In order to ensure safety for students, staff, and faculty, and in response to local public health guidelines on physical distancing, Canadian post-secondary institutions rapidly shifted to virtual platforms and operations for teaching, student learning, and research (Bazinet et al., 2020;Wall, 2020). Hosted at the University of Calgary, the TFEL partnership brings together local, provincial, national, and international partners to explore the current state of social work field education while supporting the development and implementation of new sustainable models of field education;facilitate the integration of research into practice in the context of field education;increase the recognition of the importance of social work research in field education;and create new training and mentorship opportunities for students to inform the next generation of social workers (Drolet, 2020). The plenary session was followed by a panel presentation with Dr. Grant Charles, University of British Columbia;Holly Bradley, Vancouver Island University;Clement Dlamini, University of Eswatini;and Dr. Lena Dominelli, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). The Summit also included workshops highlighting innovative ways that research can be integrated into social work practice: 1) Research As Daily Practice, presented by Drs. Sally St. George, Dan Wulff, and Lauren Birks, University of Calgary;2) Articulating Transformation in Field Education and Research through Digital Storytelling, presented by Dr. Christine A. Walsh and social work students Natalie St. Denis and Alison L. Grittner, University of Calgary;3) Models for Integrating Research and Practice in Social Work Education, presented by Dr. Sheri M. McConnell, Memorial University, and social work students Melissa Noble, Heather Shenton, Mohammad Idris Alemi and alumna Amanda Duke;4) Wise Practices from the Indigisphere to the Land: Indigenous Intersectional Violence and Trauma-Informed Field Education in Shifting Spaces of Learning, presented by Dr. Natalie Clark, Thompson Rivers University;and 5) Digital Storytelling Premiere.
Social work’s competency-based education centers its standards through a holistic lens that is “informed by knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes that include practice situations” (CSWE, 2015, p. 6). Additionally, during a time of social movement, social work programs, grounded in the core values of social justice and service (National Association of Social Workers, 2017), could benefit from critically examining the structure and inequities of field education. The SOS model addresses this and is based on the belief that providing an equitable foundation of practice skills, grounded in both generalist social work practice and clinically integrated practice, supports students’ professional development, competency mastery, and preparation for the field. Simulated sessions, utilizing an opening case study and subsequent role plays, allow students to take the lead as the social worker to practice skills.
Director of Field Education-Curriculum and Training for Simmons University’s online program SocialWork@ Simmons, with Sharyn DeZelar, PhD, MSW, Assistant Professor and Lisa R. Kiesel, PhD, MSW, Associate Professor, both at St. Catherine University. They explore themes from their recent article (written with Elizabeth Lightfoot, Professor at University of Minnesota School of Social Work) Challenges, Barriers, and Opportunities: Social Workers With Disabilities and Experiences in Field Education published in the Journal of Social Work Education in 2018 available at https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2018.1507365]
