Teaching In Social Work

Excellent social work education and training is vital for ensuring best practice, and it is important to understand the key approaches and methods in order to provide the best teaching and ensure effective learning. This volume provides an overview of social work education, including the background and current context. It covers the key debates surrounding social work education, such as the evaluation of social work education, the use of IT, research-mindedness, and the effectiveness of interdisciplinary education. The book also offers guidance on effective teaching and learning approaches tailored to the needs of social work educators, covering teaching within a higher education institution, on student practice placements, and in post-qualifying settings. This will be an indispensable text for educators and trainers in the field of social work.

With the increasing importance of learning on practice placement this new book provides students, practitioners and their assessors with a practical understanding of how people learn best in the workplace; the principles involved in work-based teaching and assessing; and the contribution of other disciplines to work-based learning.

There are particular challenges involved in teaching social work. As with other professional disciplines, it is not simply a matter of passing on the key elements of the knowledge base; there is also the need to equip students to be able to make use of that knowledge in practice and in the context of relevant professional values. Neil Thompson is a distinguished, international scholar and brings over 30 years of experience to a wide range of case studies and transferable skills that will provide a foundation for future social workers everywhere.

This volume is a definitive manual for students and practitioners involved in learning and developing essential theories and models for fieldwork practicum in social work education. It addresses various functional issues in field practicum, delineates proper guidelines for students and supervisors, discusses criteria of supervision and evaluation, and explores the concerns facing South Asian field practitioners. The volume focuses on traditional and non-traditional components and aspects of fieldwork and training, such as: • The value and use of educational camps and skill development workshops. • The contemporary field-level needs and strategies in social work practicum. • Formulating alternative practice theories that will allow social work practitioners to respond to the critical social problems unique to India and South Asia. The book provides multiple frameworks for teaching and learning fieldwork that integrate theory and practice and create an environment where students can develop intervention strategies using their knowledge, skills, and techniques. The volume will be indispensable reading for undergraduate and post-graduate students of social work. It will also be useful for scholars of sociology, anthropology, and development studies, and practitioners engaged in various non-governmental and international organizations.

Social work professionals generally agree that one of the most critical components of the learning process for a practitioner in training is field education, and that the field instructor has the greatest influence on a student's approaching career. In Marion Bogo and Elaine Vayda's text, field instructors will find a model for pedagogy based on the authors' many years of experience both in field and classroom environments. Now in its second edition--completely revised and updated--The Practice of Field Instruction in Social Work remains the only volume specifically intended for use by field instructors. Bogo and Vayda address how the teaching professional can systematically address the critical societal, organizational, psycho-social, and interactive components of social work practice. They discuss all phases of the field educator's work, from student orientation to assessment and contracting, from shepherding students' learning processes to evaluating their work. In addition, they bring to the table the many practical concerns that affect today's teaching professional, including the uses and abuses of the instructor-student relationship, ethical issues, and working with students where differences in age, ethnicity, gender, or disability may be important considerations. This book also includes eight teaching modules, each one a complete curriculum with numerous examples and exercises, for use by field coordinators in the seminar setting and by field instructors. Throughout the modules, Bogo and Vayda present a wealth of case examples drawn from their teaching experience and that of others who have applied their highly effective pedagogical framework.