Résumés
Abstract
Social work field educators are facing new challenges and opportunities that require innovative approaches to transform social work field education. Field education is critical to student learning, and in turn, social work practice. In Canada, field education is in crisis, due in part to growing social work student enrolments, government cutbacks to post-secondary education, limited resources, and organizational restructuring, all of which contribute to a reduced number of field placements in agency settings. The objective of this study is to respond to this situation by engaging field educators to better understand what is needed to transform field education in Canada. Researchers asked three to five questions in 31 focus groups discussion sessions with field educators nationally. The responses were coded using thematic analysis. This article presents three themes that are critical to the transformation of field education: innovative practices for field education, impacts of COVID-19, and decolonization of field education. The implications and recommendations call on the collaboration of field education stakeholders across Canada to expand understanding about the critical role of field education in organizations and the profession, and in turn, nurture new field learning opportunities.
Keywords:
- field education,
- innovation,
- COVID-19,
- student preparedness,
- decolonization
Résumé
Le personnel responsable de la formation pratique en travail social est confronté à de nouveaux défis et à de nouvelles possibilités qui nécessitent des approches innovantes pour transformer la formation pratique en travail social. La formation pratique est essentielle à l’apprentissage des étudiant(e)s et, par conséquent, à la pratique du travail social. Au Canada, la formation pratique est en crise, en partie à cause de l’augmentation du nombre d’étudiant(e)s en travail social, des coupures budgétaires dans l’enseignement post-secondaire, des ressources limitées et de la restructuration organisationnelle, tous des facteurs qui contribuent à réduire le nombre de stages dans les services sociaux. L’objectif de cette étude est de répondre à cette situation en engageant le personnel responsable de la formation pratique afin de mieux comprendre ce qui est nécessaire pour transformer la formation pratique au Canada. Les chercheur(e)s ont posé trois à cinq questions dans le cadre de 31 groupes de discussion avec des professionnel(le)s responsables de la formation pratique en travail social au niveau national. Les réponses ont été codées à l’aide d’une analyse thématique. Cet article présente trois thèmes essentiels à la transformation de la formation pratique : les pratiques innovantes pour la formation pratique, les impacts de la COVID-19 et la décolonisation de la formation pratique. Les implications et les recommandations appellent à la collaboration des acteurs(rices) de la formation pratique à travers le Canada afin de mieux comprendre le rôle essentiel de la formation pratique dans les organisations et la profession et, en retour, de favoriser de nouvelles possibilités d’apprentissage sur le terrain.
Mots-clés :
- formation pratique,
- innovation,
- COVID-19,
- niveau de préparation des étudiant(e)s,
- décolonisation
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- Archer-Kuhn, B., Ayala, J., Hewson, J., & Letkemann, L. (2020). Canadian reflections on the Covid-19 pandemic in social work education: From tsunami to innovation. Social Work Education, 39(8), 1010–1018. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1826922
- Ayala, J., Drolet, J., Fulton, A., Hewson, J., Letkemann, L., Baynton, M., Elliott, G., Judge-Stasiak, A., Blaug, C., Gérard Tétreault, A., & Schweizer, E. (2018a). Field education in crisis: Experiences of field education coordinators in Canada. Social Work Education, 37(3), 281–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1397109
- Ayala, J., Drolet, J., Fulton, A., Hewson, J., Letkemann, L., Baynton, M., Elliott, G., Judge-Stasiak, A., Blaug, C., Gérard Tétreault, A., & Schweizer, E. (2018b). Restructuring social work field education in 21st century Canada: From crisis management to sustainability. Canadian Social Work Review / Revue canadienne de service social, 35(2), 45–65. https://doi.org/10.7202/1058479ar
- Ayala, J., Ing, J., Perrault, E., Elliott, G., Letkemann, L., & Baynton, M. (2014). The potential of online learning in addressing challenges in field instructor training. Currents: Scholarship in the Human Services, 13(1), 1–20.
- Bogo, M. (2015). Field education for clinical social work practice: Best practices and contemporary challenges. Clinical Social Work Journal, 43, 317–324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-015-0526-5
- Canadian Association for Social Work Education – Association canadienne pour la formation en travail social. (2014, August). Standards for accreditation. https://caswe-acfts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CASWE-ACFTS.Standards-11-2014-1-2.pdf
- Canadian Association of Social Workers. (2022). What is social work? https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/what-social-work#:~:text=Territorial%20Partner%20Organizations.-,How%20Many%20Social%20Workers%20are%20there%20in%20Canada%3F,at%20the%20provincial%2Fterritorial%20level
- Chilvers, D. (2022). Indigenous knowledge in field education – expanding praxis. Social Work Education, 41(5), 1047–1062. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2021.1910653
- Clark, N., & Drolet, J. (2014). “Melq’ilwiye” coming together: Reflections on the journey towards Indigenous social work field education. Currents: Scholarship in the Human Services, 13(1), 1–21.
