The relevance of contemporary psychodynamic theories to teaching social work

Teaching and learning social work occurs within the context of relationships whereby instructors and students mutually learn with and from one another. This paper explores the relevance of contemporary psychoanalytic theories, specifically self psychology, intersubjectivity theory and relational theory, to teaching social work. The application of these theories reveals the need for instructors to attend to context, mutual and reciprocal interactions, multiple perspectives on reality, and disjunctions in the learning process.     

A revisit of ‘moral and character education’ subject in junior-high school in China

Moral education is a practice to promote the moral competence of adolescents, particularly in nurturing their moral judgement and moral behaviour. In China, under the rapid development of social work practice at schools, moral education could serve as a collaborative point between teachers, school counsellors, social workers and policymakers to promote the moral, holistic and healthy development of students. However, moral education is not as yet widely and systematically evaluated? particularly the details of relevant policy, curriculum, textbooks, teaching and learning approach, examination and evaluation. This paper takes an initiative to conduct a comprehensive literature review and theoretical discussion on the subject ‘Moral and Character Education’ (Sixiangpinde思想品德) which is a mandatory moral education subject for Grade 7–9 students in junior high schools in China. It also provides reflections and suggestions on how the subject and moral education could be promoted under the contexts of promotion of adolescent holistic development and involvement of social work practice.     

Case work treatment of adult patients of a psychiatric clinic 1

Social work instructors need to understand racism and promote racial justice to help social work students become skillful at addressing racism in practice and policy. Reflective practices, such as journal writing, can help instructors explore the impact of their racial socialization and identity on their teaching and guide their professional development in this area. This article presents a shared journaling project between peers within a social work doctoral program. Participants used this medium to increase their self-awareness and promote racial dialogue within a relational context. Relational-cultural theory is used as a lens for understanding how the relationships between journaling partners deepened over time and facilitated antiracist practice. Implications for social work practice, education, and research are discussed.     

Preparing Social Work Students for Working with Disaster Survivors

This paper is an overview of disaster social work and preparing social work students for working with disaster survivors. Disaster has common immediate, and medium‐ and long‐term problems and needs. Experiences from various countries throughout the world suggest a range of helping roles and tasks that social work is suited for. A social work professional has particular expertise in understanding and addressing the immediate, and medium‐ and longer term effects of loss on individuals, families, and communities affected by a disaster. In preparing social work students for working with disaster survivors, social work programs do not introduce enough subject matter or course work about disasters. Practice training, field work, collaboration work, and community service in disaster relief are important academic environments for social work students when learning and practising in disaster settings.     

The application of a small group learning approach to social group work teaching - an exploratory study

A new modality – the small group learning approach, was developed for social group work courses for social work students in Hong Kong. A research study, aimed at understanding the students’ level of satisfaction with the new approach and exploring its effectiveness regarding enhancing students’ learning in social group work, was conducted for three cohorts of students in the academic years from 2013-14 to 2015-16. The findings indicated that its effectiveness was influenced by the quality of the tutors and the level of co-operation of the students. Strategies for improving the design and the implementation of the approach will be discussed     

Virtual offender: a pilot project on nurturing social work students’ capacity to work with offenders

ABSTRACT

Although considerable literature conducted in the context of Western societies has concluded that the use of virtual reality (VR) technology can facilitate students’ learning, the applicability of this learning approach to nurturing social work students in the Chinese context remains uncertain. This pilot study empirically tests the effectiveness of VR technology in enhancing social work students’ perceived creativity and competence in working with offenders. The study uses mixed methods that include qualitative and quantitative procedures in a complementary manner. Survey data that capture the responses of 41 social work students collected in the pre-and post-test periods indicate a positive change in self-perceived confidence in handling offenders following the VR training session. The qualitative data generated from the focus groups echo the survey findings and provide insights into the use of VR technology in social work education. Issues and implications for innovative education in the social work profession are discussed.     

