Chapter One: Concept and definition of social work and field practicum

o Concept and definition of social work

o Field practicum: Concept and definition

o Forms of field practicum

o Goals and objectives of field practicum

o Importance of field practicum in social work

o Effectiveness of field practicum

o Field practicum in Bangladesh: scope and limitation

Concept of Social Work

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.

Social work in its various forms addresses the multiple, complex transactions between people and their environments. Its mission is to enable all people to develop their full potential, enrich their lives, and prevent dysfunction. Professional social work is focused on problem solving and change. As such, social workers are change agents in society and in the lives of the individuals, families and communities they serve. Social work is an interrelated system of values, theory and practice.

Social work, an interdisciplinary field, includes theories from economics, education, sociology, medicine, philosophy, politics, psychology, and as well as anti-oppressive and anti-racist discourse. In this regard renowned scholar of social work W.A. Friedlander mentioned,

“Social work is a professional service based upon scientific knowledge and skills in human relations, which assists individuals, alone or in a group to obtain social and personal satisfaction and independence.”

Social work bases its methodology on a systematic body of evidence-based knowledge derived from research and practice evaluation, including local and indigenous knowledge specific to its context. It recognizes the complexity of interactions between human beings and their environment, and the capacity of people both to be affected by and to alter the multiple influences upon them including bio-psychosocial factors. The social work profession draws on theories of human development and behavior and social systems to analyze complex situations and to facilitate individual, organizational, social and cultural changes.

Social work practice is created within a political, social, cultural and economic matrix that shapes the assumptions of practice, the problems that practice must deal with and the preferred outcomes of practice. Over time, the base forces that create practice and create the context for practice, change.

Field Practicum:

Field education has played a significant role in the professional development of social workers since the beginning of the last century. Although the apprenticeship model of training continues to play a significant role, variations on this theme have been explored and continue to be developed in response to political, academic, and economic challenges. Technological advances will enable programs to expand field education into communities, both nationally and internationally. In addition, changes in educational policy and accreditation guidelines have the potential to revitalize the role of field education and increase research efforts devoted to this important component of professional education.

“Field practicum is an educationally sponsored attachment of social work students to an institution, agency or a section of community, in which they are helped to extend their knowledge and understanding and experience the impact of human need.” – R.R Singh

A widely used definition of field practicum is one by Hamilton and Else (1983) who view it as, “a consciously planned set of experiences occurring in a practice setting designed to move students from their initial level of understanding, skills and attitudes to levels associated with autonomous social work practice.”

Field work is the study of people and of their culture in their nature habitat. Field work came to mean learning as far as possible way to speak, see and act as a member of its culture and the same time, as a trained social scientist from a different culture.

Forms of field practicum

There are two forms of field work in social work education. Such as-Block Field Work: The block field work is compulsory and is intended to give student the student an opportunity to work as a full time trainee in a selected organization in the field of specialization so as to learn the day to day role and tasks of a full time social worker. The second year field work will culminate in block field work for a continuous period of six weeks during the months.

Concurrent Field Work: Each student will be guided and supervised in her field work by a faculty member who will also assess the progress of the through weekly individual field instruction sessions. Field work seminars will also be conducted on a regular basis. In the second year the students will be placed according to their field of specialization. Throughout the two years the student will be engaged in field work for two days in a week.

Goals and objectives of field practicum

The primary goal of field practicum is for students to experience the ‘real world’ of social work practice by working in a variety of social service settings with a diverse range of people. Students begin to work with theory, apply methods and models and experiment with the skills they have learned in the classroom. Learning is achieved by working alongside experienced and knowledgeable social workers in a wide variety of social service settings. Learning therefore takes place at various levels, that is, intellectually, emotionally and practically.

The objectives of field practicum can be summarized as follows:

• To develop a holistic view of social work and social welfare in the community, with special emphasis on the agency's role in human services.

• To understand the agency as an organization, its structure, functions, activities and sources of funding.

• To appreciate and make a commitment to the basic humanistic values and principles of social work practice in a secular democratic society.

• To build up an understanding of the application of the methods of social work practice in the field.

