The experience of co-practice teaching in social work; an exploratory case study of what works in practice.

Abstract

Social work placements are a core component of professional social work programmes in Ireland, providing a valuable opportunity to integrate students understanding of theory, values, skills, and practice. Placements are predominantly provided by a sole social work practice teacher; however, some social workers share the practice teaching role with a colleague. A scoping review revealed a dearth in the literature on studies focusing on co-practice teaching in social work. The study also takes place in the context of potential challenges in securing quality social work practice placements already occurring in other jurisdictions.

This exploratory small-scale case study utilises mixed methods to include the perspectives of the co-researchers, two practice teachers who have jointly hosted social work students on practice placement in an older adult mental health setting over a ten-year period, and former students. A reflective inquiry of the practice teacher’s experience was undertaken as an exploratory qualitative method, exploring the elements of ‘co-creation’, ‘co-planning’, ‘co-facilitating’, and ‘co-assessment’ derived from Jarvis and Kariuki (2017). Insights from student self-administered electronic surveys using qualitative questions incorporating qualitative responses, thematically analysed, though small in sample size indicate that overall, the experience of co-practice teaching is positively experienced by students.