INTEGRATING THEORY AND PRACTICE

UW School of Social Work

Field Instructor Training

Competency Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe the importance of integrating theory and practice in field education.

• Define essential knowledge, values, and skills in social work practice.

• Create learning opportunities that will assist students in integrating social work knowledge, values and skills.

• Practice using methods designed to assist students with the process of integration.

ITP AGENDA Review

• Introductory exercise: challenges experienced

• Presentation: What is integrating theory and practice?

• Exercises: Identifying and Teaching Essential Social Work Knowledge, Values, Skills

• Creating learning opportunities • Three methods for Integrating Theory and

Practice

Student Examples

• Identify challenges experienced helping students to apply classroom learning to their practicum

The Role of Field Instructor as Educator – Changing Roles

• Create possible tensions and stresses;• Involves personal growth and expansion of

professional responsibilities;• Entails the functions of staff supervision;

– Administrative– Supportive– Educative

• Making transition from:– Helper ►► teacher & mentor of future

colleagues

Changing roles

• Supervisor/supervisee/trainer ► educator;• Doer ► explainer;• Service giver ► service critic and

analyst;• Employee ► advocate of a conducive

learning environment within the organization;

• Consumer of professional education ► collaborator with social work educators

Integrating theory and practice

• Process of making connections

– between the classroom social work knowledge, values, and skills, and experiences students have at the agency

– When considering an option for intervention,

• Learning to ask “Why choose this particular action?”

• Articulate the rationale that supports an intervention?

Field Instructor’s Role

• Students should be helped to understand:– the social work skills that were necessary

during every professional interaction;

– the social work knowledge that informed these actions, and

– the social work values that influenced the interaction.

Integrating Theory and Practice

• Students need to understand how their field experiences are connected to social work practice by answering the following questions:

– Where do these actions fit in the overall helping process?

– Why was this interaction necessary for effective social work practice with this client?

Field Instructors Play a Significant Role

Student challenges in Integrating Theory and Practice:

• Focus on task completion rather than on the reasons behind the task;

• Imitate actions of their field instructor or others they have observed;

• Students rarely critically analyze their actions

Field Instructor Role in ITP

Students must be prompted to make the connections between the tasks and the reasons behind the tasks

• This process of making connections is the process of integrating theory and practice.

• It is the role of the field instructor to assist the student in making these connections

• Students must learn how to apply knowledge so that their skills are transferable to any agency.

Essential Social Work Knowledge, Values, and Skills

EXERCISES• Before you can teach your students to

integrate theory and practice, what do you need to know?

• Brainstorm principles of social work

• Review Handout 6A: Essential SW Knowledge Values and Skills

Exercise: Creating Learning Opportunities

Part I: Handout 6B• In small groups: Identify the knowledge, values,

and skills necessary for practice in your agency;

Part II: Handout 6C:• Develop tasks and assignments that allow

students to practice these elements.– How do you teach these elements to your students? – What agency specific tasks do you have your

students conduct in order to learn these social work elements.

Methods of Integrating Theory and Practice

• Processing the interaction – Ongoing Integration Model

• The ITP Loop: Integrating Theory and Practice

• The Field Journal

Handout 6D: Ongoing Integration Model

• Involves processing the following questions with students:– What was the purpose of the interaction?– What was the knowledge, values, and skills

used in the interaction;– How were these elements used and why were

they necessary for effective practice?– How can your use of these knowledge, values,

and skills be improved in future interactions?

Handout 6E: The ITP Loop

Bogo and Vayda’s 1998 model trains instructors and students to cover 4 process elements during supervision and 4 content elements:

• Process– Retrieval/assessment of data– Reflection of personal responses, concerns– Linkage to theory– Response: Professional Plan

ITP Loop, cont’d.

• Content– Psychosocial factors: people, situation, problems– Interactive factors: personalities, communications– Contextual factors: cultural, systemic factors– Organizational factors: agency approaches

• The ITP Process is seen as a continuous learning loop for supervision, repeating components during the course of a student’s learning about cases and projects

Handout 6F 1 & 2: Field Journal

• Analysis of client contact;• Student describes a recent contact with a

client and then links this contact to social work literature by identifying the knowledge, values, and skills used during the interaction;

• Student required to cite the social work literature;

• Used weekly; discussed in supervision.

Self-Evaluate Your Teaching Techniques

Refer to Handout on Teaching Styles in Adult Learning Module 3

• Assess your personal teaching style

• Which teaching methods are most effective?

• How can you help students to become more self-aware and confident in their practice?

A Checklist for Skillful Teaching

• Be clear about the purpose of your teaching.• Reflect on your own learning.• Adapt standardized models and approaches;• Expect ambiguity;• Remember that perfection is impossible;• Understand your students’ backgrounds.• Attend to how your students experience

learning.• Talk to your colleagues and practicum liaison.

A Checklist for Skillful Teaching

• Trust your instincts.• Create diversity in your teaching methods.• Take risks.• Recognize the emotionality of learning –

students learn best in a positive relationship and a positive environment.

• Acknowledge your personality.• Balance support and challenge.• View yourself as a helper of learning.