Students’ view on enhancing field education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social work education aims to prepare students to respond to the challenges they will face in their future practice. Social work students are a rich source of knowledge about teaching and learning processes. Research shows that students have important roles in contributing to designing the curriculum by sharing the identified learning needs. Engaging students in developing the curriculum can be done by inviting students to evaluate the content of the course, identify the gaps in the learning and provide recommendations for developing an effective program. The exploratory qualitative study explores the learning needs of Social Work, MA students at the German Jordanian University in Jordan. To respond to the research question, of what students say about their learning needs about social work practice, 3 focus groups were conducted with 15 MA students. The transcribed discussions were coded, and themes were established. The findings report two main themes The first theme is; responding to gaps in knowledge. The second theme is flexibility and practical suggestions. The findings highlight the importance of collaboration with students and flexibility in designing field education curricula. The research will report the impact of the findings on designing future social work programs.