Partnership working in the face of a pandemic crisis impacting on social work placement provision in England

Abstract

The first quarter of 2020 saw unprecedented global, national, and local changes as the world adapted to a pandemic that swept the world at an alarming rate and prompted a policy of social exclusion and social distancing. Inevitably, the pandemic impacted upon social work education and placement provision significantly. The ability to respond to the impact of the pandemic crisis within social work placements will be presented as an unprecedented wicked problem. The ability to respond to this crisis can be argued to have demonstrated the worth of teaching partnerships, as the developed relationships and understanding of partner's differing priorities enabled this to be undertaken effectively, efficiently, and expediently. This article will reflect on how the Leeds and Wakefield Social Work Teaching Partnership (LWSWTP) undertook responsive partnership decision-making to develop and implement new placement protocols. The article will also explore if partnership working with the stakeholders has been sufficiently robust, using the Arnstein's 1969 Ladder of Participation. The article will conclude by reflecting on the key learning points from partnership working in the Covid-19 crisis situation as we move forward post crisis.

Islamic Religious Teachers’ Efforts to Motivate Students and Implement Effective Online Learning

“…Fenomena Covid-19 telah merubah dinamika psikologis masyarakat (Aragonés & Sevillano, 2020;Chao dkk., 2020;Zhou & Yao, 2020), dimensi sosial masyarakat (Beesley & Devonald, 2020;Nyashanu dkk., 2020), bahkan pelaksanaan pendidikan (Ellis dkk., 2020;Masri & Sabzalieva, 2020;Xue dkk., 2020). Perubahan demikian juga terjadi di Indonesia.…”

It’s up to you: The need for self-directed learning for social work students on placement during COVID-19

“…This warrants further critical discussion about the benefice of moving to an e-placement, and solid contingency planning to provide the resourcing required for any future placements that are disrupted. Whilst self-motivation and being pro-active in learning is a general expectation in field education ( Maidment, 2010 ), to be self-directed learners, all stakeholders need to be ‘robust’ and students need to have guidance, support and resources available to them ( Beesley and Devonald, 2020 , p. 1146). This clearly has significant workload implications for academic staff and needs to be factored in.…”

“…A study of field education programmes across seven countries showed that practice placements ended or were paused ( McFadden et al , 2020 ), but the interesting difference was the ability to act quickly if the universities were in national or regional partnerships with other universities and governing bodies. In Northern Ireland and England, an assessed year in employment enabled final year students to withdraw early from their placements, and recruiting them into the social work workforce to carry forward unmet learning needs into their first year ( Beesley and Devonald, 2020 ; McFadden et al , 2020 ). Temporary amendments to social work education accreditation standards also occurred in the USA and Canada (Canadian Association For Social Work Education (CASWE), 2020 ; Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), 2020 ) with adjustments made to allow for a continuation of placement when the standard placement activities were interrupted and potentially threatened student progression and completion ( Mclaughlin et al , 2020 ).…”

The Importance of Connection: A Quantitative Study of Students’Learning in Placements Completed Remotely from an Organisation

“…Regular supervision and safe learning environments are central to the development of students' social work identity and professional confidence (Roulston et al, 2016). Therefore, the unprecedented reduction or inability for students to participate in this agency-based learning environment challenged social work programmes globally to balance the competing needs of students to experience the roles and tasks of social work practice without eroding professional and university standards (Beesley and Devonald, 2020).…”

“…The English social work regulatory body provided a directive that social work education providers could make individual decisions about whether placements could be continued, shortened, suspended or replaced (Council of Social Work Education [CSWE], 2020). Thus, some placements were shortened if the student was meeting the expectations of the Professional Standards (Beesley and Devonald, 2020). In Northern Ireland, final year social work students were withdrawn from placement early.…”