Social service managers and student information provision

Abstract

Information about students is important to social service agency managers when they consider the question of fieldwork placement provision. This article addresses how student information may influence social service agency managers’ decision making towards hosting a student in a non-statutory agency. It draws upon a study of 13 social service agency managers in provincial Aotearoa New Zealand, which involved participants in two separate but consecutive interviews. The findings from this interpretative qualitative study, utilises an eco-systems theoretical framework. Information about students’ personal, cultural and educational characteristics and their interest in social services provide important information that influences managers’ decision-making toward provision.