The teaching case conference as a method of practice education and training

The teaching case conference is suggested as one means of meeting the problem of the dependency of practice training on the quality of the practice placement. Some of the learning opportunities which these conferences provide are described, including the development of a capacity for collaborative work and for a multi-factorial approach. Examples are given of different methods of organizing the conferences and providing the teaching/facilitation of learning. Collaboration between management and education is regarded as important.     

The practice curriculum

The notion of curriculum has gained widespread acceptance in class-based teaching, but has only recently been associated with practice-based teaching. This paper suggests ways in which elements of class-based curricula may be transferred to the practice setting. In particular, there is an exploration of the possibility of Units in the practice curriculum. Finally, there are suggestions about the ways in which the ideas generated by the paper might be put into effect.     

Travelling hopefully: Anti-racist practice and practice learning opportunities

This article has been written in response to the current developments in social work education which seek to make anti-racist practice a central requirement of social work training and to make it into a central component of good social work practice. In the present context in which social work is undertaken this will not be an easy goal to achieve without considerable commitment and attention to the detailed content and process of social work and the learning opportunities it offers.

The article focuses on how the teaching of anti-racism on social work courses is then followed through in placement experience and highlights the difficulties that can occur. It describes part of an on-going development and monitoring process initiated with college and practice based teachers at Bath University which is seeking to improve practice at a local level.

It includes a questionnaire sent to practice teachers and students, a practice teaching workshop and the development of a monitoring system for use in future placements. The research attempts to understand better what level of anti-racist practice can be expected of students in short placements and how this might be assessed. It also looks at the issues which arise for practice teachers in their agencies, the importance of management commitment in developing new forms of practice, and the support that is needed for individuals. It concludes with a tentative attempt to put forward a model for developing and assessing anti-racist practice in a placement.     

Simulated and live practice teaching: The practice teacher's craft

The paper considers the assertion that students can learn how to practise exclusively through simulations, without working with real clients. The authors look at the benefits and difficulties of both live and simulated practice for the student's learning, and discuss two fallacies which, if left unchallenged, could threaten the existing arrangements for practice learning in social work. Finally, the paper describes practice teaching in terms of a craft.

This paper was first presented to a Conference of practice teachers and it preserves some of its original informality.     

Enquiry and action learning in practice placements

A new approach to social work education is described (Enquiry and Action Learning), and its application to practice placements and practice teaching is explored. A structure for planning and evaluating students' work on placement is given and their use in a Practice Learning Centre discussed.     

Abstracts

Reference is made to CCETSW's Paper 20:8, 1987, with its stated aim of ‘promoting high standards and good practice in social work through an improvement in the quality of social work education' and with its concern for the training taking place within practice itself. There follows a presentation of the view, that a course in which practice is the central subject, is crucially different from a theoretical one, requiring a different structure and the use of the material of practice as a main teaching resource; and that such a course could be at a high level, but needs lecturers from the universities and colleges to come out into practice to join with accredited teachers in teaching from it. Some illustrations are given of the use of practice material and of the kinds of frameworks available. It is suggested that the areas of emphasis described by CCETSW would facilitate and make more necessary such changes. It is important that there is an ethos common to CCETSW, the agencies and education.     

Needs and resources in practice learning: Findings from the Welsh placement survey

A comprehensive survey of practice teaching in Wales, financed by CCETSW, was able to gather information about the need for practice teaching as perceived by course centres and the provision made by agencies. This shows deficiencies in the supply of certain kinds of placements, wide variations in agency provision, and a very uneven pattern of placement support, ranging from a relatively coherent management-led strategy in some agencies to an unsystematic and ‘ad hoc’ approach in others. Some of the problems are seen to arise from the way placement provision is planned and managed, and alternative approaches are identified.     

What I do I understand: Teaching community work in the Australian Capital Territory

Abstract

Social work students need to develop both theoretical and practical foundations of knowledge. In a period where community practice is becoming more marginalised the Australian Catholic University subject Social Work Practice with Communities is a core component in the two year professional degree program. It combines an experience based learning approach with traditional teaching methods. Through community projects students learn real-life problem solving and gain confidence in their abilities as community workers. The paper focuses on the relationship between gaining knowledge of conceptual frameworks for community work practice and learning skills. It reviews educational considerations in teaching a subject where conceptual, practical and theoretical components are equally important for competent practice. It demonstrates how the School promotes community work.     

II Planning the care environment

This article reviews the experience of a two year post-graduate CQSW course in organising the first year placement as a cluster in which six or seven students are placed in different social work agencies but in the same geographical area. It outlines the advantages of this model of placement planning and practice teaching for students, practice teachers, student units, and college tutors. Particular attention is drawn to the support and stability offered to students and to the opportunity to demonstrate links between theory and practice in the teaching of community social work. It is suggested that this model may provide one way in which student units might develop as training resources for the local area, and help the development of closer collaboration between agencies and colleges.     

Revisiting the Client-Worker Relationship: Biestek Through a Gramscian Gaze

Felix P. Biestek's book The Casework Relationship has an exalted location in the literature and practice of social work. The diversity of the lived reality as well as practice notwithstanding, it remains one of the most visited reference points in social work literature. The present article aims to review, understand, and question the client-worker relationship, which has remained as common sense to social work teaching and practice. The naturalness of this relationship is questioned through the Gramscian framework of hegemony.     

