervisors from various practice settings, dealing with their experience with and views about supervision of students. The aim was to get more knowledge of student supervision today and the meaning of student supervision in different practice settings. We found that the content of supervision depended on the agency context. Supervision embodies core agency values. There was a lack of common ground between supervisors and the school of social work, and between supervisors and the students.     

Revitalizing social work education through global and critical awareness: examples from three Scandinavian schools of social work

ABSTRACT

Increasing globalisation, reorganisation of the Scandinavian welfare regimes and the awareness of increasing global roots of local social problems necessitated change in the curriculum of social work in three Scandinavian schools of social work in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Recent global transformations, increasing global inequalities, increasing forced migration and the emergence of glocal social problems make the traditional education and methods of social work ineffective and in some cases harmful for people in need of social work intervention. This article examines the need to provide critical, global and multilevel perspectives in social work education in order to prepare social work students for the increasing social problems with global roots. The article, which is based on cross-national collaborations in social work education between three Scandinavian countries, addresses global and critical components in theoretical courses, professional training and field practice in the social work education of the countries in question. It is argued that social work education should move beyond the old division of classical and international/intercultural toward including global and critical perspectives in an integrative manner in all programs.     

Pathways to social work supervision

ABSTRACT

Social work research and literature in the area of supervision tends to focus on the supervision of field education students. Less attention is given to the supervision of social work practitioners and there is almost no information that examines how social workers become supervisors. This exploratory study interviewed 27 practicing social work supervisors across different fields of social work practice in Western Canada. The participants included 15 supervisors with a graduate degree and 12 supervisors with an undergraduate degree. The supervisors completed a brief questionnaire that was followed by a structured interview. Supervisors were asked how they came to be social work supervisors. Thematic analysis of the supervisors’ responses revealed three pathways to supervision: task exposure, supervision by happen chance, and deliberate decision. The responses suggested that additional focus on supervision might be included in undergraduate education and that universities, professional associations, and employers pay more attention to succession planning.