• To develop practicing skills appropriate to each phase of the problem-solving process and apply them in direct service.

• To grow an understanding of the problems and opportunities in working with diverse populations.

• To develop the self awareness necessary to assess one’s own values, attitudes, feelings, strengths, limitations, and interests and performance.

Importance of field practicum in social work

Field education gives students the valuable opportunity to identify competencies, perspectives, and values that are useful in all social work settings, to see how practitioners develop under supervision, to imagine themselves in this particular area of practice with these specific groups, and to determine if social work itself is a good ‘fit’ for their interests and abilities.” (Cochrane & Hanley, 1999).Kaseke (1986:55) also observes that field practicum is an instrument of socialization since it prepares the student for a future role as a social work practitioner. He further asserts that, “a meaningful fieldwork placement is one that enhances the students understanding of the social work profession and the nature of the problems the profession addresses itself to”.

Importance of field practicum in social work can be summarized as follows:

It helps students learn how to think critically, analytically and evaluate, all which are basic to the teaching of the problem solving process.

It helps take an effective communication with field instructor, agency staff, outside agencies.

It provides an opportunity for students to enhance their capacity to engage effectively in civil society or public sector.

It facilitates students acquire, and reflect upon practice, knowledge and skills. It lends a hand to students to develop practice skills applying classroom theory to real life

situations. It makes possible for students to determine which approaches work in practice and how

they must be adopted to specific situations. It helps students learn to use supervision and consultation appropriately. It helps develop a professional identity. It helps understand the effect of the organizational context on professional practice while

developing skills in agency based social work. It helps understand the reciprocal relationship between human behaviour and social

environments. It helps increase the ability to manage time effectively and efficiently

Field Practice Effectiveness

Field education is systemically designed, supervised, coordinated, and evaluated on the basis of criteria by which students demonstrate the achievement of program objectives. Jenkins and Sheafor wrote, "Social work education has been unable or unwilling to submit the field instruction process to disciplined evaluation and, therefore, it has not generated an adequate literature to become an appropriately creditable part of higher education" (1982, p. 3-4). Although between 20 and 30% of the professional social work curriculum is typically devoted to field education at the BSW and MSW level, the research base is thin. Alfred Kadushin noted that between 1981 and 1989 only 45 of the 13,000 articles cited in Social Work Abstracts addressed field education (Schneck, Grossman, & Glassman, 1991); and while updating this study, Lager and Robbins (2004) found that of the almost 14,000 articles cited between 1995 and 2004, only 118 were field-related, and even fewer were research-based. All programs provide field instructor orientations to introduce field faculty to the various roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in the field education endeavor. Class and field curricula are distributed, former field instructors and students share their practice wisdom, and requirements and forms are reviewed. Ongoing relations with field instructors are carried out by program field liaisons using personal contacts, websites, e-mail correspondence, and mailings. Currently, field instructor assessment of student performance and field effectiveness remains questionable and will require a significant research emphasis going forward (Regehr, Bogo, Regehr, & Power, 2007).

Field practicum in Bangladesh: scope and limitation

Field practicum has become an inseparable part of the social work curriculum in Bangladesh. Although social work is yet to get its professional recognition in Bangladesh, the practice of social work is noticeable in both government and non government agencies.

Scope of Field practicum in Bangladesh

o Development sector

o Child welfare

o Women development/welfare

o Community services

o Hospital social service

o Psychiatric service

o Education program

o Voluntary setting

o Correctional service etc.

Limitation of Field practicum in Bangladesh

As social work hasn’t got its professional identity, students have to fight against many odds. During field practicum students cannot perform to the fullest due to many limitations. Some of these limitations are:

Lack of proper knowledge about social work and field practicum Limited number of professional social work agency Lack of professional supervisor Inconsistency of communication and coordination between client and social service program Difference between agency goals and institutional goals of field practicum Lack of proper supervision Placement problem during field practicum No scope for concurrent field practicum

To overcome these limitations necessary steps should be taken. Such as

Professional recognition of social work Provision for training Establishment of separate social laboratory Specific working hour Formulation of universal guideline for field practicum Arrangement of joint supervisory conference Provision of allowance for students etc.