Practice Placement in Social Work: Innovative Approaches for Effective Teaching and Learning

Involved in educating social work professionals? Overwhelmed and demoralised by the current climate of cuts to services and over-regulation? This unique book written by practice educators, students and academics offers hope. This collection of innovative approaches to social work placements addresses subjects including sustainability, student-led services, overseas placements, the value of the third-sector, supporting students from minority groups and the visual arts. The international and diverse contributions offer practical guidance and challenge conventional approaches to placement finding, teaching and assessment in field education. Written from a global social work perspective this is essential reading for anyone responsible for ensuring quality placements for future professionals.

Table of Contents:
Foreword ~ Mark Doel; Introduction ~ Avril Bellinger and Deirdre Ford; Student-led services ~ Avril Bellinger and Doris Testa; International placements: learning from a distance ~ Hayley Smith and Victoria Sharley; The outside looking in – an independent social worker’s experience of practice educator work ~ Kate Hazel; 'Do you have to be white to pass this course?' Developing support for black and minority ethnic students in a predominantly white area ~ Sharon Soper and Geraldine Blomfield, with Monica Mullings and Sibonginskosi Ndimande; Men in social work education: building a gendered alliance ~ Peter Brown, Michael Cook, Christopher Higgins, Dean Matthews, Daniel Wilding and Andrew Whiteford; Hidden in plain sight: use of an arts-based method for critical reflection ~ Annastasia Maksymluk; Getting our hands dirty: reconnecting social work education as if the earth matters ~ Andrew Whiteford; Social media for students in practice ~ Joanne Westwood; Developing placement capacity in the third sector ~ Sallie Allison, Dawn Clarke, Hannah Jago and Margaret Jelley; Observations of student practice: what difference does observer qualification make? ~ David Neal and Angie Regan; Filling the gap: constructive responses to the erosion of training standards for practice educators ~ Julie Mann; The concept of integrity in relation to failing and marginal students ~ Cherie Appleton and Carole Adamson; Cultivating discretion: social work education in practice and the academy ~ Avril Bellinger, Deirdre Ford and Beth Moran.

About the Author :
Avril Bellinger is a registered social worker who led the Centre for Practice Learning at Plymouth University. Founder and chair of the charity Students and Refugees Together (START), she actively maintains her commitment to social work education as social action. Deirdre Ford is a registered social worker and Lecturer in Social Work who gained the Practice Teaching Award in 1996. She has worked extensively with service user and carer groups in education and practice.

Review :
"A significant and inspiring shift away from the more common consideration of the role of practise learning" - Practice: Social Work in Action "With a range of UK and international contributors that include students, practice educators and academics, this book is innovative and thought provoking. It provides a timely reminder of the importance of promoting social justice and creativity in practice education and social work more generally" Anna Gupta, Royal Holloway University of London "A refreshing addition to the sparse literature on practice teaching and learning. Student led, rooted in local and international placement experiences within a range of sectors with practice educators, it offers innovative and exciting learning opportunities." Kish Bhatti-Sinclair, University of Chichester