Field Instructors Orientation

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Field Instructors Orientation

• Loretta Vitale Saks, MSW, LCSW-C
• Director of Field Instruction
• National Catholic School of Social Service
• September 2003

This presentation is the intellectual property of
the author and may be used only with written
permission and appropriate credit.
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Program Highlights

• BA program
• Senior field placement 16 hours/week 480
  hours/year
• 10 Seniors in field this year
• MSW program
• 60 credits
• Generalist strengths-based foundation curriculum
• 480 hours/year
• 3 concentrations Clinical Macro Combined
  (Clinical/Macro)
• 600 field hours/year
• 157 MSW students in field 74 foundation 12
  macro, 13 combined, 58 clinical
• Number of macro students quadrupled since last
  year!

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Foundation Curriculum

• HBSE I II
• Look at bio-psycho-social-spiritual development
  across the life cycle
• Utilize an ecological and systems perspective to
  focus on maladaptive behaviors and problems of
  living and coping
• Examine consequences of social and economic
  justice on development and functioning of all
  human systems
• Diversity
• Discrete course
• Infused throughout curriculum

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Foundation Curriculum

• Research
• Social Welfare Policy Services I II
• TP Courses Seminar/Field taken concurrently
• 605 - Generalist SW Practice w/Individuals,
  Families (Treatment) Groups
• 606 - Generalist SW Practice with (Task) Groups,
  Communities and Organizations
• 673-674 Field Integrative Seminar
• Field 16 hours/week

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Foundation Curriculum

• Integrative Seminar Field
• LiaisonSeminar professor
• Visits agency in fall semester
• Available for problem solving, mediation,
  information
• Seminar Practice interviewing, assessment,
  intervention skills, review process recordings,
  etc.
• Comprehensive exam
• A case with questions, handed out ahead of time,
  with new case on test date
• Study sessions ahead of time
• Helps students integrate field and course content

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Advanced Curriculum

• 3 Concentrations
• Clinical
• Health specialization
• Macro
• Combined Clinical Macro
• Clinical/Combined students take advanced clinical
  theory course
• Transpersonal, Cognitive-Behavioral,
  Psychodynamic
• Clinical/Combined students take a Family course

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Advanced Curriculum

• Ethics
• Research
• Practice or Program Evaluation
• Advanced practice courses
• Clinical students choose 2
• Courses developed according to place in the life
  cycle (Adult, Older Adult, Child,
  Adolescent/Young Adult)
• Macro students take 3
• Policy Analysis, Social Planning, Management
• Combined students take 1 clinical, 2 macro TPs

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Advanced Curriculum

• Seminar Field Placement
• 20 hrs/week Combined 20-24 hrs/week
• Electives
• Clinical students have 6 hrs
• Combined students 3 macro course hrs
• Macro students 9 hrs
• Graduation requirements
• Take-home comprehensive exam
• Scholarly papers

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Field Instructor Role

• The quality of the field instructor is the most
  significant factor affecting students
  satisfaction with the field placement.
• but field instructors are busy
• and yet even small changes can make a
  difference

Fortune, A.E. and Abramson, J.S. (1993).
Predictors of satisfaction with field practicum
among social work students. The Clinical
Supervisor, 11(1), 95-110).
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Field Instructor Role

• Self-assessment
• Education and experience
• Supervisory/instructional style
• Your expectations
• Of yourself
• Of your intern
• Identify agency supports and stressors impacting
  you

The Clinical Supervisor, Vol. 7 (2/3) 1989. The
Haworth Press.
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Field Instructor Role

• Educational assessment of student
• Previous work/volunteer experience
• Awareness of ethical practice
• Theoretical knowledge
• Organizational understanding
• Attitude and values
• Goals and objectives
• Previous experience being supervised
• Obstacles to learning

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Field Instructor Role

• Supervisory meetings
• Regularly scheduled throughout the year
• Minimum of 1 hr weekly
• Be available at other times
• Especially early in the year
• Discuss students learning needs
• Review and analyze cases and projects
• Feedback on all process recordings
• Check in at different stages of project
• Meet consistently throughout the year

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What students want to discuss during supervision

• Practice skills and techniques
• Cases and clients/projects and activities
• Ongoing performance issues
• Personal strengths and limitations
• encourage student to submit agenda ahead of
  time

