Challenges Faced by Canadian Social Work Field Instructors in Baccalaureate Field Supervision

ABSTRACT

This article examines the challenges faced by social work field instructors in two Canadian provinces. The results are based on the responses from 239 field instructors to a questionnaire survey. Findings highlight student difficulties, administrative issues with the social work schools, and practicum setting challenges. These demands hinder the optimal implementation of social work field education, reveal the concerning gatekeeping role of schools of social work, and discourage some social workers from taking on (or continuing) as field instructors. Implications for social work student placements, supervision of students, academic programs, and directions for future research are presented.     

Technology Acceptance in Social Work Education: Implications for the Field Practicum

The exponential growth and sophistication of new information and computer technology (ICT) have greatly influenced human interactions and provided new metaphors for understanding the world. The acceptance and integration of ICT into social work field education are examined here using the technological acceptance model. This article also explores potential challenges regarding the adoption of ICT into social work field practica. The article concludes with implications for adopting and integrating ICTs in social work field education.     

Framework for Developing a Social Administration Concentration

Abstract

Alternative curriculum models for implementing social administration concentrations are useful in Schools of Social Work for selecting options from an array of alternatives. This article presents the conceptual design and framework for developing a concentration in social administration based on a curriculum model that pools knowledge between macro disciplines. Educational outcomes based on this curriculum model focus on training and educating social workers to become incisive, analytical thinkers, as well as skilled practitioners, who can lead, manage, collaborate, and create change in both organizational and community settings. Today's social administrators need to be prepared to assume strong leadership roles in communities and to advocate for social change.     

批判性思维的社会文化历史理论分析

社会文化历史理论是批判性思维的重要理论范型之一。从对其研究的代表性观点可归纳出其主要特征：1．强调语言的作用；2．强调环境对思维发展的影响；3．强调方法学的重要性；4．突出情感、态度、倾向、道德与批判性思维的联系。社会文化历史理论对批判性思维的研究具有重要的现实意义。     

思维的批判性与大学的批判性思维教育

思维的批判性是人的思维方式的一项重要品质,它在人类自由的精神生产中形成了思想文化的批判传统,并不断拓展运用领域,提升批判水平。批判性思维这一称谓涵盖了包括思维的批判性在内的众多思维品质,"评判准则+思维方式"构成了现实的批判性思维活动,不同领域的批判有各自不同的批判逻辑。批判性思维教育是训练人的思维方式、培养人的思维品质的教育。大学开展批判性思维教育,要为培养思维的批判性品质创造良好的教育环境,处理好批判性思维教育与价值观教育的关系,加强关于批判性思维的逻辑研究。     

Occupational Social Work Education for Employee Assistance Practice

ABSTRACT

This article explores the current state of Occupational Social Work/Employee Assistance (OSW/EA) education. It examines the relationship between social work curricula, field placement experiences, and entry-level employment opportunities in the OSW/EA field. It is based on an educational initiative called the Partnership for Employee Assistance Education. Drawing on the OSW/EA literature, surveys, and focus group materials, the article concludes that the nature of OSW/EA is being reshaped by information technology, shifting demographics, globalization, and evolving terms and conditions of employment. The authors discuss how the graduate-level OSW/EA curriculum and field placements are being transformed to reflect these trends. Concepts such as Organizational Social Work and organizational intelligence are discussed. Innovative educational strategies are recommended. Finally, the authors argue that the contemporary workplace offers potential opportunity for innovative social work practice and education.     

Thinking Spatially: Teaching an Undervalued Practice Skill

Spatial thinking, which is taught and practiced in many of the social sciences, is a skill that is often overlooked in the social work curriculum. Spatial thought increases perception, logic, and organized cognition of goals and therefore holds promise for social work practice. Developing skills in spatial thought offers social workers additional tools for problem solving at all practice levels. Finally, thinking spatially raises awareness of problem-solving techniques in relation to environmental resources, a key aspect of systems theory. Fortunately, spatial thinking can be easily integrated into a variety of social work classes helping students master the skill and understand its importance. This article defines and describes spatial thinking, explores its fit in various areas of the social work curriculum, and discusses ways its use can be encouraged.     

