Suchergebnisse

AbstractUsing three tenets of Critical Race Theory as the analytical lens, namely, counter story-telling, everyday racism and whiteness as privilege, this qualitative study examined the experiences of twenty Black African social workers during the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in England. The findings suggest that there was a different and often less favourable application of the rules and policies for Black African social workers in relation to COVID-19 and in comparison to their White peers. In addition, Black African social workers expressed frustration about the inadequacy of risk assessments undertaken to gauge the level of risk posed by continuous engagement with service users. A strong recommendation for culturally responsive leadership is made alongside the need for managers, supervisors and employers to become allies to their staff from Black and other minority ethnic backgrounds.

The impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on social work practice placements around the world and in the United Arab Emirates is of concern to students, social work educators and service users. In this practice note, I focus on the impact of the interruption to social work practice learning for students at the United Arab Emirates University and reflect on the introduction of 'social distancing', a health and safety strategy aimed at reducing the likelihood of the spread of the coronavirus. I propose ways in which students in school placements can continue to develop their social work knowledge and skills 'from a distance' and while physically absent from their practice learning settings

Review of Building Effective Social Work Teams by Judy Foster

Practice learning, also known as field education or practicum is central to social work education not only in the UK, but also in countries such as the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. It presents students with opportunities to integrate academic learning and practice experience with people, their families, communities and environments, and enables the development and enhancement of key skills and social work values. In England, recent studies have highlighted the disparity between black students and white students in terms of progression and attainment on social work qualifying programmes, and practice placements are becoming notorious as sites of difficulty for many students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. This paper focuses on a sub-group (black African students), an ethnic minority group with a unique set of characteristics which have been found to contribute to their specific experiences of practice education in the UK.This paper outlines some strategies which have been proposed by black African students as necessary and central to enhancing their practice learning experiences and outcomes on social work programmes. This article was developed from a paper presented to the International Conference on Practice Learning in Scotland (4-7 April 2014).

There continues to be a call on social work education to incorporate diverse teaching and learning resources and strategies to meet the needs of its diverse learners. Proverbs tend to be well known metaphors, which are memorable and are passed on from one generation to the next, and exist in all cultures and in many languages. This paper presents an innovative and creative use of proverbs to facilitate this process, and provides students from different cultures the opportunity to understand and contextualise aspects of social work education and practice. The paper proposes the use of African proverbs to enhance learning for the growing numbers of African students of social work in England.It is hoped that the use of proverbs, which combine cultural heritage and literature as creative arts, will enable students to view the world of social work with an additional lens, making it relevant, interesting and meaningful. The proverbs used in this paper have been translated from various African languages into English.Writing from the perspective of a black female African social work academic, I believe it is important that black people are producers of knowledge and ideas in order to become a part of the writing of their own history.

This article introduces the MANDELA model as a new and innovative tool for effectively engaging social work students of black African heritage studying on social work qualifying programmes across England and Wales. The article explores in depth this proposed model drawing upon initial feedback from two critical friends- a white male practice educator and a black African female third year social work student. The potential challenges and strengths of this model are examined, as well as guidance on its use and application within the practice learning environment. The MANDELA model draws upon existing strategies and adds a distinct and unique African flavour, whilst not losing its pedagogic relevance for lecturers, practice educators and students.