Training research-minded social workers: experience from Estonia*

ABSTRACT

Social work education in its modern sense started to develop after Estonia regained independence from the collapsing Soviet Union. The aim of this article is to introduce good practices of teaching research-mindedness, this being one of the main principles in teaching social workers-to-be in the University of Tartu in Estonia. We have been inspired by the academic tradition of university teaching in general, the new international definition of social work and, not least, the realisation of social workers in practice of not being able to apply academic knowledge to everyday social work practices. This article revisits the term research-mindedness and examines how it has been integrated into the university level teaching process. Our purpose is to discuss the methods students of bachelor’s and master’s programmes can learn to ‘translate’ social issues into research questions, critically appraise the findings and ‘translate’ them back as new research evidence for social work practice.     

Schools of Social Work Contribution to Community Partnerships: The Renewal of the Social Compact in Higher Education

ABSTRACT

Embracing the concept that the social compact between university and community can provide a cornerstone for true social change. This article details how partnering with outside organizations in collaborative relationships can help fulfill higher education's obligation to educate for the good of a democratic and learned populace. Often the social conscience of a university, schools of social work can serve as leaders in the development or facilitation of university and community partnerships to address or intervene in areas of social need. One research institution of higher education provides successful examples.     

From Mad to Worse: Anger Management for Grades 3–4

ABSTRACT

This article examines how a web-based communication and information site was used as a forum to foster a sense of community among members of a graduate social work program in a multi-site, rural university setting. Results indicate that students made greater use of the site than faculty and those who used the site felt a greater sense of community. This article also explores the lessons learned in using this type of electronic discourse.     

Rehumanising the university for an alternative future: decolonisation,alternative epistemologies and cognitive justice

ABSTRACT

Reflecting on the shifting landscape of higher education, this discussion highlights how inequality is entrenched within the university, largely as a result of Western-inspired, commodified knowledge production processes. The article grapples with scholarship on cognitive justice and builds a case for transformative resistance that is simultaneously anti-colonial and anti-neoliberal, within, against and beyond the Westernised university. The discussion concentrates specifically on epistemic hegemonies and internationalisation, and argues that substantive decolonisation as a counterhegemonic project must entail an intellectual element that is aimed at transforming the knowledge structures that facilitate dehumanisation. The pursuit of more equitable, anti-racist futures must thus involve the identification and obliteration of deeply embedded epistemic hegemonies, which have been created through the dehumanising processes of capital expansion and colonisation. This article offers a hopeful approach that encourages the collaborative creation of a counter-university that actively pursues epistemic diversity as a pathway to alternative futures.     

Collaborative Teams for Youth Engagement

SUMMARY

Youth engagement on collaborative teams is a viable approach to healthier youth development and community development. This article examines four characteristics of engagement in the research literature and a specific school-community-university project: adult support, a youth-friendly environment, the completion of meaningful tasks, and the learning and utilization of new skills.     

Teaching Critical Reflection in Social Work Field Education

ABSTRACT

This article explores the process and outcomes of teaching critical reflection to social work students in an Australian university, based on our experience with teaching critical reflection. The application by students of a particular model of critical reflection to their learning experiences during field education placements is described and analyzed. Examples of student reflections are provided and discussed to illustrate how they have used the model of critical reflection and incorporated its critical dimension. The student reflections demonstrate that the model of critical reflection adopted assisted students to become more critical in their understandings and to some extent in their actions.     

Creating a Space for Reflection on Teaching: The 1997-99 Department of Human Relations work discussion groups

This article presents an overview of three staff development projects whose aim was to provide university staff with a reflective space in which to share their experiences of teaching psychosocial studies and social work to a large, heterogeneous body of students. Aspects of the staff-student relationship are discussed. The author aims to show how staff and students could have similar expectations and experiences in these subject areas in a 'new' university; but also widely divergent ones. It is argued that 'quality' resides in the staff-student relationship, and in the goodwill and commitment of each to articulate together their understanding of the material to be learnt. On the basis of the success of the projects, a case is made for the value of a self-reflexive 'work discussion' space for teaching practitioners.     

Creating Cultural Safety as an Aboriginal Teacher in a Class of Non-Aboriginal University Students

ABSTRACT

Creating a culturally safe learning environment is critical for Aboriginal teachers in universities. This paper explores my experience as a new lecturer convening an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work course at an Australian university. As an Aboriginal woman teaching to a large class of non-Aboriginal students, establishing cultural safety became a priority early on. Through reflecting on my journey from feeling vulnerable at the beginning of the course, to developing a safe and collaborative learning and teaching experience, this paper presents the rare perspective of an Aboriginal academic in the teaching space, and offers practical ways to develop cultural safety in university classrooms.

