The international field placement: a reconciliation of identity

Abstract

The international field placement is a site of both identity confusion and identity development for the social work student. Aiming to develop their professional identity they are faced with a challenge: the presence of two dominant identities, the tourist identity and the student identity. Whilst the embodiment of the tourist identity has often facilitated the student¿s motivation to undertake the placement experience, the student identity is what both university staff and agency field educators perceive as integral to student engagement in this remote educational setting. Social work educators perceive this identity challenge as an impediment to learning. In contrast, students report feeling that their tourist traits strengthened their personal and professional capacity, natural curiosity and ability to engage with the local community. By analysing the roles of university staff as liaison support, and field educators as agency supervisors, it is possible to explore a teaching and learning relationship that is student-centred, grounded in the immersive international experience. Through privileging the student¿s voice social work educators involved with organising, supporting and supervising international field placements are able to understand the placement as a continuum of learning. On this continuum identity reconciliation is viewed as a crucial element in the development of a professional identity.

A Systematic Literature Review on International Teaching Practicums: Current Status and Future Directions

“…Collaborative consonance is defined as the "intensification based on the co-labor of learning communities" (Cochran-Smith, 1991;p.106). As for professional identity reconciliation (Fox, 2017, Trent, 2011, researchers examined how the participants reconciled their antagonistic "tourist" and "student" identities simultaneously amid the ITP programs (Fox, 2017). Meanwhile, the scholars examined how the participants unearth the social complexities lived in cross-cultural communities (Craig, Zou, & Curtis, 2017).…”

International field placements: The models Australian social work programmes are currently using

“…Despite an increase in literature concerning the proliferation of international field placements in social work education globally (beginning, for example, with Healy et al, 2003), there is as yet no comprehensive overview of potential models that universities or international agencies can and do employ. The recent published literature regarding Australian social work programs undertaking international field placements discusses either the quality of the experience itself (Cleak and Fox, 2011;Fox, 2016Fox, , 2017Garrity, 2011;Nickson et al, 2009), or the levels of educational support required by the universities (Garrity, 2011;Bell & Anscombe, 2013).…”

“…Risk management and duty of care are therefore concepts that underpin the development and organisation of international field placements. Although duty of care is a phrase familiar to social work practice, in the international field placement context this refers to the sense of responsibility that university staff and agency field educators feel towards the students that they either send or host (Fox, 2017). While this can be viewed as a natural extension of the interpersonal dynamic, there is a concern that the care can become either paternal, or parochial, in nature (Tronto, 2012).…”

“…Yet despite the university initiating an environment conducive to international partnerships, and despite the benefits to the student of including international field placements in the social work curriculum, support for international field placements by social work programmes can be variable. The decision to offer international placements is often dependent on a practical distribution of financial and human resources, given the time university staff expend in organising and supporting an international field placement (Fox, 2017). In this context, the decision to include international field placements in the social work programme is often made in the absence of knowledge and critical practice, and is heavily reliant on the preferences of key social work programme staff.…”

Northern Social Workers’ Experiences with Reflective Practice: Analyzing Power in International Development Work

“…Additional literature focuses on the negotiation of students' positionality and identity in this context (Crabtree et al, 2014;Fox, 2017;Heron, 2005;Moorhead et al, 2014;Pease, 2015;Ranz & Langer, 2018;Willis et al, 2019), the dangers of Western-dominated internationalization of social work education being neo-colonialist in nature (Dominelli, 2014;Harrison & Melville, 2010;Kreitzer, 2012;Lavalette & Ioakimidis, 2011;Midgley, 1981Midgley, , 2001Razack, 2000Razack, , 2009Vickers & Dominelli, 2015;Zuchowski et al, 2017), as well as the tensions present in North-South educational exchanges, particularly with how social work students deal with inequality in Southern spaces (Bell et al, 2017; and Carranza (2019) provide more recent contributions on building anti-oppressive social work practicum models for international student placements. Yet, critical debates remain between scholars regarding how to encourage student learning, professionalism and cross-cultural learning, without extending exploitative relations and power over with local organizations and thus enacting a colonial hegemony (see, for example, students in a Malaysian context in Crabtree et al, 2017).…”