- Clark N., Drolet, J., Matthews N., Walton P. P., Tamburro, R., Derrick, J., Michaud, V., Armstrong J., & Amouse, M. (2010). Decolonizing field education: “Melq’ilwiye” coming together: An exploratory study in the interior of British Columbia. Critical Social Work, 11(1), 6–25. https://doi.org/10.22329/csw.v11i1.5812
- Cleak, H., & Smith, D. (2012). Student satisfaction with models of field placement supervision. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2011.572981
- Council on Social Work Education. (2015). Educational policy and accreditation standards.https://www.cswe.org/getmedia/23a35a39-78c7-453f-b805-b67f1dca2ee5/2015-epas-and-glossary.pdf
- Cull, I., Hancock, R. L. A., McKeown, S., Pidgeon, M., & Vedan, A. (2018). Pulling together: A guide for front-line staff, student services, and advisors. BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationfrontlineworkers/
- Davis, A., & Mirick, R. G. (2021). COVID-19 and social work field education: A descriptive study of students’ experiences. Journal of Social Work Education, 57(Suppl. 1), 120–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2021.1929621
- Dempsey, A., Lanzieri, N., Luce, V., de Leon, C., Malhotra, J., & Heckman, A. (2022). Faculty respond to COVID-19: Reflections-on-action in field education. Clinical Social Work Journal, 50, 11–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-021-00787-y
- Dominelli, L. (2005). Social work research: Contested knowledge for practice. In R. Adams, L. Dominelli & M. Payne (Eds.), Social work futures: Crossing boundaries, transforming practice (pp. 223–236). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Drolet, J. L., Alemi, M. I., Bogo, M., Chilanga, E., Clark, N., St George, S., Charles, G., Hanley, J., McConnell, S. M., McKee, E., Walsh, C. A., & Wulff, D. (2020). Transforming field education during COVID-19. Field Educator, 10(2), 1–9.
- Drolet, J. L., Chilanga, E., Fischer, L. J., Kaushik, V., Khatiwada, K., McConnell, S., Mckee, E., Nichols, D., Salim, S., Sussman, T., & Walsh, C. (in press). The most significant challenges in social work field education: Perceptions of field educators and students in Canada. The Field Educator.
- Ferguson, H., Kelly, L., & Pink, S. (2022). Social work and child protection for a post-pandemic world: The re-making of practice during COVID-19 and its renewal beyond it. Journal of Social Work Practice, 36(1), 5–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2021.1922368
- Hardy, F., Chee, P., Watkins, V., & Bidgood, J. (2021). Collaboration in social work field education: A reflective discussion on a multiuniversity and industry collaboration. Australian Social Work. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2021.1924811
- Hill, N., Cleak, H., Egan, R., Ervin, L., & Laughton, J. (2019). Factors that impact a social worker’s capacity to supervise a student. Australian Social Work, 72(2), 152–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2018.1539111
- Kelly, S. E. (2010) Qualitative interviewing techniques and styles. In I. Bourgeault, R. Dingwall & R. de Vries (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative methods in health research (pp. 307–326). Sage.
- Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2014). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Sage.
- Lundahl, B. W. (2008). Teaching research methodology through active learning. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 28(1–2), 273–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841230802179373
- Macdonald, L. (2013). Making the invisible visible: A workload study on the role of field education coordinators in Canada. Canadian Social Work, 15(1), 60–73.
- MacDonald, S., Srikanthan, S., Ferrer, I., Lee, E. O. J., Lorenzetti, L., & Parent, A.-A. (2020). The potential of field education as transformative learning. Intersectionalities, 8(1), 1–18.
- McConnell, S. M. (2016, May). Final report on the provincial and regional meetings of CASWE-ACFTS field education coordinators and directors and recommendations for the design of a national online field instructors course. Canadian Association for Social Work Education – Association canadienne pour la formation en travail social. https://caswe-acfts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/FieldProjectFinalReport2016.pdf
- Melero, H., Hernandez, M. Y., & Bagdasaryan, S. (2021). Field note — social work field education in quarantine: Administrative lessons from the field during a worldwide pandemic. Journal of Social Work Education, 57(Suppl. 1), 162–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2021.1929623
- Mezirow, J. (1998). On critical reflection. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(3), 185–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171369804800305
- Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. Jossey-Bass.
- Morley, C., & Clarke, J. (2020). From crisis to opportunity? Innovations in Australian social work field education during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Social Work Education, 39(8), 1048–1057, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1836145
- Nyumba, T. O., Wilson, K., Derrick, C. J., & Mukherjee, N. (2018). The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9(1), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.12860
- Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Sage.
- Petra, M. M., Tripepi, S., & Guardiola, L. (2020). How many hours is enough? The effects of changes in field practicum hours on student preparedness for social work. Field Educator, 10(1), 1–21.
- St. George, S., Wulff, D., & Tomm, K. (2015). Research as daily practice. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 34(2), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1521/jsyt.2015.34.2.3
- Strang, J. (2021). Peer-led group supervision: A model to support and inspire social work students to be ‘active discoverers and constructors of their own knowledge’. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 18(3), 69–89. https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v18i3.1167
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2012). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to action. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf
- Walsh, C. A., Casselman, P. J., Hickey, J., Lee, N., & Pliszka, H. (2015). Engaged in research/achieving balance: A case example of teaching research to Masters of Social Work students. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 8(2), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v8i2.9142
- Walsh, J. J., Drolet, J. L., Alemi, M. I., Collins, T., Kaushik, V., McConnell, S. M., McKee, E., Mi, E., Sussman, T., & Walsh, C. A. (2022). Transforming the field education landscape: National survey on the state of field education in Canada. Social Work Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2022.2056159
- Wulff, D., & St. George, S. (2014). Research as daily practice. In G. Simon & A. Chard (Eds.), Systemic inquiry: Innovations in reflexive practitioner research (pp. 292–308). Everything is Connected Press.
- Zuchowski, I., Cleak, H., Nickson, A., & Spencer, A. (2019). A national survey of Australian social work field education programs: Innovation with limited capacity. Australian Social Work, 72(1), 75–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2018.1511740
- Zuchowski, Collingwood, H., Croaker, S., Bentley-Davey, J., Grentell, M., & Rytkönen, F. (2021). Social work e-placements during COVID-19: Learnings of staff and students. Australian Social Work, 74(3), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2021.1900308
10.7202/1058479ar