Abstract
This article considers the utilisation of the common third to prepare social work students for practice by engaging with education in the broadest sense of the term (Jackson and Cameron, 2011). Quality social work practitioners need fully developed reflective capacities to assist with the complex issues faced by individuals who experience marginalisation, discrimination, and inequality. In order to help develop autonomous and critical thinkers, which is of the utmost importance for social work, this article considers the value of the common third as part of the learning process. The common third, using activities to strengthen relationships, enhances social work practice and this article evaluates a three-day residential experience of outdoor pursuits in partnership with students, service users, practice educators, and teaching staff. This experience has been undertaken for several years at the University of West London, funded by the Education Support Grant from the Department of Health. Until now only anecdotal accounts were available; however, in 2018 staff sought written and verbal feedback from participants to assist in the writing of this article. This is based on the 2018 experience of 45 first-year social work students, six academic staff members, three service users, and two social work practice educators. The findings support the positive anecdotal accounts given to date and highlight the benefits of the common third in social work education.
Highlights
This article considers the utilisation of the common third to prepare social work students for practice by engaging with education in the broadest sense of the term (Jackson and Cameron, 2011)
This is based on the 2018 experience of 45 first-year social work students, six academic staff members, three service users, and two social work practice educators
The social work degree at the University of West London was established with the ethos of being framed within a New Structural Approach (NSA) to social work practice (Mullaly, 2006)
Summary
Utilising the ‘common third’ to enhance social work education. International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 9(1): 6. Submission date: 30 July 2019; Acceptance date: March 2020; Publication date: April 2020. Peer review: This article has been peer reviewed through the journal’s standard double blind peer-review, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised during review. Open access: International Journal of Social Pedagogy is a peer-reviewed open access journal
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