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
Three - The outside looking in – an independent social worker’s experience of practice educator work
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
This chapter will present the particular contribution that independent social work can make to practice education. As a disabled social worker who is currently working independently, I will also explore some of the unique strengths that I believe independent social workers (ISWs) can bring to the task of creating learning experiences for students and service users. I will offer some of my own aspirations and thoughts about the possibilities that may be available to ISWs in the future given the current climate in social work education. Ways in which we can work more inclusively with all partners will be explored to ensure that we continue to contribute to providing high-quality practice learning for social work students.
My social work journey
I became an ISW partly through necessity and partly through a professional desire to continue to practise social work. At the time, I had a county-wide job in child protection, needed to have a hip replacement and was offered ill-health retirement by the local authority. I had spent much of my career trying to hang on to my direct practice, but the higher I climbed the social work ladder, the less I felt able to practise the very skills I was trained to offer. The focus of my work was increasingly unbalanced in favour of ‘process’. At that time, there were no options for me to combine the two. My expertise did not always feel valued, and combined with the fact that I have never been any good at coordinating outfits and accessories, a prerequisite it seemed for women working at a senior level, it was never going to work! The environment did not feel very inclusive to me then. I still wanted to practise as a social worker but I struggled to find the right place to do this. Independent social work has been my chosen way to remain in practice. It enables me to work routinely with core social work values and place the building of relationships at the centre of all that I do. This chapter will demonstrate why independent social work is such a good fit for practice education.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Practice Placement in Social WorkInnovative Approaches for Effective Teaching and Learning, pp. 39 - 54Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2016