Comments on: Waiting for a paradigm shift: How the AASW and universities could do more for social work students

By: Tanya Denny

Tanya Denny — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 06:00:44 +0000

I also have been through the horror of the placements and was really annoyed about doing it. I was too busy already and had years of experience, working for free etc etc blablabla…..BUT I have to say I think it is very important to do at least one placement during the MSW because it did expose me to a different type of professional setting. I was already a executive in an NGO so I chose to do my placement in a Government agency. It was major child protection agency where I would expected to see wall to wall Social Workers … to my surprise there were only 3 Social Workers out of 30 caseworkers and managers (in this particular Government department). I did a quick background survey and found the tertiary quals for the majority were social science or teaching or nursing. I found it incongruous that only the Social Workers needed to be credentialed via a National body and continue to evidence their professional development and training each year. What I’m trying to say is that graduates often go to work in Government agencies where their degree gets them through the door and AASW membership isn’t required, so they don’t bother. My view is that the NDIS is elevating the credentials of the Social Worker by making AASW membership an essential criteria for many areas of service provision. Social Work could use NDIS as platform for professional recognition.

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 01:04:07 +0000

Thanks for this great article. I am currently studying my second placement, and I really think reform is needed. It is such an unwieldy, unworkable model with far too much variation in the quality of experiences provided. To me, it feels like a cultural studies/sociology degree with 2 large bursts of prac – when it would be a much richer learning experience if these different features could be more meaningfully merged throughout the whole course. I also think the requirement for 500 hours in a single block is just unnecessarily long and financially and emotionally difficult – similar experience could surely be achieved in other ways. Also, with the increasing number of students being enrolled, it is becoming almost impossible to guarantee students that they will have a meaningful opportunity to build and engage their skills at a beginning practitioner level.

I have to agree with JJ as well. I am currently in my final placement in a small community org with an external supervisor. Although she is a wonderful supervisor with many years of experience and a fantastic teacher, I feel like we spend our sessions together trying to paper over the cracks in what is an inappropriate and inadequate learning experience. The organisation I am placed with has no idea what a social work placement should be. No one from the university visited them before myself and the other student started and they have very limited capacity to provide us with learning experiences. My task supervisor (agency worker who is not a qualified sw) was under the impression that we would do the same work as the volunteers. Overall, I am not being challenged at all, have no caseload or opportunity to use those kinds of skills and to be honest feel quite exploited. I’m seriously worried if this lack of stimulation will affect my employment prospects, and it occurs to me that like JJ, I will probably be applying for non-qualified roles which makes me wonder why I bothered with the degree in the first place. This is not how we, as a profession, should be valuing new graduates.

By: Arnia

Arnia — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 06:18:42 +0000

Great article.
I have already done my first placement and due to go on my second placement next semester. This is something i am currently dealing with. Placement is a huge commitment for us all, not only having no income coming in but for many students the fear of it technically being a ‘Waste of time’ is an even greater worry.
i have seen students put into placements they didn’t want or that are totally inappropriate but they continue with them just so they can get it done.
I also believe the university placement team needs to visit the agencies they intend to send students to. To make sure the fit between student, agency and supervisor is the best possible match.
I had an amazing first placement experience and i will be making sure my final placement is just as great.

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:24:53 +0000

Thank you for acknowledging that there is a problem with the placements system in social work degrees in Australia.

Unfortunately, both my placement involved me having to speak up saying the placements I was given were not good enough. There are simply too many students enrolled! The university lecturers deny their responsibility by blaming the business model of the today’s higher education. Social Work degrees are becoming (or have become) like paper money in the Weimar Republic, Germany in 1923 – absolutely worthless! A Masters of Social Work is probably similar to first or second year Bachelor of Arts of degree. I do have two OK paid jobs in the industry, but I’m working with people with no degrees or who are studying. So really, I don’t see the point in studying a social work degree.

By: Baerbel McDougall

Baerbel McDougall — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 06:58:18 +0000

Well I have something to look forward to if the difficulties arising are not addressed. I am aware of a friend who is studying social work. As a student in a a regional town, his placement was organised in a big city 5 hours away. His wife had just had their first child yet , the Uni expected him to travel and stay away for 7 days initially for placement training. Why this could not have been done at the regional campus. No one paid for accommodation or travel or meal allowances. It is a tuff call at times. Students are out of pocket having to leave any form of employment. I hope things change before I have to do placement. thanks for your extensive research on this matter.

By: vittorio1

vittorio1 — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 22:45:26 +0000

I hope I didn’t give the impression that I favour one kind of supervision over another. My point is about building systems that honour supervision quality and provide a uniformly good placement experiences. That means design features that encourage creativity, flexibility, recognition of prior skills and experience as well as a focus on quality results rather than the time spent learning the process.

By: Dianne Koennecke

Dianne Koennecke — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 11:39:19 +0000

I must state strongly that having an external supervisor was for my experience highly advantageous. As a mature student I found my first placement with an internal supervisor extremely rigid, binding and I was being expected to “shadow” my supervisor without doing any kind of rewarding or rigourous placement opportunities. The difficulty associated with this is that if you have an issue with your supervisor, there is also potential for it to negatively impact on your placement report. This is an extremely vulnerable and powerless position to be in. My second placement was vastly different in which I had an external supervisor with extensive knowledge. My placement was expansive and drew on all of my training so far. When I did have a conflict within the service, the supervisor was able advocate for me, all was resolved and the problem did not negatively affect my results.

By: Bronwyn Simpson

Bronwyn Simpson — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 04:13:18 +0000

A very important area to address, the provision of appropriate field work placements and qualified and experienced social worker supervision. So important for the social work student to have a well managed experience which provides adequate stretch and theory provision. As you say, lots of issues can challenge this even where intentions are good and the agency receptive.
I have supervised a handful of students only over the years and in different agencies. Some good solid learning experiences were provided in most circumstances, and the student’s learning goals more than adequately addressed along with social work department of the tertiary institution goals. However I believe that field work placement officers at the relevant tertiary institution need to check out the placement before it begins – at least one month before. Sometimes other dynamics ( office politics/relationships for example can get in the way of a student having the best learning environment).

By: Suzette Misrachi

Suzette Misrachi — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 05:29:07 +0000

This seems to be a very well-written, well-informed article of critical importance. It is a wake-up call and needs to be taken seriously by all involved lest we all suffer the consequences.

By: Adrienne Jeffries

Adrienne Jeffries — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 03:32:22 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly that we need a paradigm shift. The world is evolving we are evolving and Social work is evolving.
We must have dialogue and connect with our creative minds to develop new directions.