(eBook PDF) Making the Most of Field Placement

4th Edition download

https://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-making-the-most-of-
field-placement-4th-edition/

Download full version ebook from https://ebooksecure.com

We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit ebooksecure.com
to discover even more!

(eBook PDF) Making the Most of Field Placement 3rd

Australia

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-making-the-most-of-
field-placement-3rd-australia/

Making the Most of Field Placement, 5th Edition Helen

Cleak - eBook PDF

https://ebooksecure.com/download/making-the-most-of-field-
placement-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) The Norton Field Guide to Writing with

Readings 4th

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-the-norton-field-guide-
to-writing-with-readings-4th/

(eBook PDF) The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of

Australia 2nd Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-the-complete-field-
guide-to-butterflies-of-australia-2nd-edition/
(Original PDF) Clinical and Fieldwork Placement in the
Health Profession 2nd Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/original-pdf-clinical-and-
fieldwork-placement-in-the-health-profession-2nd-edition/

(eBook PDF) The Human Services Internship: Getting the

Most from Your Experience 3rd Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-the-human-services-
internship-getting-the-most-from-your-experience-3rd-edition/

College physics : a strategic approach 4th Edition

Stuart Field - eBook PDF

https://ebooksecure.com/download/college-physics-a-strategic-
approach-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) Understanding Audio: Getting the Most Out

of Your Project or Professional Recording Studio 2nd
Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-understanding-audio-
getting-the-most-out-of-your-project-or-professional-recording-
studio-2nd-edition/

(eBook PDF) Making Sense of the Social World: Methods

of Investigation 6th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-making-sense-of-the-
social-world-methods-of-investigation-6th-edition/
iii
Making the Most of Field Placement © 2013 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited
3rd Edition
Helen Cleak Copyright Notice
Jill Wilson This Work is copyright. No part of this Work may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
Publishing manager: Dorothy Chiu written permission of the Publisher. Except as permitted under the
Publishing editor: Ann Crabb Copyright Act 1968, for example any fair dealing for the purposes of private
Project editor: Michaela Skelly study, research, criticism or review, subject to certain limitations. These
Publishing assistant: Kathie Nguyen limitations include: Restricting the copying to a maximum of one chapter or
Art direction: Olga Lavecchia 10% of this book, whichever is greater; providing an appropriate notice and
Text design: Rina Gargano warning with the copies of the Work disseminated; taking all reasonable
Editor: Jill Pope steps to limit access to these copies to people authorised to receive these
Proofreader: James Anderson copies; ensuring you hold the appropriate Licences issued by the
Permissions/Photo researcher: Corrina Tauschke Copyright Agency Limited (“CAL”), supply a remuneration notice to CAL
Indexer: Julie King and pay any required fees. For details of CAL licences and remuneration
Cenveo Solutions notices please contact CAL at Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street,
Sydney NSW 2000, Tel: (02) 9394 7600, Fax: (02) 9394 7601
Any URLs contained in this publication were checked for currency during Email: info@copyright.com.au
the production process. Note, however, that the publisher cannot vouch Website: www.copyright.com.au
for the ongoing currency of URLs.
For product information and technology assistance,
Previously published in 2004 in Australia call 1300 790 853;
in New Zealand call 0800 449 725

For permission to use material from this text or product, please email
aust.permissions@cengage.com

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Author: Cleak, Helen Mary.
Title: Making the most of field placement / Helen Cleak, Jill Wilson.
Edition: 3rd ed.
ISBN: 9780170222433 (pbk.)
Subjects: Social service--Field work--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Other Authors/Contributors: Wilson, Jill, 1946-
Dewey Number: 361.32

Cengage Learning Australia

Level 7, 80 Dorcas Street
South Melbourne, Victoria Australia 3205

Cengage Learning New Zealand

Unit 4B Rosedale Office Park
331 Rosedale Road, Albany, North Shore 0632, NZ

For learning solutions, visit cengage.com.au

Printed in China by RR Donnelley Asia Printing Solutions Limited.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 15 14 13 12
CONTENTS
PREFACE VIII
RESOURCES GUIDE X
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS XI

PART 1: PRE-PLACEMENT PLANNING 1

CHAPTER 1: Preparing for placement – student 2
Introduction 2
What is a field placement? 2
Goals of a placement 3
How to choose a placement 4
Are you ready? 4
Planning for placement 5
Summary 11

CHAPTER 2: Preparing for placement – supervisor 12

Introduction 12
Preparing for placement 13
Learning styles 18
Meeting the student 22
Summary 23

PART 2: BEGINNING PLACEMENT 25

CHAPTER 3: Getting started – student 26
Introduction 26
The first weeks 26
Surviving in a human service agency 27
Teamwork 30
Summary 34

CHAPTER 4: Getting started – supervisor 35

Introduction 35
The first weeks 35
Starting work 36
Summary 43

CHAPTER 5: Charting the course for placement – contracts and agreements 44

Introduction 44
The learning agreement 44
Other types of agreements 50
Summary 53