Critical Thought within the Social Welfare Policy Course

Critical thought is a necessary element for proficient practice in social work at both the micro and macro levels. For this reason, social work educators must seek to integrate critical thought in BSW and MSW curricula. This article provides a method for achieving this integration in the social welfare policy course. The method includes the four following phases: instruction regarding logical errors, presentation of logical errors in contemporary political debate, demonstration of critical thought in policy position analysis, and self-assessment of one's own logic. The implications of this method for practice in a values-based context are discussed.     

Critical Thinking: Art Criticism as a Tool for Analysing and Evaluating Art,Instructional Practice and Social Justice Issues

Recent educational initiatives have emphasised the importance of fostering critical thinking skills in today's students in order to provide strategies for becoming successful problem solvers throughout life. Other scholars advocate the use of critical thinking skills on the grounds that such tools can be used effectively when considering social justice issues. In this article we make the case that the teaching and learning strategies of analytic art criticism can serve as fundamental tools used not just for the study of art but can also centre critical thinking and analysis in all aspects of the art education curriculum. Our argument begins with a review of literature on the use of art criticism for critical thinking and meaning making. Then we describe our efforts to address critical thinking with our students by using the critical analysis model of art criticism and applying it to learning environments for forming reasoned judgments about teaching and learning, and also as springboard for examining social justice issues. We believe that promoting this form of affectively driven, intellectually guided critical thinking makes our students potentially more successful not just in their encounters with art and education, but also in their lives as human beings beyond school.     

Research in Baccalaureate Social Work Programs

There is growing consensus among baccalaureate program directors on the importance of the research curriculum in undergraduate social work education. This consensus, however, is not reflected in the practices of many baccalaureate programs which often are characterized by lack of integratino of practice and research content, and isolation between research and other segments of the curriculum. The seriousness of this problem is reflected in the frequency with which social work programs are cited by the CSWE Commission on Accreditation for concerns about, or noncompliance with, the research requirements of the Curriculum Policy Statement. This paper presents one model for integrating research in the social work curriculum. Research content is broadly identified and suggestions provided on how to incorporate that content across all curriculum areas.     

Including Narrative Concepts in Social Work Practice Classes

ABSTRACT

A large number of social work doctoral programs admit non-MSWs into their programs of study, and do not subsequently require the student to earn the MSW before receiving the Ph.DTDSW. In this debate-style article, Professor Barbara Shore argues that it is both acceptable and desirable for non-MSWs to earn the doctorate in social work, while Professor Bruce Thyer contends that the practice is harmful to the profession and should be discouraged. Each author provides an initial statement and responds to each others' position in a rebuttal.     

Blending Voices: Autoethnography as a Vehicle for Critical Reflection in Social Work

Critical reflection is important to vital process issues within social work practice; thus, it warrants attention in teaching and supervisory contexts. Autoethnography is a newer qualitative research methodology that uses the experiences of the author/researcher to extend social science understanding (Sparkes, 2000). In this article, the authors use autoethnography to frame critical reflection as a process of exploring social work knowledge and its potential implications, given that such knowledge is situated within fragmented and diverse selves and identities. Thus, good autoethnography is a unique way of accessing knowledge within intersubjective realities, which simultaneously generates a form of critical reflection (the comparison and assessment of emergent knowledge situated within selves and identities). Purposely incorporating an autoethnographic strategy, the authors draw from their experiences to show how personal narratives, the core of autoethnography, might be used to infuse critical reflection into social work education and practice.     

