Navigating relationships in practice learning: voices from practice educators

Abstract

This paper explores the nature and quality of relationships between social work students and their practice educators and discusses how practice educators navigate their multifaceted and complex role in the context of practice learning in England. The data was drawn from individual interviews with 13 practice educators and two focus groups with first year MA social work students. The findings indicate that challenges associated with social differences, in engaging students in learning, and in initiating critical dialogue affect the nature and quality of practice learning relationships. Practice educators need to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to manage the complexities and different demands of their role. It is also important for practice educators to invest time to develop and sustain meaningful relationships with students, and to create a safe space for critical dialogue to take place. A trusting relationship is fundamental if students and practice educators are to raise and explore difficult issues.

Supervision of Chinese social work students during field practice: Harmonising a student-focused, egalitarian approach with traditional teaching and learning

“…Students wanted to receive timely, quality and critical feedback to help consolidate learning and improve their practice, which was seen as the essence of the supervisory role to lead as a teacher -an idea consistent with Confucian thinking. In this and other studies (Wang et al, 2019;Yeung et al, 2021), students have welcomed critical and constructive feedback to maximise their learning opportunities. Students in this study appreciated the time given by supervisors to prepare and undertake group reflective exercises.…”

Blended Social Work Placements: New Opportunities

“…Finally, it was identified that it was also beneficial for social work education providers to provide additional support to social work students whilst on placement. In England, established practice is for university tutors to provide structured support to develop placement expectations at the initial meeting and review progress at the interim meeting, supplemented by informal academic and pastoral support as necessary (Williams & Rutter, 2019). There can be an element of perceived separation between academic and practice that results in the 'teaching' of students on placement being considered to be the practice educator's realm.…”

“…Similarly, it was agreed that flexible and responsive approaches and adjustments to other existing procedures were required, including, for example, supervision and direct observations. It was agreed that the traditional face-to-face method was highly beneficial as a means of developing the supervisory relationship within the initial social work student supervision session, offering support, and enabling assessment (Williams and Rutter, 2019). However, it was also recognised that other forms could provide equally effective supervision.…”

“…Furthermore, where socially distanced appointments or those with restricted attendance requirements prevented practice educators from being present to direct observe home visits to service users, video calls to include practice educators and enable observation were adopted as an acceptable practice. Here, the importance of the collaborative planning of the task to be observed and the provision of immediate verbal feedback were considered of greater importance than the location of the direct observation (Williams and Rutter, 2019).…”