Abstracts
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
Appendices
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