Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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First practice placement
Get PDFThis paper presents the findings of a small-scale study examining the expectations and anxieties of social work students regarding supervision for fieldwork instruction. A cohort of students in their first year of a postgraduate programme for professional training was questioned about their aspirations and anxieties as they approached their first period of practice placement assessment. Their responses were wide-ranging and varied, and shed light on what they wanted from their supervisors and supervision. Students” concerns related to supervision as a vehicle for compliance and performance issues rather than as a purveyor of culture and values for social work. It is viewed by the respondents as an important site of learning and development whose opportunities for promoting self-awareness and the skills of critical reflection must be safeguarded. This paper argues for the importance of listening to students in order to shape the delivery and mode of fieldwork supervision, and posits supervision as a means of fostering notions of social work values that are prerequisite for practice
Using workshops as a tool to deliver interprofessional learning
Get PDFWorkshops are used widely as a tool in both education and industry for brainstorming, problem solving, sharing knowledge, skills and raising awareness of issues. In this international initiative, workshops were chosen as the educational delivery tool for interprofessional learning (IPL) due to their flexible, interactive and collaborative nature. In 2009, Australia and New Zealand were developing the experience and expertise required to facilitate IPL effectively with diverse groups of participants with differing needs. An international collaborative connection was fostered with the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) to access expertise already existing in the UK. This expertise was combined with the developing facilitation skills within Australasia in a series of ten workshops. Over three hundred health and social care practitioners, educators, policy makers and planners participated. The tour was neither funded nor designed as a formal research study. After the tour, feedback was received from institutions and participants on the impact of the tour as a whole and of individual workshops. This feedback indicated that the workshops had acted as a catalyst and impetus for further interprofessional learning and development and collaboration in practice. They had been effective in delivering interprofessional learning
Involuntary clients are different
Get PDFGroupwork has always been interested in empowering individuals to help themselves and others. Within successful therapeutic groups, group process is central to and provides a unique way of helping. Most of the research has been with voluntary populations, and the groups have already been in existence or are naturally formed groups.Focusing on involuntary clients, my research studied the use of individual relational theories, in conjunction with group engagement theories. Understanding the relational aspects of the group interactive process has provided another way to conceptualize the engagement process with involuntary clients. This paper combines individual and group theories in order to construct a conceptual model for theory building and effective practice with involuntary clients.It was found that with an involuntary population the group leaders’ acceptance of the anger that group members initially bring to this interaction is especially important. This is the beginning of the engagement process with involuntary clients
Problematic behaviour at work
Get PDFThis article sets out to describe a model that, in our role of practice facilitators, we have found to be effective in helping team group leaders to reduce problematic behaviour at work. We illustrate the application of the tools and structures comprising the model with examples and consider the underpinning theory. Our methods, which are informed by cognitive behavioural and groupwork theory, have been developed from working as practitioners with individuals and service users in groups over a 15 year period. These methods form the basis for our current work with team group leaders. The article demonstrates how application of the model empowers team group leaders to use their existing managerial skills, knowledge and experience with confidence. It enables them to address problematic behaviour routinely and proactively rather than going down the costly procedural route. As a consequence, this reduces the amount of their time spent on stressful policy and procedure and enables them and their team groups to work towards achieving the aims of the organisation. The tools and structures are equally relevant to anyone involved in running or participating in groups