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Social Work Practice Learning: What affects a student’s ability to integrate social work knowledge into their practice on placement?

Mary Crowther Cristina Georgescu

Interests and Research Area

• We are practitioners and practice educators –

inspiration for research came from our own experiences

• Common perception of a gap between university

and workplace that needs to be bridged

• Our own experience suggests that integrating

theory and research into practice is a priority for students but organisational culture can create barriers to supporting students in this task

• Since 2015 new ‘pod’ structure,

relationship-based model and use of group supervision at Brighton & Hove. How this might impact on the student and PE experience?

• We hope that the results of the study may

contribute to development in Local Authority supervision policy, and the development of the relationship between the university and the workplace

Research Question

• How do social work students integrate theory

and research into their practice on placement, and what is the role of the Practice Educator and Practice Supervisor within this?

Research Proposal

• Small study looking into…

▫ the different ways that practice educators/supervisors support their social work students with application of theory and research ▫ what kind of role the practice educators and supervisors take ▫ what impacts on this ▫ students' experiences of this issue.

• Seeking data from pairs of students and practice

educators/supervisors working in Brighton & Hove Children's Services

Participants

• Planned for ~ 20 participants: 10 PE*/PS*s,

employees of B&H Children's Services and 10 final year social work students on placement with B&H, or ASYE*s employed by B&H who completed their final placement there. * Practice Educator * Practice Supervisor * Assessed & Supported Year in Employment

Data Collection

• We asked participants to complete

self-completion questionnaire (separate questionnaire for students and PE/PSs).

• Seeking mix of quantitative and qualitative data.
• We received responses from 12 students and 9

PE/PSs . Includes 7 matching pairs of student-PE.

Experience of Undertaking the Research

• Experience of working as a pair of researchers
• Writing questionnaires and gaining ethical

approval from University and B&H was relatively straightforward.

• There were practical challenges in collecting

data:

• Difficulty in getting the questionnaires back
• Particularly low response rate from PE/PSs due to

time and work pressures

• This despite questionnaire taking about 10 mins to

complete, us sending several chasing emails and approaching participants in person at work.

Findings

Things that supported students’ ability to apply research & theory to practice on placement

• 83% cited factors relating to their PE/PS

▫ Discussion/reflection including individual supervision ▫ PE/PS’s own interest/enthusiasm for knowledge

• Group supervision – 42%
• Writing essays/dissertation – 25%
• In-house training – 17%

Things that hindered students’ ability to apply research & theory to practice on placement

• Student’s own difficulty in terms of time and

balancing competing priorities – 58%

• Lack of support from PE/PS – 42%

▫ Pressures on PE, time constraints ▫ Nature & quality of discussion/supervision, e.g. too task focused, not reflective enough

• Way group supervision was facilitated e.g. not

enough discussion of theory – 33%

What specific things are PE/PSs doing to support students? Students said…

• Discussions about theory – 75%
• Given/signposted to research articles/books – 33%
• Feedback on observations of practice – 25%

PEs said…

• Giving/suggesting/providing access to research

followed by discussion – 66%

• Discussing theory in relation to specific cases – 44%
• Providing space for reflective discussion – 33%
• Giving guidance/modelling use of theory – 22%

What do PEs consider to be the barriers/challenges in supporting students?

• Level of support provided to PE – 44%

▫ Not given enough time to plan & ensure up-to-date knowledge ▫ Not provided with enough support/supervision in the PE task

• 33% cited factors related to the student

▫ Motivation/attitude ▫ Level of experience ▫ Learning style

• PE’s level of confidence – 22%

Other Findings

• Where students had separate PE and PS, PE was

more likely to provide reflective space and support for applying theory, while PS was more likely to focus on case management.

• Wide variation in how far PE/PSs were aware of

what their student was learning at university. 88% said it would probably be useful to have more information about this.

Case Study

The practice supervisor is supervising a student for the first time. She tells us that she reads up on theory or research weekly, and feels that this is extremely important to her practice. She states ‘I found my student to be dismissive of theory, and to have created a dichotomy between theory and practice’. She reports that her confidence in supporting students has decreased over time and cites a lack

• f support & supervision for her as a practice

supervisor is a barrier to providing this support.

The student states that ‘my practice supervisor was unable to meet me regularly for the first few months of placement and so I did not have as much support considering theory when discussing my cases’. She gave 4/10 to the question How well do you feel your PE/PS supported and developed your ability to use theory? She says that her practice supervisor ‘did not have time to fully support me on placement due to the caseload and not really wanting a student’.

• The themes from this case study are reflected in

the comments of another Practice Educator: There is ‘so much pressure on case loads and case management of the student’s case load that this can create a tension and competing demands in supervision … … Some managers are much more understanding and supportive of this demand … … University should be more aware of the expectation that the placement demands… …Organisation should also be more aware of these pressures … … There should be more collective responsibility for the student’s learning…’

Moving forward…

• South Coast Regional Centre Teaching

Partnership introducing new model of practice education – how will this impact?

• We think there is more scope for Group

Supervision to support students and practice educators with use of theory & research, if an appropriate model is consistently used across service

• We recommend there should be closer

communication between practice educators and university about what students are learning