Teaching Students the Task Force Approach: A Policy-Practice Course

Abstract

In contemporary society, task forces are commonly used to deal with community-based social problems. Task forces develop, change, and implement policies at all levels of government, and within all types of organizations, including the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Unfortunately, social work educators have not been involved in teaching the policy-practice skills of working on a task force. This article discusses existing literature on task forces. Gersick's (1988) model of task group development is used to structure the teaching of the task force approach. An advanced policy course on homelessness is used as an illustration, and a recommendation is made for adjusting educational requirements to cross-reference courses in the social work curriculum that teach substantive topics and, at the same time, use innovative methods to teach group skills.     

Methods used to teach social work students in the field: A research report from New Zealand

This article reports the findings of research conducted in three schools of social work in New Zealand on 'methods' used to teach social work students in the field. Students were polled before the first placement ( N = 80) to find how 'effective' they rated a range of teaching methods. This was followed up by a post-placement student survey ( N = 77) to ascertain the extent to which these same methods were employed by field educators. Pre- and post-placement student results were compared with the effectiveness ratings that field educators ( N = 130) gave to each method. Field educator and student pre-placement ratings listed most methods as being effective or very effective. Post-placement student survey results suggest consistent incongruity between the effectiveness ratings given to each 'method' by field educators, and the degree to which field educators actually utilised the methods with students during the field placement. Students report that methods enabling the direct observation of their practice were amongst those least used in the field.     

Teaching self-awareness: social work educators’ endeavors and struggles

Self-awareness has long been a fundamental concept in the social work profession; however, exactly what self-awareness means and how to teach and apply it in practice remain unclear. We explored social work educators’ teaching methods on self-awareness through the narrative approach of qualitative research. Convenience and snowball sampling were used to select the study sample. Thirty-five social work educators from various colleges and universities across the United States agreed to participate in this study. The results indicated that social work educators employ an emotional learning process, self-disclosure, and humor in the class environment to encourage students to practice self-awareness. Further research is needed to explore and elaborate on the factors that facilitate or obstruct the teaching of self-awareness.     

A model of cultural competency in social work as seen through the lens of self-awareness

Providing effective cultural competency training to social work students is a social work education struggle. This qualitative study, conducted in the United States, addresses this challenge by examining social work educators’ teaching methods for cultural competency by focusing on the self as a part of culture and racism as a part of dominant culture. The findings reveal that the social work educators emphasize the role of self-awareness and cultural awareness in teaching cultural competency. However, they prefer to use multiculturalism, a 1960s ideology, to teach cultural competency and do not invest in teaching anti-racism. These findings shed light on teaching cultural competency and have practical implications in social work education.     

Teaching Clinical Social Work Skills Entirely Online: A Case Example

While numerous disciplines have eagerly embraced innovative educational technology, many social work educators have not been among early adopters. Social work's focus on the human connection and hands‐on practice skills can seem antithetical to technology‐mediated education. Nevertheless, social work programs are implementing distance learning and Internet‐mediated courses, and some schools are offering entire social work courses online. Leading the way in this regard is the Florida State University College of Social Work, which has developed and implemented the first CSWE‐accredited, entirely online Master of Social Work program. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, design, and implementation of one skills‐based clinical course in this program, with the goal of sharing information in a way that will further the discussion of the risks and benefits of online education as well as provide guidance for educators who may be interested in developing a skills‐based online course in the future.     

Social work educators and social policy: a cross-professional perspective

This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate within European social work on the role of social work educators in influencing social policy. It reports on a study that examined the role of social work educators in furthering social policy by comparing Israeli social work educators’ engagement in policy with faculty members in professional schools with strong ties to social policy, namely education and healthcare. While the findings show some similarities between the three groups of educators, they also underscore marked differences between educators in social work and the other professions. In particular, social work educators are more involved in, and more committed to, social policy engagement than faculty members of other professional schools are. These divergences are attributed to the greater focus upon policy practice in social work and its prevalence in teaching programmes, as well as to the profession’s focus on disenfranchised clients, who are especially impacted by social policies.     

