Social Work Practice Education During and Beyond the Pandemic – a European Survey

LAZAR, Florin, Riccardo GUIDI, Alžběta BROZMANOVÁ GREGOROVÁ, Neşe ŞAHIN TAŞĞIN, Iria NOA DE LA FUENTE ROLDAN, Monika PUNOVÁ, Femke DEWULF and Jorge M. L. FERREIRA. Social Work Practice Education During and Beyond the Pandemic – a European Survey. In European Conference of Social Work Education 2023. Diversity and Social Work Education: Building Bridges for Sustainable Futures. EASSW / ISSSP. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Social Work Practice Education During and Beyond the Pandemic – a European Survey
• Authors: LAZAR, Florin, Riccardo GUIDI, Alžběta BROZMANOVÁ GREGOROVÁ, Neşe ŞAHIN TAŞĞIN, Iria NOA DE LA FUENTE ROLDAN, Monika PUNOVÁ, Femke DEWULF and Jorge M. L. FERREIRA.
• Edition: European Conference of Social Work Education 2023. Diversity and Social Work Education: Building Bridges for Sustainable Futures. EASSW / ISSSP. 2023.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50900 5.9 Other social sciences
• Country of publisher: Portugal
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Keywords in English: social work education; pandemic; practice placement; innovation; Europe

Abstract

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, education moved to an online format throughout Europe. Since practice education (PE) is a key component of social work education, the aim of the research was to explore the continuities, evolutions, innovations, impacts and problems of the BA Social Work PE Programs in Europe, at national and international level, in the pandemic context. 150 schools of social work from 15 European countries responded to an online survey. The activities carried out as a substitute of conventional field PE varied, but in most cases, they were continued throughout the academic year 2021-2022. When compared with the pre-pandemic period assignments and assessment of students were similar during the pandemic, while the possibilities to achieve the skills and the interaction between practice supervisors and students were dissimilar. Overall, the changes adopted during the pandemic were perceived to have negatively influenced the quality of PE, students’ academic performance and students’ participation to the PE activities. The least negative changes were perceived to refer to the access to virtual infrastructure for students, teachers’ adaptation and use of online platforms by students, field supervisors and academic staff. The most negative perceived impact was on student’s wellbeing, skills and readiness for practice and on teachers’ wellbeing. The least negatively perceived impact was on the interaction between students and field educators from faculty/school and on field practice educators. Schools of Social Work need to incorporate into their BA programs the positive changes adopted during the Convid-19 pandemic and, at the same time, support students’ wellbeing and skills’ development as the pillars of effective education and future practices.