Being the university: liaison persons' reflections on placements with off-site supervision

Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCU
Zuchowski, Ines
Abstract

Social work as a profession, social work practitioners and organisations, as well as social work educators are under strain due to global, economic, social and political changes and workplace pressures. Field education is recognised as pivotal in preparing social work students for professional practice. As social work practitioners, organisations and social work educators are exposed to external and internal pressures, social work practice learning with off-site supervision is becoming more prevalent. This paper reports on research that explored the experiences of key stakeholders in social work practice learning with external or, in other words, off-site supervision. This paper explores the experiences of university liaison persons who provided supported field education arrangements with off-site supervision. A range of themes have emerged, including reflections about bringing the university to the placement experience, creating student centred placement opportunities, the complexity of connecting the various players and the extra support and resources needed to support placements with off-site supervision. Findings suggest that quality learning experiences are about more than modes of supervision, that placements with off-site supervision increase the workload of liaison persons and that clear models and structures need to be developed to support emerging field education models.

Journal

Social Work Education

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Volume

34

ISBN/ISSN

1470-1227

Edition

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Issue

3

Pages Count

14

Location

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Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publisher Url

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Publisher Location

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Publish Date

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Url

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Date

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EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1080/02615479.2015.1005070