Multicultural Content in Social Work Graduate Programs

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results of a national survey of Deans and Directors of graduate social work programs and of social work faculty responsible for teaching graduate-level multicultural courses. The findings indicate the use of a combined infusion and designated course model is the most prominent in addressing the CSWE diversity curriculum content requirement. Although there is substantive content on traditionally oppressed minority populations, there is an increasing number of groups and topics under the banner of diversity. There is heavy reliance on traditional teaching methods and little consistency in the educational resources used to teach the courses. The demographic composition and perceptions of social work faculty who teach multicultural courses are reported. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Vocabulary Levels of Social Science Magazines

With the realities of standards-based accountability, it is imperative to model and demonstrate for students how subject areas and teaching methods transcend across traditional boundaries. In an effort to prepare future social studies educators to teach for global awareness and to meaningfully integrate critical literacy skills into their instruction, we initiated a collaborative model in our university's middle grades teacher education program with language arts and social studies methods courses. The development of cultural competency not only provides preservice teachers with the knowledge of diverse populations but also enables them to have an increased ability to affirm the cultures of others.     

Grading with norm-referenced or criterion-referenced measurements: To curve or not to curve,that is the question

Assigning grades is an integral and everyday part of social work education. However, social work educators, especially those teaching the academically-based as opposed to practice-based courses, must decide whether to use norm-referenced or criterion-referenced measurements to grade exams and other assignments. Norm-referenced measurement is commonly called grading on a curve in higher education. While grading on the curve is not obsolete in academia, I have eliminated it in my courses. New and perhaps experienced social work educators may benefit from a review of both grading methods. This article examines both sides of a grading issue relevant to the wider context of higher education and, therefore, relevant to social work education. Grading with norm-referenced or criterion-referenced measurements is reviewed along with issues related to both types of grading. I will describe why I grade with criterion-referenced measurement and why I believe it is a better choice for social work education.     

Technology-Enhanced Active Learning Classrooms: New Directions for Social Work Education

Social work educators are increasingly exploring how to effectively use technology in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to explore how a technology-enhanced active learning classroom influenced social work students’ engagement and overall learning experiences. An online survey was conducted with 125 social work students from micro and macro courses. When compared to macro courses, students from micro social work courses more positively reported active participation, effective teaching, and technical skills as benefits of the classroom. Furthermore, the dynamic learning environment and instructors’ effective teaching significantly affected students’ positive learning experience. Social work programs should develop various teaching methods for active learning classrooms to develop students’ practice skills that can be transferred to the real world.     

Empowering learners through open (distance) programmes: An evaluation of a practice teaching programme

Changes to social work practice in many parts of the world and the introduction of social work in other parts of the world have raised many issues for educators. One particular area of difficulty is setting up flexible systems for social work education which will meet both individual learning needs and provide high quality professional education. To date, social work education has been traditionally delivered through taught courses that limit access to those who enjoy group learning and are physically able to attend the establishments delivering these courses. This results in a significant number of learners being deprived of learning opportunities. This paper explores the notion of open (distance) 1 learning as a model for empowering students who are unable or reluctant to attend taught courses.     

Social Work within a Community Discourse: Challenges for Teaching

This paper considers the continuing debate about the relationship between social work and community work. We write about our collaboration as educators, one from a social work background and the other from a community work background and discuss the challenge of teaching community work to social work students in a way that is relevant for contemporary practice, and that embraces community work principles and values. Our paper explores Ife's framework of competing discourses of human services and discusses how it has helped us to articulate our thinking and teaching practice in the Irish context. For us, the framework integrates social work and community work within a community discourse that provides a language transcending disciplinary boundaries. This approach represents a means of familiarising students with the community work process and enabling them to take action on issues of social justice. The framework represents four competing models of human service delivery: the managerial, the market, the professional and the community. We discuss how we use this conceptualisation to teach and engage students in a process of critical reflection. The paper discusses methods we use to undertake this process, and the development of our teaching practice over the last two years.     

A Paradigm for Consideration of the Nature of Social Work Processes

Social work has traditionally been regarded as a series of methods, activities, processes and/or tasks which have been categorized under terms such as social casework, social groupwork, community organization, social administration and social action. However, these terms are a non-homogeneous series, and do not enhance clear thinking about the conceptual framework of social work practice.     

