Journal article
From institution-centred to place-responsive practicums: Reflections from engagement with the Cherbourg Aboriginal community
Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, Vol.20(1), pp.122-138
2018
Abstract
There has been much attention paid to university-community engagement generally and, in particular, to Work Integrated Learning (WIL) partnerships with agencies for social work and human service students. Since late 2013, the social work and human services program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has been working in partnership with the Australian Aboriginal community of Cherbourg on diverse community-initiated projects. The opportunity arose to locate social work and human service students on placement within Cherbourg agencies. From the outset of the partnership, it was important to appreciate that Cherbourg was evidence that processes of exclusion and marginalisation are often produced and reproduced, and that our approach to student placement might add to this if not reflecting principles of respect, decolonisation, and social justice. A range of constraints have been identified which illustrate the importance of high-level institutional support for such an approach to succeed (Cooper & Orrell, 2016). Hence, a reciprocal approach - a theme from research and strategic developments globally - was a requirement. This article outlines a place-responsive approach to field education that has emerged from the experience with the Cherbourg community, one that privileges the interests and strategic goals of the host community, translates these into community-nominated and supported projects, and links students from relevant disciplines in a series of open-ended processes that transcend institutional requirements. Social work and human services students on placement play an important role in enabling a place-responsive approach, though there are key implications for how placements are understood and undertaken to achieve this.
Details
- Title
- From institution-centred to place-responsive practicums: Reflections from engagement with the Cherbourg Aboriginal community
- Authors
- Philip R Crane (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and LawAnna Spencer (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyDeb Duthie (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, Vol.20(1), pp.122-138
- Publisher
- Australian Association for Social Work and Welfare Education
- Date published
- 2018
- ISSN
- 1329-0584
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2018 Australian Association for Social Work and Welfare Education. Reproduced with permission.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450658402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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