协商互动:提高思辨能力、交际能力的有效方法

协商互动是交际的过程,也是思维联想、判断和语言创作的过程。在此过程中学习者运用所学知识进行实际应用,以达到交际的最终目的。协商互动作为语言习得重要环节之一,已引起了国内外众多语言研究者的重视。文章就目前国内英语专家和英语教育工作者的研究热点问题——英语人才"思辨缺席"展开深入探讨,从内容协商视角探索思辨能力提升办法。并提出协商互动一些具体策略企图来提升语言学习者的思辨能力和交际能力。     

Beyond Diversity Courses: Strategies for Integrating Critical Consciousness Across Social Work Curriculum

ABSTRACT. This paper advances the knowledge base of social work education by employing a critical social work framework to inform teaching strategies that 1) raise critical consciousness, 2) uncover privileged positions that inform research, and 3) conceptualize social work practice that disrupts privilege and oppression. The premise of a need for such strategies arises from examination of the social work educational policies and standards that require attention to the experiences and conditions of marginalized populations. The conceptual and teaching approach described in this paper extends this standard via the examination of the privileged social identities and the ensuing behaviors that perpetuate oppressive practices and conditions among marginalized groups. A conceptual foundation for this approach is elucidated and teaching strategies for exploring privileged social locations are presented.     

Critical thinking,social education and the curriculum: foregrounding a social and relational epistemology

In this article, I examine the extent to which, given how critical thinking has been most commonly conceptualised and taught in schools, the subject indeed develops modes of thinking, relating and reasoning that allow individuals to collectively work towards the appreciation and solution of social problems. In the first section, I outline a number of perspectives among social studies researchers and educators that demonstrate the importance of developing critical thinking capacities in students. This is followed by, in the next section, a close examination of two widely popular approaches through which critical thinking is taught – one in the general school curriculum and the other within social studies lessons. I argue that in their current forms and for a number of reasons these understandings of critical thinking fall short of developing the social and relational dimensions of thinking that are more than a little necessary in fulfilling the raison d’être of the subject. Towards this end, the final section presents a social epistemological framework for the teaching of critical thinking in the school curriculum, highlights a number of principles of its application and provides some examples of its use in classrooms.     

Career Paths for Women in Social Work Administration

ABSTRACT

The possibility that gender related educational experiences may be associated with the low percentage of women following administrative careers in social work merits exploration. Using data from an alumni survey, this paper reports on the differing perceptions of experiences by women and men, examines some differences in current professional life, and suggests student advising changes which might encourage women to follow administrative career paths.     

A Model for Social Work Field Practicums in African American Churches

Abstract

In this paper the authors will give an overview of the history of the African American church, discuss the reciprocal benefits of social work educational practicums in this institution for both students and the church, and give a model for practicum learning that can be met through this arrangement.     

批判性思维与高校素质教育

作为一门大学课程的批判性思维,目前已经在世界先进的教育教学体系中占据极为重要的地位。但是,在国内,关于什么是批判性思维,批判性思维与高校素质教育之间的关系是什么等问题的探讨,还处于起步阶段。这势必对我国素质教育的推进带来负面影响,也不利于创新型国家的建设。     

The Use of Decision Cases to Foster Critical Thinking in Social Work Students

This article discusses the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills in social work students and explores the use of case-based instruction as a means of fostering those skills. The challenges inherent in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are addressed. The history and theoretical underpinnings for the use of decision cases as a valid and efficacious teaching tool are presented. Literature evaluating the outcomes of the case method and related strategies is reviewed.     

Using a Social Work Professor's Autobiography as a Teaching Tool in Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Abstract

Social work, like other disciplines, has long used case studies as a (1) methodological approach to communicating a body of knowledge, and (2) as a tangible means to acquaint students with archetypical applications of realistic conditions. In social work, one required course sequence enhanced by case study assessments is Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE). This paper describes the author's use of another social work professor's controversial and sensitive autobiography, To Ascend into the Shining World Againto instruct graduate students in HBSE courses. In his non-fictional account, the social work professor recalls the time when, during his own youth, he killed a teenager in 1967. The author recounts the way in which she incorporated the professor's story as a focus for analysis at The Ohio State University and how it was similarly examined in a course at the University of Louisville.