IMPLICATIONS

• Aboriginal social work teaching academics need to feel culturally safe in the classroom setting to sustain them in their role.

• Engaging non-Aboriginal students to feel safe through collaborative learning enhances the learning and teaching experience for everyone and contributes to cultural safety for Aboriginal academics.

• Aboriginal academics teaching Aboriginal-specific content risk being traumatised through intensive and consistent exposure to traumatic content that may be personal to them.

• Universities need to provide practical support to new teaching academics to best equip and prepare them for the role.

     

Student Bodies,Past and Present

Abstract

This article examines how the field of college health has evolved over time to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. The central argument is that college and university health programs developed in conjunction with shifting standards of medical care and public health practices in the United States. The author reviews the role of college health programs as public health agencies for campus communities, and describes contemporary public health challenges facing college campuses. She shows how the history of college health is intertwined with the history of diversity in higher education. In particular, the author outlines how the growth of health services made higher education accessible to women, racial minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities.     

Making It Real: Enhancing Curriculum Delivery Through the Use of Student-Generated Training Videos

ABSTRACT

This article describes and critiques the creation of a student-centered, reality-based training video undertaken by students and faculty from the departments of social work and visual arts at a northeastern university. There are several key and innovative aspects to this video. It is a collaboration between faculty and students of the schools of social work and the arts: social work students play themselves and students and affiliates of the school of the arts play clients and were responsible for all technical aspects of the video. The interactions portrayed are based on real social work student process recordings, and client-worker interactions are followed by a supervisory session, underscoring the importance of feedback for learning. The relevant literature on a variety of teaching techniques on which we based our work, including the use of role plays, simulated clients, and video technology, is reviewed. Social work educators are encouraged to develop their own videos depicting their students' unique experiences, using the interdisciplinary, collaborative, problem-based process presented. The technological capacity to deliver video on the web further enhances the accessibility and flexibility of this teaching strategy.     

Gender,Work Time,and Care Responsibilities Among Faculty1

This study explores how faculty at one research‐intensive university spend their time on research, teaching, mentoring, and service, as well as housework, childcare, care for elders, and other long‐term care. Drawing on surveys and focus group interviews with faculty, the article examines how gender is related to time spent on the different components of faculty work, as well as on housework and care. Findings show that many faculty report working more than 60 hours a week, with substantial time on weekends devoted to work. Finding balance between different kinds of work (research, teaching, mentoring, and service) is as difficult as finding balance between work and personal life. The study further explores how gendered care giving, in particular being a mother to young children, is related to time spent on faculty work, controlling for partner employment and other factors. Men and women devote significantly different amounts of time to housework and care giving. While men and women faculty devote the same overall time to their employment each week, mothers of young children spend less time on research, the activity that counts most toward career advancement.     

Collaborative Music‐Making with Digital Audio Workstations: The “nth Member” as a Heuristic Device for Understanding the Role of Technologies in Audio Composition

This article examines amateur music‐making using a digital audio workstation, showing how audio and software are used as resources for creating compositions. The article has two aims. Firstly, to depict how digital music‐making is formed from routine interactional techniques. Secondly, to probe how researchers might account for such multi‐modal activity through a heuristic device: the “nth member.” Whereas sociology has typically been concerned with the cultural facets of how music is made and consumed, we explore the material practices of collaborative song creation utilizing conversation analytic techniques—“turn‐taking” and “next‐selection”—to capture two key interactional moments.     

The ebb and flow of the fortunes of African studies at the University of Cape Town: an overview

ABSTRACT

This article is an overview of African Studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Its main conclusion is that the University has so far failed to put the issue of African Studies high on its agenda. This is by no means a detailed account of the evolution of the concept of African Studies at UCT, but rather an overview that is meant to stimulate debate and discussion as UCT commemorates a centenary of African Studies. The article shows how UCT dealt with the notion of African Studies. In the period leading to the introduction of apartheid in South Africa UCT saw its role as providing resources to those tasked with the formulation and implementation of a “Native policy”. With the advent of apartheid, African Studies focused internally on the study of Africa and its people. This provides the backdrop to the debates of the late 1990s involving Mahmood Mamdani, which centred on the teaching of Africa in an African university. I wrap up this article by sounding a clarion call for UCT to put African Studies high on its agenda if it is serious in fulfilling its mission of making UCT a truly African university.     

Truth or Consequences: Dishonesty in Dating and HIV/AIDS-Related Issues in a College-Age Population

Abstract

This article examines the issue of dishonesty in dating among college students as it relates to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. The authors surveyed 171 undergraduates at a large midwestern university in January 1991. They conducted an analysis by gender and found significant differences in responses of male and female students. Of those students involved in monogamous relationships, 36% of the men and 21% of the women reported being sexually unfaithful to their current partner or to any of their previous partners. A greater percentage of women than of men inquired about past sexual histories before engaging in sexual activity. In addition, men admitted they had lied to their sexual partner or partners more often than did women. Because a large portion of HIV/AIDS and STD education involves teaching students to inquire about previous sexual histories, the results of this study should influence the direction and content of behaviorally focused educational programs. The authors also address implications for health educators and clinicians.     

