Desirability and Feasibility in Evaluating Fieldwork Performance: Tensions between Supervisors and Students

Abstract

Fieldwork placement constitutes an indispensable part of professional social work education. Valid and accurate evaluation of the placement performance of students is pivotal in ensuring they attain their educational objectives in their professional training. This study used a questionnaire survey of students and fieldwork supervisors to examine their respective evaluations of the ‘desirability’ and ‘feasibility’ of assessment criteria on a fieldwork placement evaluation form. Students and supervisors returned a total of 44 and 34 questionnaires, respectively. A four-fold typology was derived from combining the positive and negative aspects of these two dimensions. Focus groups were also conducted with students and supervisors to explore possible reasons for the divergence in views between the two sets of actors in the supervisor–supervisee dyadic relationship. Discrepancies were also found between the students and supervisors in assessing the nature of the assessment criteria. Such discrepancies may point to pedagogical and practical problems, as well as to the power dynamics between students and supervisors, inherent in the nature and process of educational assessment in fieldwork education.