**3. Social work education and social work placement**

At the National University of Ireland, Galway (situated on the West coast of Ireland) we are geographically placed to the left of Europe, to the left of England and to the right of the United States of America and Canada. We are a very long way from Russia, China, Australia and Africa. In the Republic of Ireland we have five universities and 1 college of technology offering Bachelor of Social Work (Full time 4 years) and Masters in Social Work (Full time 2 years) degrees. At NUI Galway, we currently offer an MSW program (Full time 2 years/25 students) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work Practice Teaching, Supervision and Management (Part time 1 year/12 students). The placement opportunities of a block 14 weeks (500 hours) in each year of the MSW (making up a total of 1000 supervised hours) involves a variety of professional social work agency placements both statutory and voluntary, with students supervised on-site by a professional social worker (Practice Teacher). In other countries these supervisors may be called Fieldwork Supervisors/Field Educators/Fieldwork Assessors. In the majority of our fieldwork placements the role of the Practice Teacher is carried out by a qualified professionally registered social worker already working in the agency. Supervision is termed as both formal and informal. Formal supervision is required and contracted to take place each week of placement for 1 hour. This covers areas such as the student social worker's case work, group work, theory to practice, unpinning of the appropriate legislation, and discussion on human rights and reflective practice. Informal supervision can take place at any time and includes general discussions with the practice teacher and communications within the team and agency. Practice teachers having agreed to take a student are offered three in-service training days in social work practice teaching and supervision. All social work courses in Ireland are registered and delivered under guidelines produced by CORU the Irish government registration body for social work. Each professional course (BSW, MSW) is evaluated by CORU for re-registration every 5 years.

Fieldwork Placement is 50% of the overall assessment of the NUI Galway Masters in Social Work program. Pre-placement training is offered as a 12-hour module delivered by the Practice Learning Coordinator (College Fieldwork Coordinator) to ready the students for placement. In-service training is also offered to Practice Teachers (Fieldwork Supervisors) as a 3-day in-service training or Continuous Professional Training opportunity. Currently this takes place on 1 day immediately before the student goes on placement, 1 day within the middle of

**103**

*Irish Field Education/Social Work Placement: The Making of Multi-Touch eBooks...*

placement and 1 day towards the end of the 14-week placement. This training is conducted within the University by the Practice Learning Coordinator. Additionally at NUI Galway we offer a 1 year Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work Practice Teaching, Supervision and Management. Attendance is on a part-time basis for professionally qualified social workers currently employed in statutory and voluntary agencies. Social workers involved in this course must take a student on placement as

Tutors are an integral part of the placement experience. At NUI Galway, tutors for the MSW program are both senior social work practitioners and academic staff. The role of the tutor as mentor is extremely important in the cycle of social work training. Carried into placement, the role of the tutor within the tri-partite meetings is crucial as supporter of the student and not assessor. Being able to listen to podcasts made by tutors and their ability to see their role became helpful to other tutors assessing the intricacies of the relationship and the skills needed to at times salvage ego and rebuild connections. At NUI Galway, each tutor is responsible for approximately four students and attend two meetings at the site of practice placement with the student and practice teacher. This is a pro-forma meeting and lasts 1 hour. Training each year is offered to Tutors on topics pertaining to their role and in general the link between students, the practice teacher, and the university. This level of preparedness for all stakeholders in the placement experience manages expectations, shares new knowledge and shows new practical learning methods. The optimum outcome is to lead the student and fieldwork supervisor into a more confident and focused learning environment where learning opportunities are available to teach and reflect on the needs of the student and Practice Teacher. Placement is therefore seen as a partnership, a shared learning and teaching experience, an integral part of social work professional training. The investment in building relationships and valuing the time, expertise and wisdom of practice teachers/ fieldwork supervisors cannot be underestimated. The exposure of students to 'real time' pieces of work in a controlled class room setting before they go into placement, as well as the concerns and reflections shared by students build not just their confidence but as with all groups, that feeling of 'togetherness' which is important between students. The concept of collective preparedness for all stakeholders learning together leading towards a practical use of their knowledge is invaluable. As an introduction to the eBook series, eBook 1 and eBook 2 will be analyzed in more

**4. Book 1: 'social work placement: new approaches, new thinking. Language—professional identity—beginnings and expectations**

environment. How some of them found the challenge of being of a different culture from their Irish co-workers and the value of learning and changing their use of language to be better understood and build better relationships. In one of the podcasts our first year MSW student Natalie is Austrian, she talks about having to pay particular attention to the tone of her speech and the inflections in her voice. Washington (MSW 1) is originally from Zimbabwe. He found he had to slow down his speech pattern, check with his clients/service users that he was being

The MSW students wanted to make 3 min podcasts on how they circumvented the ocean of communication in the boat of language. The podcasts chosen for the eBook reflected how some of the students learned about working in a multi-cultural

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89391*

part of the course.

detail in the following sections.

'Let's start at the very beginning…'

**4.1 Language**

#### *Irish Field Education/Social Work Placement: The Making of Multi-Touch eBooks... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89391*

placement and 1 day towards the end of the 14-week placement. This training is conducted within the University by the Practice Learning Coordinator. Additionally at NUI Galway we offer a 1 year Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work Practice Teaching, Supervision and Management. Attendance is on a part-time basis for professionally qualified social workers currently employed in statutory and voluntary agencies. Social workers involved in this course must take a student on placement as part of the course.

Tutors are an integral part of the placement experience. At NUI Galway, tutors for the MSW program are both senior social work practitioners and academic staff. The role of the tutor as mentor is extremely important in the cycle of social work training. Carried into placement, the role of the tutor within the tri-partite meetings is crucial as supporter of the student and not assessor. Being able to listen to podcasts made by tutors and their ability to see their role became helpful to other tutors assessing the intricacies of the relationship and the skills needed to at times salvage ego and rebuild connections. At NUI Galway, each tutor is responsible for approximately four students and attend two meetings at the site of practice placement with the student and practice teacher. This is a pro-forma meeting and lasts 1 hour. Training each year is offered to Tutors on topics pertaining to their role and in general the link between students, the practice teacher, and the university. This level of preparedness for all stakeholders in the placement experience manages expectations, shares new knowledge and shows new practical learning methods. The optimum outcome is to lead the student and fieldwork supervisor into a more confident and focused learning environment where learning opportunities are available to teach and reflect on the needs of the student and Practice Teacher. Placement is therefore seen as a partnership, a shared learning and teaching experience, an integral part of social work professional training. The investment in building relationships and valuing the time, expertise and wisdom of practice teachers/ fieldwork supervisors cannot be underestimated. The exposure of students to 'real time' pieces of work in a controlled class room setting before they go into placement, as well as the concerns and reflections shared by students build not just their confidence but as with all groups, that feeling of 'togetherness' which is important between students. The concept of collective preparedness for all stakeholders learning together leading towards a practical use of their knowledge is invaluable. As an introduction to the eBook series, eBook 1 and eBook 2 will be analyzed in more detail in the following sections.
