Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- One Student-led services
- Two International placements: learning from a distance
- Three The outside looking in – an independent social worker’s experience of practice educator work
- Four ‘Do you have to be white to pass this course?’ Developing support for black and minority ethnic students in a predominantly white area
- Five Men in social work education: building a gendered alliance
- Six Hidden in plain sight: use of an arts-based method for critical reflection
- Seven Getting our hands dirty: reconnecting social work education as if the earth matters
- Eight Social media for students in practice
- Nine Developing placement capacity in the third sector
- Ten Observations of student practice: what difference does observer qualification make?
- Eleven Filling the gap: constructive responses to the erosion of training standards for practice educators
- Twelve The concept of integrity in relation to failing and marginal students
- Thirteen Cultivating discretion: social work education in practice and the academy
- Index
Two - International placements: learning from a distance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- One Student-led services
- Two International placements: learning from a distance
- Three The outside looking in – an independent social worker’s experience of practice educator work
- Four ‘Do you have to be white to pass this course?’ Developing support for black and minority ethnic students in a predominantly white area
- Five Men in social work education: building a gendered alliance
- Six Hidden in plain sight: use of an arts-based method for critical reflection
- Seven Getting our hands dirty: reconnecting social work education as if the earth matters
- Eight Social media for students in practice
- Nine Developing placement capacity in the third sector
- Ten Observations of student practice: what difference does observer qualification make?
- Eleven Filling the gap: constructive responses to the erosion of training standards for practice educators
- Twelve The concept of integrity in relation to failing and marginal students
- Thirteen Cultivating discretion: social work education in practice and the academy
- Index
Summary
Introduction
These reflections were compiled following a three-month international social work placement in 2010. One of the authors, Victoria, was located within a women's refuge in Napier, New Zealand, working predominantly with a group of Māori women and children. Victoria was supported via videoconferencing by her tutor, Hayley Smith. The placement was assessed on Victoria's return to the UK through an observed presentation to academics, students and practice educators.
Drawing on the principles of auto-ethnography, this chapter focuses on understanding the relationship between self, others and the concept of cultural identity (Chang, 2008). It explores the multiple layers in the authors’ consciousness to connect the personal to the cultural, first through their outward interpretations of the social and cultural aspects of their experiences, and then inwardly examining the impact of the relationship to self (Ellis and Bochner, 2000). The authors present individual narratives from tutor and student perspectives that are not only confessionally emotive, but also intrinsically connected with each other's learning journey.
The structure encourages readers to interpret the authors’ creative expressions for themselves, offering a narrative that transcends personal experience to engage in a cultural interpretation of relationship-based practice education (Chang, 2008). The chapter focuses upon three themes: isolation, the changing nature of the relationship and shared learning and reciprocity. These themes were drawn from the authors’ reflective ‘letters to self ‘, written independently after completion of the placement and reorientation of the student to the university. Each theme begins with an extract from both the tutor's and student's ‘letter to self ‘.
Theme 1: Isolation
Victoria
I don't believe you are the least bit aware of the magnitude of what you are thinking about undertaking.… You are placing yourself for three long months in an area you are barely familiar with, living and working with strangers of a vastly different cultural upbringing, and doing so alone. That said, the being alone part will actually materialise in being the largest factor that allows you to grow as an individual more than you imagined possible. The usual product of years of experience and learning – squeezed right down into a few mere months. It is just magical.
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- Information
- Practice Placement in Social WorkInnovative Approaches for Effective Teaching and Learning, pp. 21 - 38Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2016