Two sides of the one coin: Assessment of students who have previously failed a placement and the role of the practice teacher

Authors

  • Ruth Murray School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork
  • Marguerita McGovern School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland Galway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v13i2-3.816

Abstract

Abstract: Why does a student fail? What will be the student’s learning needs in any repeat placement? How does the student reflect on their previous placement experience?  Can the Practice Teacher provide the appropriate learning experience and facilitate the student to attain the competencies needed to pass a repeat placement? So many questions for all of those concerned with the reality of a failed and repeat placement.
This paper emanates from a presentation by both authors at the Glasgow Conference on Practice Teaching and Field Education in Health and Social Work in April 2014. It  will examine the processes of social work placement failure and the task involved in finding a repeat placement for the student. Interesting topics for discussion include: What prompts  Practice Teachers to take students who have previously failed?  What preparations and conversations take place  previous to the student started the repeat placement? How important is the involvement of the student’s Tutor in the planning of this next placement? A small sample of practice teachers’ experiences who offered placements to students (who had previously failed a placement) will be explored, as will  conversations with students who had themselves previously failed. The conclusions attained by the authors both of whom are University Fieldwork Coordinators in researching this topic will be presented, with some interesting results.

Author Biographies

Ruth Murray, School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork

Fieldwork Co-ordinator

Marguerita McGovern, School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland Galway

Practice Learning Coordinator

References

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Barron, C. (2004) Do we need a second opinion here? Journal of Practice Teaching in Health and Social Work, 5, 2, 22-38

Finch, J. and Taylor, I. (2013) Failure to fail? Practice educators’ emotional experiences of assessing failing social work students. Social Work Education, 32, 2, 244-258

Furness, S. and Gilligan, P. (2004) Fit for purpose: Issues from practice placements, practice teaching and the assessment of students practice. Social Work Education, 23, 465-479

Harris, R. (1997) Power., in M. Davies (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Social Work. Oxford: Blackwell

Holmstrom, C. and Taylor, I. (2008) Researching admissions: What can we learn about selection of applicants from findings about students in difficulty on a social work programme? Social Work Education, 27, 8, 819-836

Langlois, J. and Thach, S. (2000) Preventing the difficult learning situation. Family Medicine 32, 4, 232-234

Lafrance, J, Gray, E and Herbert, M. (2004 Gatekeeping for professional social work practice. Social Work Education, 23, 3, 25-340

Parker, J. (2010) When things go wrong! Placement disruption and termination: power and student perspectives. British Journal of Social Work, 40, 983-999

Sharp, M. and Danbury, H. (1999) The Management of Failing DipSWStudents: Activities and exercises to prepare practice teachers for work with failing students. Aldershot: Ashgate/Arena

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Published

2015-08-17

How to Cite

Murray, R., & McGovern, M. (2015). Two sides of the one coin: Assessment of students who have previously failed a placement and the role of the practice teacher. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 13(2-3), 73- 87. https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v13i2-3.816

Issue

Section

Articles
Received 2015-08-14
Accepted 2015-08-14
Published 2015-08-17