Abstract
This article addresses the placement of social work students in a non-traditional social work setting: the Victorian Catholic primary school. Considering the different elements of field education placements, this article discusses how a field education placement was purpose- fully structured to guide the social work student through the process of integrating theory and practice. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, the article describes the structure of the placement and how respondents viewed the success or otherwise of the orientation activities, opportunities to integrate theory with practice, the development of practice skills, supervision and the development of school/university partnerships. The data indicated that a purposefully structured placement which provides students with a variety of learning opportunities and which is supported by clearly focused supervision are key contributors to the success of school-based field education placements.
Highlights
The Australian Association of Social Work (AASW), the registering body for Australian social workers, is clear about the centrality of field education
Orientation activities Analysis of the data indicated that both social work students and Field Education Coordinators found the Orientation activities were useful in providing a context for practice
Ten social work students (55.56%) and two Field Education Coordinators (50%) ‘strongly agreed’ and eight social work students (44.44%) and two Field Education Coordinators (50%) ‘agreed’ that the placement gave opportunity for the integration of theory and practice
Summary
The Australian Association of Social Work (AASW), the registering body for Australian social workers, is clear about the centrality of field education. The underlying principle to this requirement is that field education provides the opportunity for students to test theory, practice and values (Beddoe & Maidment, 2009; Egan & Testa, 2010). While the field experience is a mandatory component of social work education, the task of securing settings in which students can undertake the placement is becoming increasingly difficult. Scholars attribute this firstly to universities offering postgraduate entry qualifications alongside the traditional undergraduate programmes and secondly to the community and human sector’s reluctance to provide placements. The first development has led to an increase in the numbers of placements universities need to secure
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
