Social Work Education and Practice Learning at a Crossroads: Challenges

Abstract

This article is based on a relatively small-scale qualitative research study for the Greater Cambridgeshire Social Work Teaching Partnership (GCSWTP) and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the aim of which was to identify the core quality components of social work practice learning in order to achieve excellence, in preparation for frontline professional social work practice. The research took a broadly phenomenological approach to describe and interpret the participants’ lived experiences of social work practice learning. A purposive sample of 35 participants, which included: practice educators (local authority, voluntary and independent), service users (adults only, via ARU’s social work service user group), frontline social work practitioners, both experienced and newly qualified (adult and children’s services), frontline team managers (adult and children’s services), children’s guardians, final and second year social work students (ARU’s BA and MA) and ARU social work academics. The findings therefore represent the perspectives of a wide range of professionals involved, both directly and indirectly, in practice learning. Data was obtained using semi-structured, open-ended one-to-one interviews, which were audio-recorded. The research highlighted a gap between academic input and the realities and challenges of current social work practice, particularly in terms of depth and complexity of the knowledge and skills needed for frontline practice.