Co-ordinating learning: The future of practice teaching

Traditional models of practice teaching have usually assumed the superiority of a one-to-one arrangement. However, ‘long-arm supervision’, often used in group care and other settings as a way of providing placements in units without qualified practice teachers, could provide the basis for future models where the accredited practice teacher takes a management responsibility for planning and co-ordinating a range of learning experiences involving a variety of staff. Some of the issues and advantages of this model are briefly explored.     

Aggression in the academic workplace: a psychodynamic analysis of social work

Abstract

Aiming to promote quality collegial relationships in tertiary education, this theoretical study draws on the peer-reviewed literature to provide a psychodynamic analysis of workplace aggression in the social work discipline. Because the study assists academics to identify their aggressive practices and the aggressive practices of their colleagues, the findings can be of relevance to other practice-based disciplines. Elaborating on the causes and effects of the disciplinary, institutional and individual forms of aggression, this study identifies the avoidance of the emotional pain in work with clients as the main reason behind the active or passive–aggressive behaviours in the discipline. Academics act out this defensive manoeuvre through denying the existence of knowledge gaps in the discipline, denying the inextricable link between empirical research and theories of practice, teaching exclusively theories unsupported by empirical studies, and resisting to set boundaries on active and passive aggression. The study proposes the advancement of research-into-practice mindedness in social work schools, the requirement that prospective social work academics gain considerable practice experience before entering academia, the need for academic leadership positions to require peer-reviewed publications in both teaching and practice and the need for Schools to publish a volume of empirical research to be accredited as providers of social work education.     

Live supervision in the same room

Following a brief explanation of live supervision, its advantages as a practice teaching method are outlined. The main part of the article focusses on detailed and practical suggestions for the preparation and conduct of live supervision sessions. Discussion then centres around some of the pitfalls and ethical issues which need to be considered. The article concludes by advocating that live supervision can make an important contribution to the current drive to improve practice competence in social work.     

Teaching Critical Perspectives: Analyses of Professional Practice in the Film Ladybird,Ladybird

This article presents three critical analyses of social work practice as depicted in Ken Loach's 1994 film Ladybird, Ladybird. The analyses are intended to serve as a teaching tool in a course on critical perspectives in social work. The tool applies the radical, feminist and postmodern critiques of social work practice to the depiction of the practice in the film. It seeks to contribute to a better understanding of those critical approaches that have developed within the social work profession and, in particular, to emphasize the relevance of these approaches to actual practice. The article explicitly endeavors to arouse debate and reflection on practice among social worker students and to encourage self‐criticism in order to further the development of anti‐oppressive social work practice.     

Teaching the Child Perspective in Social Work Education: Ethical Principles and Classroom Strategies

Aimed at graduate and undergraduate social work instructors, this article identifies the problem of inadequate attention to children in social work education in the US. The authors argue that social work ethics require social work educators to address children as a vulnerable population. They argue that children will be more central in social work education if instructors adopt a child perspective defined by three knowledge categories, development, well‐being and hope, that serve as reference points in teaching. A triangular strategy of position, attitude and action is provided to guide the day‐to‐day use of a child perspective in the classroom. The authors examine sources of the problem, describe its effects on students' education and future practice and provide classroom examples and teaching techniques.     

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.     

Tailing in Love with Ideas': An interview with Luigi Boscolo

Luigi Boscolo, psychiatrist and analyst, is one of the original Milan Associates whose practice, teaching and writing have had such a profound effect on the field of family therapy. Co-author of several important and innovative papers, of Paradox and Counterparadox and of Milan Systemic Family Therapy: Conversations in Theory and Practice, he is co-founder of Centro Milanese di Terapia della Famiglia. This interview was made very late one evening during his second visit to Australia, in July 1988.     

Placement visits by tutors from college based programmes

In recent years some social work tutors have been subject to considerable criticism regarding their inability to keep pace with new developments, including anti discriminatory approaches. In the current harsh climate evident in higher education and following the development of the Dip SW, agency approval for practice teaching and accreditation of individual practice teachers, the tutor's role in visiting placements has been challenged and questioned. The purpose of this article is to argue for a continuation of regular contact by the tutor with practice teacher and student during the planning, monitoring, assessment and review stages of a placement. The tutor's responsibilities are highlighted, acknowledging the power base from which they and practice teachers operate. The importance of empowering both practice teachers and students is considered, while also stressing the need for tutors to maintain standards on placements and to ensure the permeation of anti-discriminatory approaches in both placement learning opportunities and in tripartite meetings.     

Why observe children?

CCETSW have made strenuous efforts to reintroduce child observation as a core area for teaching in DipSW Programmes. The supportive evidence for this trend comes almost exclusively from psychodynamic and child care influences on social work practice (CCETSW, 1991). The individualistic and ‘client’-specific approaches of these theoretical standpoints means that some of the most pressing reasons for making observation a central activity in the development of good social work practice go largely unremarked. This paper redresses that balance by developing the arguments for using observation as a tool for assessing not only individual difference but also the collective experience of all current and prospective service users. Observation is thus argued as a core skill for anti-oppressive practice.