The Faculty Field Liaison: An Essential Role for Advancing Graduate and Undergraduate Group Work Education

The faculty field liaison is responsible for representing a school’s social work program in monitoring agency internship sites and agency field instructors for an assigned cohort of the program’s BSW or MSW internship students. This article focuses on the faculty field liaison’s role in effectively monitoring the internship site and field instruction to ensure the internship experience is successfully providing the group work skills and knowledge the BSW or MSW student intern needs to be an effective group work practitioner. The field instructor role has been given a lot of attention in the social work literature, but the role of the faculty field liaison has been given little to no attention. This is despite the faculty field liaison’s significant responsibility of representing the BSW and MSW program by bridging the relationships between the program, the field instructor, and the internship student. This article identifies the importance of the faculty field liaison responding to concerns in group work education in the classroom and field setting. Practice vignettes illustrating the work of the faculty field liaison in monitoring group work assignments and field instruction supervision for graduate and undergraduate social work interns are provided.     

Competency‐based Education: Evidence from Social Work Postgraduates from Five Universities in China

Social work education in China has undergone rapid development during last two decades. However, methods to define, measure, and evaluate social work students' competency remain largely unexplored. In this study, we evaluated competency in graduate social work students in China and examined factors that impacted competency, based on learning theory. Findings indicated that knowledge and skills learned in class, field placement, and social context all have effects on competency. How students think about individual development and the social work profession has the most significant effect. These findings carry implications for social work education in the Chinese context. The rapid development of social work education in China requires the effective measurement and evaluation of students' core competencies.     

Utilizing a Required Documentation Course to Improve the Recording Skills of Undergraduate Social Work Students

ABSTRACT

Baccalaureate social workers respond to documentation and record-keeping demands of regulatory organizations that oversee or fund social service agencies. Learning to accurately document client needs, progress, and service delivery outcomes is important in ensuring that clients are receiving effective services. Despite the importance of documentation skills, many undergraduate social work programs do not provide sufficient curriculum content on client record keeping. The authors report the results of a study that examined changes in baccalaureate social work students’ perceptions of their documentation skills after completing a required documentation course. The sample size included 101 students at pretest and 97 students completing the post-test. Statistically significant findings show students perceived an increase in knowledge in three areas of documentation: 1) formats, 2) content, and 3) writing skills. The authors discuss implications for social work education and practice.     

Boys of Class, Boys of Color: Negotiating the Academic and Social Geography of an Elite Independent School

How do boys from diverse backgrounds manage in an elite boys' school? Interviewing a representative sample of 27 boys, blocked for race, class, and academic performance, we found that they navigated the school's academic geography by mastering "a drill" that included hard work, unwavering commitment, a will to win, a cool style, and self knowledge as learners. Some developed a transformative love of learning. But many marginalized boys struggled with the school's social geography. African American boys managed most effectively as they developed intra-group discourses of race and class enabling them to take up the school's offers of "hegemonic habitus" without "selling out." We discuss the liberating implications of helping students in both independent and public schools develop similar critiques .     

The Use of a Workshop on Group Work for Field Instructors to Enhance Students' Experience with Group Work in the Field Practicum

To enhance student's learning about group work in the field practicum, one undergraduate program provided a continuing education workshop to field instructors in which core group work content was identified as were suggestions for how they could provide appropriate learning opportunities for their students. Results suggest that such training may positively affect students' opportunities to practice group work. The findings also are consistent with previous research that has demonstrated that social work students often have only limited opportunities to practice group work in the field.     

Transforming Social Group Work Learning into Competencies for Interprofessional Teams

This article describes how social work and social group work strategies are used to enhance social work student participation in an interprofessional education program (IPE) that includes social work and five health care disciplines. Concurrently, social work students take part in a small group to assist them in the application of their social group knowledge to their IPE experience. Interprofessional collaborations between social work and health care can work toward alleviating health inequalities and poor access to health services. Social work has a crucial and significant role within these teams because of the profession’s focus on individual well-being, within the context of their social environment and support systems.     

