Social work teaching and learning in the era of COVID-19: Lessons for the future

Abstract

In 2020, the UK and Ireland, and indeed most countries across the globe, found themselves unprepared to deal with a worldwide pandemic (BASW, 2020; Mellish et al., 2020).  Indeed, in the UK and Ireland, health and social care workers had to respond to unprecedented situations and adapt quickly and extensively to the health, social and economic dimensions of the crisis (Egan et al., 2020; BASW,2020).  It is timely, then, to consider the role of the social worker and the impact on social work training for undergraduate students in light of the changes that have taken place as a result of the global pandemic.  The COVID-19 restrictions led to the rise of new forms of social engagement and interaction, as well as the need for professionals, including social workers, to develop new digital skills. This paper will draw on the findings from an online survey (using qualitative and quantitative question sets) conducted with 30 undergraduate social work students in 2021.  The survey explored student experiences of online teaching during their ‘preparation for practice learning’ module and the extent to which this online teaching prepared them for their practice learning opportunity (PLO) that followed during a time of strict COVID-19 measures, including social distancing.  Recent research has been conducted that highlights the benefits of blended learning (online and face-to-face) as a strong pedagogical approach (Finlay et al., 2022; Karma et al., 2021).  As we transition back to face-to-face teaching and learning, this paper will consider the implications of online learning for social work students, analyse the benefits and limitations of this to the learning and practice environment and capture the lessons to hold on to for the future.