The role of practice educators in initial and post qualifying social worker education

Abstract

Doctoral research into competence for social work practice engaged with seventeen participants who drew upon their experiences of being practice educators and registered social work practitioners and the analysis of data suggested they identified a difference between competence to pass a final placement and capability for social work practice. Baseline social work knowledge, skills and values will enable a student to pass a final placement however, research data suggests that the individual's approach to learning, emotional intelligence and resilience give confidence that they are more likely to be able to cope in a social work role.Practice educators intuitively recognise these characteristics and this article argues that in addition to working with students, practice educators are ideally situated to support individuals throughout their post qualifying social work learning journey. Abstract word count 129

Emotional Intelligence, Work Satisfaction, and Affective Commitment: An Occupational Health Study of Social Workers

“…Higher emotional intelligence is one of the resilient factors for preventing burnout in social service workers. For example, research has found that of emotional intelligence was negatively related with their level of burnout for marriage and family counselors burnout (Gutierrez & Mullen, 2016) and social workers (Stone, 2016). Similarly, research about burnout among similar professionals has shown a negative correlation between burnout and emotional intelligence among doctors (Swami et al, 2013) and teachers (Mérida-López & Extremera, 2017).…”

A Systematic Review of Research on Social Work Practice with Single Fathers

“…Practice education, as a vital cog of such expansive practice learning, can be considered underused, when, if effectively supported, it can support deep and critically reflective learning within social work organisations from student through to experienced and advanced practitioner levels (Stone, 2016;Nixon and Murr, 2006). A range of scholars (Bogo et al 2002;Parker, 2007;Regehr et al, 2002) suggest that ongoing, stable and effective support, critically reflective and educative supervision, and forums for group and peer learning are critical to good practice education.…”

Transparency of assessment in practice education: the TAPE model

“…Existing research into social work practice education is rather limited but includes for example the use of assessment frameworks (Stone, 2014b) and the use of performance measures to assess outcomes in student learning and assessment (Cleak, Hawkins, Williams, & Laughton, 2015). The important role practice educators can play in initial social work education has been explored (Stone, 2016) and also the reasons why they may be reluctant to fail students (Finch, 2009;Finch & Parker, 2013;Finch & Taylor, 2012). Research has considered the relationship between supervision quality and student satisfaction (Kanno & Koeske, 2010); relationships between students and practice educators (Lefevre, 2005;Zeira & Schiff, 2014); and attention has been drawn to strategies practice educators may employ to reduce anxiety in students (Baird, 2016).…”