FIELD W 0 JOURNAL FOR BSW THIRD Y

Welcome to the third year of BSW

Your are in your third and final year of your BSW programme and when you complete this academic
year you will be sufficiently equipped to practise in the field as a para-professional. IS you are already
working, doing this course would help you gain new perspectives and ncw experiences. You would be
able to understand the rationale for doing those things, which you were doing with limited understanding.
You will get a holistic perspective on various issues. By relating your theory to your field work you will
be able to place the problems of your localities in a larger context. A s you would have observed by
now, most social problems have at least some causative factors outside the problem areas or prablem
affected people. The complexity of the problems and the role of socialurorkers in dealing with them will
be made evident to you. Similarly you will know the limitations and strength, of the agencies and of tlze
personnel, dealing with these problems. More importantly you will begin to increase your self-awareness.
Increased self-awareness, professional value base and sound professional skills will help you to become
a social work professional.
In this year you will continue your field work in various agencies. Some of the tasks you do may be similar
to those that you had done earlier and you may feel that you are repeating the same tasks. But now you
should be able to do these actions in a better way -plan it systematically, interacl with a diverse type of
people comfortably, establish effective social network, anticipate problems, communicate purposefully, etc.
The kst point deserves a little more attention. Often you hear that so and so is a good worker but others
have overtaken himiher, as helshe could not show hislher superiors, hislher true worth. By now, your
experience in the agency and with the supervisors would have shown you that to show the progress in your
work is almost as important as doing the work itself. It is important, tlzerefore, that you present and report
your work properly and herc we give you the opportunity to learn that. Similarly Lhe importxice of informal
relationships will be clearcr to you. You will find that some individuals will help you only because they likc
you personally and not so much because they Feel that the cause you are pursuing is a worthy one. So whilc
perfecting your social work skills which are, of course, vcry important, spare a moment to think about
these factors which matter a lot but are not directly taught in any school.
At least some of you will end your formal education here (informal education is lifelong pracess) and others
may move to other disciplines. However, values imparted in this social work course are universal and
applied in every field of life. No matter what you do, you will get opportunities to express your concern for
fellow human beings.
As for others who are going to remain wit11 social work studies by taking higher degrees through the
conventional system or the distance education mode we would like to say that after this year you will be
ready to go to the next step i.e. Masters in Social Work. And so we wish you tlze best of luck.
Before you start your third year field work we would like to repcat what we have said in the previous year.
However, you can go through these tips once again.
Take your theory and field work seriously
By now you must have understood the importance of field work in social work education, It gives you
opportunities to practice what yau have learn with an added advantage of having a supervisor to guide
you.

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 Completion of second year held work is necessary for taking the third year term-end examinations.
Field work tips
\

You are the centre of the field work process and it is your learning, which is of paramount importance.
Every thing else is incidental. You may have to look for opportunities to complete your field work seriously
during the p ca r.
@ I h o w your limitations
You might visit the agency once or twice a week. This year you will be doing activities related to
community organisation along with the ancillary methods of social welfare, social work research and
social action. You must plan your work accordingly. Conduct your study and assess the corninunity
needs within a few sessions. Identifying the leaders, key persons and volunleers will take some timc.
Pel-haps a fcw home visits will be useful. You must select only those persons who will be with you for
a period of about 4-6 months. You must set limited objectives in community organisation programmes.
Far-reaching results in any intervention will require frequent meetings with persons concerned and a
lot of resources which may not be available since you are a student. Further in com~nunityorganisation,
you have to take further care because there may be people who will not take your interventions in the
right spirit and see you as a potential threat. As far as possible try not to offend any individual or
group. Keep in mind that you are only a student and you are expected to perform as a student only.
@ Know the lirnitations of the agency
The agency may have its own limitations- lack of personel, lack of funds, lack of tnotivation, poor
leadership, lack of infrastructure, poor relationship with community, factions, cornrplion, and so on
which may hinder your own performance. One has to accept that. Also important is your dealing with
the wrongdoings in the agency, It is better to discuss these issues with the FWS and do according lo
hisher guiddnce. Remember you are a student.
0 Use the journal meaningfully
The instructions given in the field work journal is not meant to be read like a tcxtbook but is to be
used as a guide in the field. As you are already in the third year you can attempt to do analytical
reporting along with verbatim recording. At the beginning of the field work session your supervisor
and you will make a learning plan based on your field work situation and the ficld work ol!jcctivcs of
BSW (Third Year). The learning plan include the learning objectives, the tasks that havc to 1x2 done in
order that the learning takes place and how you are going to show that learning has laltcn placc.
You must see at the end of each field work day whether you have been moving towards Chcsc ol?jectives
by doing the needful tasks or by preparing the groundwork for these tasks.
It is equally important to record the same in your report with your comn~entslobsc~vratio~is.F;[I '1ures
and success can be reported truthfully since only lhen will the exercise become mcaningli.11.You will
have to prepare for the held work conference by jotting down the points for discussion.
@ Attendance at field work
You should attend twerzty-five days of field work in a year.
Attendance at the field work is to be for the full day and leaves have to be cornpensatcd with Ct111field
work on other days. Employed learners who are unable to do full day field work should eoxnpcnsalc
it by doing the field work on holidays with prior intination to the FWS.
h case you are unable to put in twenty-five days dfield work in a year you arc cxpccted lo complete
 the same by adhering to the following options:

1) If the number of field work days to be compensated is less than 10 days you may complete the
same depending on your convenience. However, it is expected that you complete the second
year field work before the third year field work begins.

2) If the number of field work days to be compensated in more that 10 days you are expected to
do the same under block placement which means that you do field work continuously for the
number of days required.
All these options should be exercised with prior intimation to and approval of the EWS.
e Attendance at field work conference
Attendance a1 the fieldwork conference is also compulsory. Equally important is that these conferences
are not vague discussioi~son social work topics but are specific to your problems. Every one should
get an opportunity to speak and you must make use of the opportunity by presenting your achievements
and failures in an objective manner.
Report writing
~efore'
you write the report kindly take care of the following:

1) Read the entire journal before you begin to write reports.

2) Read the guidelines for writing the reporl of orientation visits. (Activity 3)

3) Read the guidelines for writing the report of concurrent visits. (Activity 4)
4) Read the guidelines for writing the rcport of community organisation meetings and write it in the place
assigned for it (Activity 5). Make sure lo read the model casework.

5) Read the guidelines for writing the report of social work research and write it in the place assigned for
it (Activity 6). Make sure to read the model research model.

6) Read the guidelines for writing the report of social welfare administration and write it in the place
assigned for it. (Activity 7.)

7) Read the guidelines for writing the reporl of social action activity and write it in the place assigned for
it. (Activity 8)