Educating Our Future Colleagues: Creating an MSW Palliative Care Practicum

As the number of older adults and those with chronic medical conditions continues to rise, the need to train social work students in palliative and end-of-life competencies becomes critical. To address this growing need, the social work team at a large urban academic medical center in the Midwest developed an MSW concentration practicum in palliative and end-of-life care. During the practicum, students receive immersive training in palliative care social work values and the skills required for these specialized assessments, interventions, and evaluations. Their training culminates in their participation on an interdisciplinary team to provide psychosocial support to patients and families receiving palliative and end-of-life care throughout the medical center. This article describes the curriculum, practice immersion, training manual, teaching modules, and structure of student supervision which is applicable to and adaptable for other palliative care social work field instructors.     

The Use of Field Trips in Teaching Social Group Work

The field trip, as organized by the students and faculty of an undergraduate social work program, is suggested as a vehicle for teaching group work skills. Other learning opportunities offered by field trips are also discussed. In addition, recommendations are made as to how these experiences can be organized in order to enhance the learning of social group work in the academic setting.     

Graduate Social Work Training in Geriatrics in an Acute Care Setting

An enriched clinical placement in an acute care academic training institution was developed for graduate social work students in aging. The teaching context of the team approach is noted, and specific goals of social work training are discussed. Demographic changes and anticipated demand on VA facilities are highlighted, along with specific VA responses and opportunities for training.     

Social Work Education in Mainland China: Development and Issues

The present paper gives an overview of the current trend of social work education in Mainland China, a fast-expanding academic subject of higher education in Mainland China during the last 20 years. This rapid development was brought about by the increasing recognition of the use of social work knowledge in tackling some of the social problems arising from the social and economic changes induced by the open door policy of China. New initiatives were undertaken by government departments, academic institutes and service providers, to explore possible reform of service delivery models in serving the elderly, children and youth, women and other vulnerable groups. It thus creates demands for personnel with new skills and knowledge. It has also led to the promulgation of government policies in 2006, in establishing a strong work force of social work, by setting up an accreditation system for social work as a vocation, making available funding for service development and setting up of NGOs. This paper also highlights some of the imminent issues that cause concern, such as the search for a theoretical model of social training and practices suitable for Chinese society, standardization of curriculum design, teaching and learning, consolidation of accreditation examination and career structure, and creation of a working environment conducive to the professionalization of social work in terms of motivating and retaining social work graduates to stay in the service sector.     

Academization of social work in Sweden and China

All professions with claims to status and trustworthiness must build a knowledge base of their own. This article is the product of over 10 years of study of social work research. It explores the academization of Swedish social work according to three phases: the establishment of a social work discipline, the consolidation of the discipline, and the challenges ahead. It also examines the challenges facing doctoral research in the social work discipline in China. The establishment of the discipline depends on stakeholders both within the academic sphere and outside it. Social work is a discipline that must achieve legitimacy in both the academic context and the political/professional context.     

Pacific epistemologies in professional social work practice,policy and research

Utilising traditional cultural perspectives is an important lens towards developing a platform to create effective social work practice, policy and research. Through this relevant and realistic cultural context, social work as a profession may strive to interface more appropriately with individuals, families and the community. This article examines Pacific epistemologies, and the experiences of eight Western Sydney University social work students who have completed a three-month placement within the islands of Fiji and Samoa; and their reflections on the differences between Western and Pacific epistemologies and respective methods of intervention.     

社会工作实务课程服务学习教学模式探索——以《老年社会工作》服务学习项目为例

我国高校社会工作实务课程的教学时常面临教学与实践分离的困境。笔者在《老年社会工作》课程教学中引入服务学习的理念和方法,将知识学习与社会服务相结合,以期在服务社会的过程中强化学生的专业理念,激发学生的学习动力,提高学生对理论、方法和技能的运用能力,促进学生对课堂知识的内化和反思,探索适合我国文化情景及社会工作实践的实务课程教学模式。