‘I am not your nutter’: a personal reflection on commodification and comradeship in service user and survivor research

Abstract

This article offers some personal reflections from a mental health service user/survivor researcher working in English academia. It is a critical examination of what mainstream clinical mental health researchers and funders appear to need us to be, and what some in the service user and survivor movement perceive us to be. The discussion examines questions about commodification and public and patient involvement and contemporary challenges for service user and survivor research as a separate discipline operating within and beyond academia in England. The article concludes by exploring potential strategies for collaborative activism for service user and survivor researchers in academia based on the concepts of social capital and situated solidarity.     

Making Tarefero Pride: The Collaborative Construction of Portable Photomurals for Farmworker Empowerment in Misiones,Argentina

ABSTRACT

This article draws on years of multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Misiones, Argentina to recount the collaborative construction of portable photomurals for farmworker empowerment. The murals depict work, life, and the fight for justice of the farmworkers, called tareferos, who harvest yerba mate, the tea that is Argentina’s most commonly consumed beverage. By making history and the culture of oppression a central focus, this study demonstrates how ethnographic research can support community organizing efforts through building the relationships necessary to forge collaborative, strength-based interventions. Such collaborations can bolster struggles against structural inequality and work to heal community psyches marred by historical trauma.     

Sources of Variation in the Role Performance of University Teachers

Abstract

Based on data collected in a British provincial university this article examines the structural, material and ideal elements which are the sources of variation in academic activity. Teaching was influenced jointly by pedagogic and disciplinary perspectives, with the latter providing the major source of variation. Not only the style of research but also the pattern of research relationships could also be seen to vary with the theoretical character of a discipline. The external professional activities of faculty expressed several wide-ranging principles, but they also provided an important source of segmentation within the academic profession.     

‘Placements Online’: Student Experiences of a Website to Support Learning in Practice Settings

Social work practice and education in many parts of the world are implementing an elearning agenda. This article considers the experiences of students using a website developed to support learning in agency settings to discover if and how it can be used to create a ‘bridge’ between the learning environments of the university and practice. The website contains a range of features, including downloadable practice assessment documents, links to university based teaching units, electronic personal notification of placement allocation, and an asynchronous discussion forum.

The action research project which informs this article employed focus groups of students to ascertain their expectations and experiences of the website, in particular the asynchronous discussion forum facility, prior to and on completion of the 80 day placement, combined with analysis of the actual usage patterns and content.

Three quarters of the cohort participated in the discussion forum and findings suggest that students used and valued the discussion forum for its ability to enable the student to student and tutor to student relationships underpinning collaborative learning to be maintained during the placement, and to enable resource sharing and networking.     

Resource Dependence as a Mechanism for Survival: The Case of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital

This paper examines the evolution of the largest university teaching hospital in Ireland, from its origins in 1861 to the present day, drawing upon the lens of resource dependence theory as proposed by Pfeffer and Salancik (1978). Analysing the mission, resources and governance of the hospital, three distinct eras are identified, self-financing, transitionary and that of government/non-profit partnership. The paper demonstrates that despite traumatic events and financial crises this hospital has survived through evolving resource dependence and has preserved its voluntary status notwithstanding its current collaborative partnership with the Irish State.     

Disabled citizens as researchers – Challenges and benefits of collaboration for effective action and change

ABSTRACT

This article reports on the evaluation of an initial pilot for a collaborative research project undertaken in an English county between a service user-led Coalition of Disabled People, the local authority and local university. The project sought to map the assets and resources for/of disabled people in their local community as well as needs and gaps, to inform the Coalition’s strategic planning and raise awareness of disability issues across the county.

The article discusses an inclusive, co-productive approach using participatory action research. It focuses on experiences from the pilot stage of the project and considers how the authors worked together with the required knowledge exchange and power-sharing to recruit and train researchers with expertise from their personal experience of disability. Recruitment ensured they had relevant qualities and skills that could be developed, to increase their confidence, knowledge and skills set as researchers. They then undertook photo-elicited, semi-structured interviews with other disabled people, analysed findings and created photographic exhibitions for dissemination and awareness raising.

Demonstrating a commitment to emancipatory research and collective action for change, the discussion considers the promotion of shared values within the research team, and explores the benefits and challenges encountered during the process and how the particular stages were managed to achieve the beneficial outcomes of the pilot. The article seeks to add to the literature of participatory/emancipatory action research for social work.