Gray, S.W., Alperin, D.E., Wik, R. (1989).
Multidimensional expectations of student
supervision in social work. The Clinical
Supervisor, 7(1), 89-102, cited in Dettlaff, Alan
J.
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Field Instructor Role

• Orientation
• Agency and staff
• Documentation
• Safety procedures
• Confidentiality
• Breaking confidentiality
• Suicidality
• Threat of homicide
• Risk of abuse or neglect
• NASW Code of Ethics
• Readings
• Related to program-specific issues

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Field Instructor Role

• Work for good fit of communication styles
• Use strengths perspective in giving feedback
• Communication Styles Inventory
• Helpful for having discussion on different
  communication styles in normal and stressful
  situations
• Guide learning process
• Plan variety of learning experiences of
  increasing difficulty
• Review and analyze cases and projects
• Give feedback on all process recordings
• Check in at different stages of project

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Field Instructor Role

• Alfred Kadushin 3 primary supervisory functions
• Educational
• Administrative
• Supportive

• Adapted from material developed by Shannon
  Stapleton and Sharon Cascone
• Kadushin, A. (1976). Supervision in social work.
  New York Columbia University Press.

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Educational Role

• A teacher and an evaluator
• Teach and guide
• Provide critical feedback in non-judgmental,
  non-labeling manner
• Compliment even small parts of students work
• Help student learn to evaluate self accurately
• Help student adhere to clear performance
  standards

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Educational Role

• Work with student to develop implement Learning
  Plan
• Consider students previous experience and
  interests
• Learning Plan road map
• Where is student going? (objectives)
• How to get there (learning experiences)
• How to know when have arrived (evaluation
  criteria)
• Discuss process recordings, audio- /or
  videotapes
• Your feedback is critical to students growth

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Administrative Role

• Negotiate between students needs and fulfilling
  agencys maintenance needs
• Consider student learning objectives, school
  assignments
• Consider agency demands
• Create a context that permits student to do job
  well

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Supportive Role

• The cornerstone of the teaching and learning
  relationship
• Facilitate students professional development as
  social worker
• Parallel process between students relationship
  with field instructor and with clients
• Important to talk about supervisory relationship
• Student will be greatly affected by relationship
  with field instructor

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Supportive Role

• Student as adult learner
• Promote student autonomy
• Help student take responsibility for learning
• Foster mutual process of reflection and
  exploration
• Okay to talk about disagreements,
  disappointments, misunderstandings

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Field Evaluation Process
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Evaluation Process

• Ongoing process
• Use evaluation documents supervision to guide
  the process
• Two formal student evaluations
• Early Assessment (midterm) and Final Evaluation
• 10-point scale
• 1-2 Unacceptable
• 3-4 Needs improvement
• 5-6 Acceptable
• 7-8 Very good
• 9-10 Excellent
• NA Not applicable
• IE Insufficient experience to rate

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Evaluation Process

• Evaluation Threshold items
• Skills judged to be the most critical essential
  
• Adhering to Code of Ethics more critical than
  professional dress
• Refer to threshold items when writing Learning
  Plan
• Student may not have exposure to every skill
  listed as threshold item
• Student should receive a rating of IE if has had
  insufficient experience to rate or NA if not
  applicable

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Evaluation Process

• Early Assessment threshold items
• Student needs improvement on some skills at Early
  Assessment time?
• Work with student to revise Learning Plan so
  aimed at mastery of those particular skills
  during remainder of semester/year.
• Students should be performing at least at the
  Acceptable level in threshold items at the end of
  each semester.
• Acceptable acceptable work for that point in
  the semester

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NCSSS on the web

• Think of NCSSS CUA as resource
• Your students field liaison
• Office of Field Instruction 202-319-5457
• http//ncsss.cua.edu/field/
• Information on being library special borrower
• Possibility of field instructors chat room
• Occasional continuing education offerings
• CUA Mullen Library
• http//libraries.cua.edu/
• Office of Disability Support Services
• http//disabilityservices.cua.edu/
• 202-319-5211

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NCSSS on the web

• Course outlines
• http//ncsss.cua.edu/courses
• Field page
• Announcements
• All field forms
• Links
• Field Manual
• http//ncsss.cua.edu/field/manual.cfm
• Career Job Information
• http//ncsss.cua.edu/careers/

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• We look forward to working with you!
• Social work is not something you do but something
  you become.
• Julie Birkenmaier