Field Instruction in Social Work Settings

Field Instruction in Social Work Settings explores the relationship between field instruction and the setting in which it occurs. The book asserts that certain aspects of social work, including laws, funding, political climate, organizational policies, and values, affect the relationship between student and field instructor and shape teaching and learning. The book explores dimensions of the student/field instructor relationship such as goals and expectations, development of professional identity, uses of the self, issues of diversity, authority, dependency, autonomy, value dilemmas, and the structure of supervision. It presents a framework for teaching field instruction and uses the framework to explore its relevance, meaning, and use in the following settings: perinatal AIDS program public child welfare child advocacy agency public school occupational health and safety project family service psychiatric hospital case management program for the elderly day center for the elderlyField Instruction in Social Work Settings is the only book available relating field instruction to the specific context in which it occurs. It recognizes the social work field’s diminished budget and increased demands and points out the critical necessity of students learning to address and manage policy and organizational issues as they develop their social work skills. This book is an aid to field instructors balancing increases in enrollment and curriculum content and decreases in placements and budgets. It integrates all of these concerns with field practice and seeks to provide a model for those working in the field as instructors and students. Field Instruction in Social Work Settings applies classroom material to social work settings and emphasizes the value of field instruction by relating it to the branches of child welfare, mental health, and health care. It allows the reader to integrate social work policy and advocacy with field work, and it provides the reader with an appreciation of how social work and field instruction can work together directly.