Finding Your Way Through Field Work

A Social Work Student′s Guide

Urania E. Glassman

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781483353265
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

Written from the perspective of long-standing field director Urania E. Glassman, this practical guide helps BSW and first and second year MSW students successfully navigate field work. Vignettes, examples from field programs, and over 75 case illustrations further an applied understanding of every step in the field work process, highlighting student accomplishments, obstacles, and common dilemmas. Unique in its experiential approach, this applied text reinforces true learning in the field.

Part I Understanding Where You Are Heading

Chapter 1 Introduction to Field Work: Experiential Education

Introduction

This text is designed to set you on the right path toward beginning field work at all levels—first-year and second-year master in social work (MSW) field work and senior-year bachelor in social work (BSW) field work. Written from a field director’s vantage point, it provides a practical and theoretical framework for achieving success in field work. You will find counsel; suggestions; options; and, at times, humorous reflections to guide your thinking and the stance you would like to take as you approach field work. Some items are geared to senior-year BSW and first-year MSW students, while others are specific to second-year MSW students. There are some details you need to know and likely some adjustments to be made in your thinking in order to maximize your field work experience. So if you’re ready, read on.

As a student in field work, you will practice with people. You will develop professional relationships with your clients who need something from you and it is up to you to figure out what they need. These relationships should have depth rather than superficiality. This depth comes from a clear understanding of the theories and professional values highlighted in class that provide the foundation to help you recognize clients’ needs and issues. To be clear, field education is not only about learning theory and quoting from the text. Something more is required. Field education is about practicing—using knowledge and values to guide your work. Therefore, you will apply the theory that you’ve learned in your coursework to live situations with clients.

Developing Competency in Field Work

Experiential learning theories inform social work field education. Dewey’s (1938/1963) educational principles focused on the relationship between knowing and doing. Building on those principles, Kolb (1984) developed a model of student learning styles, while Schon (1984) emphasized reflective practice in professional education (Schon, 1990). Goldstein (1993) focused on field education itself. More recently, Shulman (2005) and others (Gardner & Shulman, 2005) examined signature pedagogies in the education of various professionals.

To further guide your field work experience, the following approaches of experiential education will be used throughout this text to help you reflect on your development of social work competency in field work.

The Feedback Loop

The feedback loop (Bogo & Vayda, 1998) illustrates the learning process in the supervisory interaction between a field instructor and student that highlights the development of reflective practice (Schon, 1984). You will experience this process frequently. Step 1 represents the student’s practice with a client—whether an individual, family, group, or community. Step 2 is the student’s reflection and observation of the client. Step 3 involves connecting theory to a student’s actions and reflections, which occurs during the meeting between field instructor and student. In Step 4, a professional response is developed with the field instructor for the student to use in future meetings with the client (Bogo & Vayda, 1998). This new client interaction begins Step 1 in the feedback loop again. This process is demonstrated in Figure 1.1.

The Field Instructor as “Coach”

The concept of the teacher as “coach” (Schon, 1990) highlights the training you will receive while completing your field work. This resembles the feedback a hitting coach gives to a baseball team member upon observing him or her at bat or how a piano teacher prompts a piano student’s performance. The field instructor listens to the student, absorbs details from process recordings about interaction with clients, and uses understanding of the student’s intentions to provide feedback.

Figure 1.1 Feedback Loop

Source: The Practice of Field Instruction in Social Work: Theory and Process, 2nd edition, by Marion Bogo and Elaine Vayda. © University of Toronto Press 1998. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

A field instructor as coach is meant to support you and guide you even in the most difficult times. For instance, one such supervisor’s strengths are described as (1) her unfailing responses to her students and staff in the moment; (2) that she always has a useful, action-oriented response to their crisis with a client; and (3) without fail, she finds a way to pick them up and sustain their morale. She is heralded by all staff but generally not known beyond the confines of the hospital (Anonymous, personal communication, 2012).

Stages of Experiential Learning

In her classic work, Reynolds (1948) identified five stages of experiential learning. You will experience these stages in your field work and beyond. Stage 1: Acute Self-Consciousness represents the anxious feelings of starting field work. Stage 2: Sink or Swim describes taking the plunge and diving into the work. Stage 3: Knowing What You Have to Do But Not Always Being Able to Do It shows the student’s progress toward competence. This stage continues throughout a student’s schooling. Stage 4: Mastery and Stage 5: Being Able to Teach will occur after a student’s social work program is completed.

