Abstract
The current wave of neo-liberalism in Canada has driven our universities to retreat from their responsibilities as public institutions, accountable to their communities. In this paper we present a case study of field education in Canada and discuss the implications of the neoliberal academy on social work field education. On the basis of our experience as faculty consultants of BSW and MSW students, and coming from a school of social work that embraces an anti-oppression perspective as its guiding philosophy, we undertake a reconceptualization exercise in which we re-imagine field education. We politicize field education as a site with transformative possibilities. We describe the principles and processes that inform our reconceptualization and offer an example of how this might be realized in practice. This paper contributes towards developing new knowledge that unveils the promise of transformative change through a re-imagination of field education.
Highlights
The current wave of neo-liberalism in Canada has driven our universities to retreat from their responsibilities as public institutions, accountable to their communities
The current wave of neo-liberalism has driven Canadian universities to reconsider their responsibilities as public institutions to their communities
As neo-liberalism becomes more entrenched within universities, the mission of social work begins to shift away from engaging communities outside the academy towards meeting the new demands of neoliberalism
Summary
We problematize certain aspects of our current model of field education. As illustrated through field education, too often remains individualfocussed, providing service to ameliorate personal needs rather than exposing and challenging the social forces that create and sustain such disparity and need While this model prepares students to engage in agency-based social work, the experience it offers is limited especially when the context of practice is under siege (Aronson & Sammon, 2000). While the classroom curriculum remains critical of the changing context of practice, field education does not reflect the same responsiveness At best this approach to field education is a missed opportunity for schools of social work to engage with communities and enact our transformative vision. New ways of understanding that emerge from this process will build the capacity for reciprocity that is authentic and transformative (D’Cruz, Gillingham & Melendez, 2007; Fook, 2002; Heron, 2005; Kondrat, 1999)
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