Developing social work education in Vietnam: the student field practicum during the pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Vietnam’s education provision faced challenges during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first wave in early 2020, the majority of university classes had already converted to online mode. However, because the field practicum is an essential course requirement in the social work curriculum, doing it online posed a challenge for both students and instructors. This research describes the field practice experiences of social work students in Vietnam under the influence of COVID-19. A national online survey was conducted among all Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students who completed a field practicum course between August 2020 and August 2021. The findings indicated students’ opinions on overcoming obstacles during field practice, their conflicted feelings, and some lessons learned. These findings show that social work educators may be able to identify important insights for preparing students for online social work practice and assist students and teachers to adapt to the unprecedented crisis.