Learning to be a social worker: students experiencing dilemmas during actions taken within critical action learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to discuss qualitative findings based on the actions of students whose education employs the transformative approach and CAL method. The results presented in the text will concentrate on the description of dilemmas faced by students, which are of key importance for the professionalization process from the theoretical-approaches which were adopted in the study. The study material was gathered between 2016 and 2020 and included group discussions (GD) with students working together on a project. In total, 29 social pedagogy students took part in the study, who formed a total of 8 working groups (each year 2 groups took part in the study). During the analysis of the empirical material, it was possible to generate four main dilemmas that students experienced while working with the CAL method. (1) A Double Bind dilemma; (2) A Dilemma Connected with a Blurred Role; (3) The Necessity to Anticipate Action Effects; (4) Who Do I Act for? Between Graduation and a Client. The knowledge of dilemmas that strengthen professional development can be used to organise the learning process for social work students, e.g. by creating situations in which the student in the ‘incubator’ conditions experiences a problematic situation that triggers a specific dilemma.