The Johari Window

The Johari Window (Luft & Ingham, 1955) is a visual framework from small group theory. When applied to field work, it clarifies how learning about yourself occurs with feedback from others. The four quadrants in the Johari Window show how feedback an individual receives expands knowledge about him or herself. The four quadrants of self-knowledge are as follows:

• Quadrant I: Issues about myself that are known to me and known to others—open area
• Quadrant II: Issues about myself that are known to me and unknown to others—hidden area
• Quadrant III: Issues about myself that are unknown to me and known to others—blind area
• Quadrant IV: Issues about myself that are unknown to me and unknown to others—unknown

These are represented in Figure 1.2.

Source: Luft, Joseph (1999). The Johari Window: A Graphic Model of Awareness in Interpersonal Relations. In Cooke, Alfred L., Brazzel, M., Saunders Craig, A., and Greig, B., (Ed.), The Reading Book for Human Relations Training, 8th Edition (pp. 51–54). Silver Spring, MD: NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science.

Figure 1.3 Johari Window—How Feedback Expands the Public Area

In the feedback loop process in field instruction, students expose their work, the hidden area in Quadrant II, and their field instructor provides feedback in Quadrant III, the blind area. The purpose of feedback is to increase the size of Quadrant I—the open area of issues known to self and known to others. Thus, the issues in Quadrants II and III become exposed and shared. This is depicted in Figure 1.3.

The exchange of disclosure deepens communication between you and your field instructor, which, in turn, deepens your role with clients. Extensive discussion on the process of field instruction will be found in Chapter 5.

How to Maximize Experiential Learning in the Field

This text examines frustrations and potential obstacles in working with clients and developing practice skills. It provides tools and supports to help you address and deal with these issues. Several helpful maxims are introduced to help you make the most out of learning in the field and will be discussed in detail in future chapters.

Know Thyself

The first maxim is to “know thyself.” The Greek philosophers usually attribute “Gnothi seauton,” know thyself, to Socrates (Delphi, 7th century BCE). In practicing with clients, you will have to understand how their issues and needs impact you. You must also recognize any personal feelings of uncertainty and awkwardness.

It is important to know who you are in the learning process. In constructing a desk from IKEA, some people start assembling immediately, reading the instructions as they go along. Others review the instructions thoroughly before undertaking the task (Kolb, 1984). The person who jumps in will find the thorough reader to be frustrating. Some students will read chapters about schizophrenia before seeing the client; others will conduct more research after meeting the client. How you approach learning provides you with further self-awareness. The popular model of Kolb (1984) describing four typologies of learning styles has more recently been expanded by others (Honey & Mumford, 2006).

Embrace Being a Learner

The second maxim is to embrace being a learner. This involves accepting that you do not know everything and suspending your need to prove that you do. It means giving yourself to the experience and allowing yourself to be supervised. With this comes accepting the labels of “student” and “intern.” You are undertaking an internship, not a job.

Start Where the Client Is

The third maxim is to start where the client is. You will hear this daily. Your challenge will be deciphering where that may be. Your classroom and field instruction will help you apply the necessary critical thinking to determine where the client is. The point is that you must make every effort to start with your client’s agenda, not your own.

Accept the Ambiguity and Feelings of Uncertainty of Social Work Practice

The fourth maxim is to accept the ambiguity and feelings of uncertainty of social work practice. This asks you to give up your expectations of prescriptiveness and the need for hard-and-fast rules. Rather, you must be able to go where the client takes you—at least some of the time. Facing the unknown of first meetings will challenge you as a beginning practitioner. Try not to avoid these feelings.

Do Not Skip Over Preparatory Empathy

The fifth maxim is to not skip over preparatory empathy. Following the dual aspects of preparatory empathy boosts your connection with your client. First, review the literature about this type of client. Second, reflect upon how you would feel in that client’s shoes. These tasks have no shortcuts. Consider how you would feel if you were a 37-year-old who, in college, had your first psychiatric hospitalization. You were diagnosed with schizophrenia and now you still cannot work where you had wanted—in nursing. Use this reflection by preparing yourself to be acutely attuned to the client’s needs when you meet.

Integrate Social Work Theory and Values Into Your Work With Clients

The sixth maxim is the ethical imperative to integrate social work theory and values into your work with clients. As a professional learning experience rather than a job, field education requires you to eff...