Lengthy unpaid placements in social work: exploring the impacts on student wellbeing

Social work student hardship

“…Social work is often perceived as a traditional female caregiving role, leading to systemic discrimination. For instance, in traditional female-dominated professions such as social work, nursing and education, clinical placements are unpaid, whereas traditionally, more male-dominated professions such as law, medicine, and engineering are paid (Hodge et al, 2020). This gendered nature of financial stress and its impact on wellbeing needs to be further explored.…”

“…A recurring theme in the literature has been the intensity of struggle students face while on placement. For students who rely on paid work to survive, unpaid full-time placements can be extremely problematic (Gair & Baglow, 2018a, 2018bHodge et al, 2020;Johnstone et al, 2016;Ryan et al, 2011). Baglow (2018a, 2018b) found that many students are forced to take time off work or leave employment altogether as they embark on placement, with some saving up years of annual leave in anticipation of losing their income.…”

“…Considine et al (2020) reported that students without a bursary stopped enjoying their placements due to constant financial-related anxiety and lack of time for assignments. In Hodge et al's (2020) study, one participant said her exhausted placement experience: "I do not remember the last time I did not feel tired or out of energy….My health deteriorated on several occasions throughout both placements due to stress" (p. 7).…”

“…to the lack of sick and bereavement leave available while on placement (Gair & Baglow, 2018b;Hosken, 2018a). These stresses during placement impact health and wellbeing (Hodge et al, 2020), and many students struggle to find time to practise proper self-care, showing a "critical and depressing disconnect" between the values and the realities of the profession (Gair & Baglow, 2018b, p. 53). Some students reported the start or exacerbation of mental illness, exhaustion so severe they had to be hospitalised, near-misses while driving because of excessively long hours, and complete burn-out by the end of placement (Gair & Baglow, 2018b).…”

“…Meadow et al (2020) suggest that programmes build an extra "catch-up" week, integrating fieldwork hours into the year (excluding semester and study breaks), allowing for sick leave and adjusting to the flexible needs of students. A request for flexible hours can be not only considered under extenuating circumstances, but in response to other work or family commitments and financial costs (Hodge et al, 2020). Students reported that transport allowances to cover placement travel would be helpful (Johnstone et al, 2016).…”