Supporting student placements with external supervision in current contexts

Abstract

Within field education the student- supervisor relationship has been deemed vital and both social workers and non-social work staff participate in supporting social work student placements. Essential requirements of our professional social work association mean that students need to be supervised by a qualified social worker during their placement whether this supervision is on-site or external to the placement agency. This poster presentation summarises my current PhD research into exploring 'Social Work Student Placements with External Supervision'. It includes information on the global economic, organisational and professional environments that frame and impact social work education and supervision. It summarises available literature to highlight the central role of the supervisory relationships, and considers the challenges this poses for placements with external social work supervision. The poster presentation will examine current approaches to field education with external supervision, provide an overview of literature and identify areas of required research.