Understanding practice placements where students falter and fail

Susan Flynn

doi:10.1921/jpts.v20i2.1994

Authors

Susan Flynn Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2807-0866

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v20i2.1994

Keywords:

critical realism, placement, failure, social work, field education

Abstract

This paper offers a theoretical exposition of critical realism for social work practice education. The specific focus is on faltering students at the cusp of placement failure, and the urgent supportive role of practice educators and tutors in promoting learner’s reflective capacity as active agents in their learning. A key premise of the paper is that eliminating the oftentimes contested space between what key parties think is happening, and what is actually manifest in reality, is an imperative that can be supported by critical realism. Here critical realist scholars argue that one’s social reality is manifest in proximity to both an observable and socially constructed world, alongside an actual real world, with the former sometimes at odds with the latter. In concluding, the case is restated for critical realism as a theoretical tool for practice education with students who falter and fail.

Author Biography

Susan Flynn, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin

Dr Susan Flynn is Asst. Professor in the School of Social Work and Social Policy, at Trinity College Dublin. Her research interests are generally in the areas of child protection and disability, critical disability studies, and disability and austerity.

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