Social work field education programs globally are struggling to meet the demands of providing placements and need to consider innovative placement models to meet professional accreditation requirements, and delivering quality field education opportunities for social work students. This paper reports on the qualitative responses of a national survey of Australian social work field education programs, exploring current challenges, innovative responses, recommendations for the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards [ASWEAS] review, hopes for the future, as well as capacity to undertake research.The findings suggest that field education programs use incremental innovation in field education, including collaboration, partnerships and new ways of responding to the changing student body. It is suggested that structural change and resources are needed for innovation to be more than incremental. Implication Statement• Social work field education as a distinct pedagogy needs to be supported through evidence based research in order to respond to current pressures • Collaboration in field education practice and research is valuable, but may be challenged by program competition • Structural innovation and accepting diversity in models could offer opportunities for social work education

Social workers face unique challenges in working with families, young people and children in rural and remote communities. Simultaneously, workers juggle dual relationships, personal boundaries and high visibility. Social work practise in rural Australia also faces high staff turnover, burnout and difficulties with recruitment, retention and available professional supervision. A lack of professional supervision has been identified as directly contributing to decreased worker retention in rural and remote areas. This paper reports on emerging themes from a qualitative research study on peer supervision in virtual teams in rural and remote Australia. Data collection consisted of pre- and post-trial individual interviews, monthly group supervision sessions, online evaluations and focus groups. A key conclusion from the study is that peer group supervision worked in supporting rural and remote workers to perform their everyday professional roles. The ease and access afforded by the use of simple technology was noteworthy. Whilst the research was conducted with social workers in rural and remote areas, the use of peer group supervision could be applicable for other professionals who work with families and communities in rural and remote Australia.

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