Placement Journey

This excellent resource has been created by Caroline Aldridge and Sandra McGough (What Work Well Leads, Norfolk County Council, 2018).

Caroline and Sandra are happy to share their resources and ideas. If you use this tool please tell them and give them feedback on the Padlet website or on Twitter: @CarolineAldrid5 or @McgoughSandra

Placements are crucial for the education of student social workers, but they have a huge benefit for the teams they're placed with too. Deirdre Fitzpatrick, ScOPT Trustee, has made a short video illustrating the advantages to teams of having a student and the benefits, too, to the student. It's just one minute long.

In UK social work education, practice educators supervise and assess students while they are on placement. Practice placements are the most important element of social work degree courses, accounting for half of the overall programme for undergraduates. So the role of the practice educator is vital, particularly if a student is struggling or at risk of failing.

Written for Learning at Work week, this is a list of resources relating to the placement journey.

Writing for Learning at Work week, Gillian  Muir argues that the key to the placement journey is planning.

Supporting struggling students on placementA new book by Jo Finch is published next month: Supporting struggling students on placement, a practical guide.

Practice learning accounts for half of the content of the bachelor of social work degree course requirements in Northern Ireland in their field education programmes and share a professional and ethical responsibility with practice teachers to provide appropriate learning environments to prepare students as competent and professional practitioners.

Social Work Practice Placements book, published by Sage, will help to develop student's critical thinking, analytic and reflective skills as they progress through their placements. It will help them build a successful practice portfolio and understand exactly how they fit into the myriad of other professionals and services that make up day to day reality of practice. Crucially, the book also features chapter on developing these skills into the workplace.

Since the academic year 2013-14 within England, Practice Educators (PEs) have been required to assess social work students during field placements using the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) and according to the principles of holistic assessment. Whilst the adoption of the PCF as part of the national change agenda is currently being scrutinised and debated, there has been little research or analysis regarding the practice assessment of social work students on placement and, in particular, the views and experiences of PEs charged with this responsibility.