Practice Learning

Assessing and Supervising Social Work Students

Social work students spend half of their degree on placement and it is important that they have good placement experiences as they will be the social workers of the future.  Teams benefit from having students as students bring fresh ideas and help workers to reflect on their practice.  They remind staff of theories and make staff realise how skilled they are.

There are 2 roles that you can do to support students on long placements:

1. By becoming an on-site practice supervisor.  You don’t need to be a qualified social worker to be an on-site practice supervisor and this is an excellent first step towards becoming a practice educator. You train for this role by completing the On-Site Practice Supervisors course. 
   
2. By being a practice educator.  A practice educator has responsibility of supporting and assessing social work students.  You train for this role by undertaking the Enabling Learning Module.

To support you as an on-site practice supervisor or practice educator, there is the Practice Learning Team: The role of Senior Practice Teachers is to support on-site practice supervisors and practice educators and need to know of any concerns as soon as they arise.

There are Resources to help you to provide good learning opportunities for students.  Ideas and exercises (for example there is the Learning Styles Questionnaire, scenarios for discussing professional boundaries and an article on the needs of Black African Students).

There are Policies and Guidance. For example the Practice Learning policy, Students Travel Claims policy.

There are Events to support on-site supervisors and practice assessors, such as Practice Learning Seminars and other training events.

New Terminology (June 2010)

To respond to National guidance, new terminology has been adopted by the Workforce Development Unit.

• Practice Educator: is a wider term for Practice Assessor, or Practice Teacher

• Off-Site Practice Educator: formerly Long Arm Practice Assessor, or Practice Teacher

• On-Site Practice Educator: formerly Singleton Practice Assessor, or Practice Teacher

• On-Site Practice Supervisor: formerly On-Site Supervisor

For further information, please refer to the Guide for Practice Educators 2010.