Teaching to teach: An ethnographic exploration of a course in social work education

A large proportion of social work doctoral students are interested in pursuing a career in academe. Despite this career aspiration, few have any notion of what is involved in teaching. This article presents a dialogue about the experiences of both a teacher and preparing teacher/student during a doctoral course in social work education. Using an ethnographic approach, the article is written as a set of observations about a shared experience. Its aim is to highlight the process of learning to teach, the struggles of students to learn a new role, the perceptions of the teacher and student about how well the role is learned, and the learning opportunities this type of course affords to would-be educators and even an experienced educator. Codification of these experiences in preparing future educators for their role provides a basis for curriculum protocols that may be used by other social work education programs.     

Undergraduate students’ perception of their own strengths and weaknesses as potential social workers

This article offers some insight into how undergraduate social work students perceive their own strengths and weaknesses. This qualitative research study explored responses from 51 s-year students. Participant responses revealed five main themes in strengths and weaknesses categories: characteristic features, client work related, communication skills, expert-centred approach and problem-focused approach. In order to teach students social work core values and perspectives, it is crucial for the educators themselves to explore their own approaches related to the strengths perspective vs deficit-based approach and their willingness to change their own views and teaching methods to prepare future professionals.     

Group Work in Graduate Social Work Education: The Price of Neglect

Abstract

Although social work practice with groups is on the rise, social work education has neglected to prepare students for group work practice. The results of a 1991 survey show that graduate education has practically eliminated group work as a specialized area of study. Most schools offer group work only as an elective, and few students graduate with a course in this subject. Additionally, students in foundation courses learn little about group work theory and have limited or no group field work experience in which to develop practice skills. The authors discuss the consequences of this lack on student learning, faculty development, field education, and the social work curriculum. They make recommendations for schools and CSWE to revitalize group work in the curriculum.     

Dual Relationships in Social Work Education

Dual relationships between social work educators and their current or former students is largely unstudied. This article reports on a survey of deans and senior social work educators’ ethical beliefs on dual relationships. Educators were asked how they regarded different types of dual relationships and differences between dual relationships with current and former students. They were also asked about ethics education in their schools. Beliefs about dual relationships varied, especially regarding current students and former ones. While ethics education in schools of social work is extensive, policies on dual relationships are scarce. Further research is needed on the ethics of dual relationships in social work education.     

Lessons Learned: Pedagogical Tensions and Struggles with Instruction on Multiculturalism in Social Work Education Programs

While the importance of multiculturalism to social work education and practice has been extensively theorized in the social work literature, very little empirical attention has been paid to the concrete experiences of social work students within the classroom. The socializing influence of pedagogy is one aspect of the professionalization process that must be considered in addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in graduate education programs. This article addresses this gap by describing and analyzing the narratives of 15 minority graduate social work students. It examines their perception and experiences with instruction on multiculturalism with the graduate curriculum and the meaning they assign to these experiences. Their narratives illuminate the myriad ways that the curriculum excludes minority students and reproduces social inequality. Social work education has a responsibility to eliminate racism and inequality from the content of its courses and in its teaching methods. The identification of these negative socializing messages may assist educators in structuring curricular and pedagogical practices that can facilitate the academic success of all students.     

Teaching Social Work in an Online Environment

This article discusses the current debate surrounding online instruction (also known as distance) versus in-class social work instruction and reviews the relevant literature associated with those instructional models. The discussion specifically focuses on key issues, including the definition and growth of online education and the Blackboard revolution, and it addresses concerns about the effectiveness of teaching online compared to in-class social work instruction in areas related to students’ learning outcomes and satisfaction. Literature references also suggest that factors such as demographics may be related to outcome differences between distance and traditional students, while others found no significant differences between both student populations and their learning outcomes in particular courses such as research methods courses. Even today, however, the comparisons between online and traditional courses are unsettled, and many questions remain about the appropriateness or usefulness of these models. Therefore, the debate will continue to lead to even larger disagreements between researchers and educators on both sides. The concern about the effectiveness of teaching in an online environment is still the main concern of educational models in general and of social work education in particular. Even deeper concerns are found among educators and scholars about the ethical issues surrounding the entire online education debate.     

Teaching Note—A Call for Including Theories of Evaluation in Program Evaluation Courses Taught in Schools of Social Work

ABSTRACT

Many schools of social work offer courses on program evaluation. However, one component of program evaluation—theories of evaluation—may all too often be left out of the curriculum. This Teaching Note defines and describes evaluation theory and the benefits of including it in a program evaluation curriculum in schools of social work. Specific ideas for incorporating this content into MSW and doctoral courses in schools of social work are provided.