Asking the critical questions: An evaluation of social work students' experiences in an international placement

Preparing social work students for the demands of changing social environments and to promote student mobility and interest in overseas employment opportunities have resulted in an increasing demand for international social work placements. The literature describes numerous examples of social work programmes that offer a wide variety of international placements. However, research about the actual benefit of undertaking an overseas placement is scant with limited empirical evidence on the profile of students participating, their experience of the tasks offered, the supervisory practice and the outcomes for students' professional learning and career. This study contributes to the existing body of literature by exploring the relevance of international field placements for students and is unique in that it draws its sample from students who have graduated so provides a distinctive perspective in which to compare their international placement with their other placement/s as well as evaluating what were the benefits and drawbacks for them in terms of their careers, employment opportunities and current professional practice.

The inside story: A survey of social work students' supervision and learning opportunities on placement

Practice learning accounts for half of the content of the bachelor of social work degree course requirements in Northern Ireland in their field education programmes and share a professional and ethical responsibility with practice teachers to provide appropriate learning environments to prepare students as competent and professional practitioners. The accreditation standards for practice learning require the placement to provide students with regular supervision and exposure to a range of learning strategies, but there is little research that actually identifies the types of placements offering this learning and the key activities provided. This paper builds on an Australian study and surveys social work students in two programmes in Northern Ireland about their exposure to a range of learning activities, how frequently they were provided and how it compares to what is required by the Northern Ireland practice standards. The results indicated that, although most students were satisfied with the supervision and support they received during their placement, the frequency of supervision and type of learning activities varied according to different settings, year levels and who provided the learning opportunities.

Hospital social work in Australia: Emerging trends or more of the same?

Social work in health care has been established for more than 100 years and is one of the largest areas of practice for social workers. Over time, demographic changes and growth in the aging population, increased longevity rates, an explosion in rates of chronic illness together with rapidly increasing cost of health care have created serious challenges for acute hospitals and health social workers. This article reviews the Australian health care system and policies with particular emphasis on the public hospital system. It then examines current hospital social work roles, including the continued role in discharge planning and expanding responsibility for emerging client problems, such as patient complexity, legal, and carer issues. The article concludes with a discussion of evolving issues and challenges facing health social work to ensure that social work remain relevant within this practice context.

Action regulation across the adult lifespan (ARAL): A metatheory of work and aging

The goals of this article are to integrate action regulation theory (ART) with the lifespan developmental perspective and to outline tenets of a new metatheory of work and aging. The action regulation across the adult lifespan (ARAL) theory explains how workers influence, and are influenced by, their environment across different time spans. First, the basic concepts of ART are described, including the sequential and hierarchical structure of actions, complete tasks and actions, foci of action regulation, and the action-regulating mental model. Second, principles of the lifespan developmental perspective are delineated, including development as a lifelong and multidirectional process, the joint occurrence of gains and losses, intraindividual plasticity, historical embeddedness, and contextualism. Third, propositions of ARAL theory are derived by analyzing workers’ action regulation from a lifespan developmental perspective (i.e., effects of aging on action regulation), and by analyzing aging and development in the work context from an ART perspective (i.e., effects of action regulation on age-related changes in cognition and personality). Fourth, we develop further propositions to integrate ART with lifespan theories of motivation and socioemotional experience. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and practice based on ARAL theory.

Field placement and the impact of financial stress on social work and human services students

While significant research has been undertaken exploring the pedagogical benefits of undertaking lengthy social work and human services field placements, there has been very little consideration regarding the potential financial stress involved for students. This study has addressed this knowledge gap. Research was conducted in 2014 using quantitative and qualitative methods with students, academic and professional staff from six Queensland Universities. The findings show a significant relationship between unpaid placements and financial hardship creating considerable stress for students and at times a compromised learning experience whilst on placement. The limited flexibility in the requirements of professional bodies and universities for how placements are undertaken has been identified as a key contributor to financial hardship. Addressing the complexities inherent in this issue requires a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders and should not be regarded as a problem for students to endure and manage.