PART 3: TEACHING AND LEARNING ON PLACEMENT 55

CHAPTER 6: Critical reflection for teaching and learning 56
Introduction 56
Educational approaches 56
Summary 62

v
Contents

CHAPTER 7: Developing good supervisory practices 63

Introduction 63
The functions of supervision 63
Expectations of supervision 64
Developing the supervisory relationship 66
Supervision sessions 71
Other models of supervision 75
Summary 79

CHAPTER 8: Teaching and learning tools 80

Introduction 80
Good teaching 80
Teaching and learning tools 82
Discussion and reflective tools 83
Organisational analysis 90
Observation tools 91
Teaching and learning activities 94
Summary 97

CHAPTER 9: Linking learning and practice in placement 98

Introduction 98
What are theories? 99
Integrating theory and practice 101
Summary 105

PART 4: METHODS AND CONTEXTS OF PRACTICE 107

CHAPTER 10: Community work 108
Introduction 108
How does change occur? 108
The political realities 110
Knowledge and practice skills 111
Finishing placement 117
Summary 117

CHAPTER 11: Research and policy 118

Introduction 118
Research practice 119
Policy practice 120
Summary 125

CHAPTER 12: Rural and international placements 126

Introduction 126
Rural practice 127
Starting out 127
The issues for placement 129
International placements 134
Summary 136

vi
 Contents

PART 5: KEEPING ON COURSE 137

CHAPTER 13: Challenging issues in supervision 138
Introduction 138
Identifying student difficulties 138
Intervention after problems emerge 139
Specific issues 144
Summary 149

CHAPTER 14: Working with difference 150

Introduction 150
Understanding difference 151
Difference – teaching and learning methods 156
Summary 157

CHAPTER 15: Ethical and legal issues 158

Introduction 158
Legal responsibilities 158
Ethical practice 162
Summary 165

PART 6: EVALUATING, ASSESSING AND

FINISHING PLACEMENT 167
CHAPTER 16: Assessment and evaluation – students and supervisors 168
Introduction 168
Evaluating students’ practice 168
Evaluating supervisors’ practice 172
Assessment events 175
Summary 178

CHAPTER 17: Finishing well 179

Introduction 179
How to begin the ending! 179
Planning for the future 182

APPENDIX: USEFUL WEBLINKS 185

REFERENCES 187
INDEX 191

vii
 PREFACE
This book is now in its third edition, and includes new ideas and updated exercises that have been
suggested by students, supervisors and academic staff who have commented on previous editions and
continue to invest their time and energy to promote best practice in field placements.
This book continues to ‘fill’ a gap within the human services that offers a practice-based approach
to the teaching and learning curriculum for student placements from the perspective of the student as
well as the supervisor. It has a chronological format which tracks the field placement experience from
pre-placement to completion and evaluation of the placement. It offers a range of examples, checklists
and exercises throughout each chapter to provide both the student and the supervisor with practical
ways in which they can positively engage with each stage of the field placement process. Field place-
ments, or field teaching and learning is conceptualised broadly, making it applicable to a range of prac-
titioners including social workers, welfare workers, disability workers, youth workers, community
workers and other human service students and their field teachers in programs that require a place-
ment experience.
This third edition of the book reflects some of the feedback and ideas from the range of readers as
well as incorporating current empirical information about best practice from the national and inter-
national field. This is particularly relevant to Chapter 8, which includes a discussion of contemporary
educational theories around surface and deep learning and how this can facilitate different learning
technologies. Chapter 17 also draws upon new theories from the neurological sciences about cognitive
problems, which can interfere with learning; this chapter includes strategies to address this.
Another important addition is to Chapter 14, which now incorporates a human rights and critical
social work perspective as well as introducing a new exercise around cross-cultural assessment of the
workplace. There has also been some reorganisation of material in Part 4 in the areas of community
work and working with teams and groups to present core issues more clearly. Other updates include
more specific strategies to provide feedback (Chapter 7) and recognising ‘burnout’ and stress in the
workplace (Chapter 17).
We wish all students and field educators who use this book every success in their placements. There
is no doubt that many of the challenges and opportunities of placement have persevered to the present
and they are joined by the challenges and opportunities of changes both in the human services industry
and in tertiary education. We hope this text will assist you in making the most of the experience in what
remains a core aspect of all human service education.

How to use this book

The structure of the book follows the various stages of a placement from both the student’s and
the field educator’s perspective. We have deliberately included both perspectives – students and
supervisors – in the one book as the ideas and concepts should be familiar and useful to both groups.
Students need to understand the issues and concerns inherent in their supervision, and supervisors can
benefit from insight into the concerns and learning needs of the student.
The stages of the placement parallel the stages that human service workers follow when working
with a client, family, group or community: preparing, beginning, exploring, assessing, evaluating and
terminating.
The book addresses the range of critical learning issues that may emerge at each stage and suggests
various educational strategies to deal with these. These sequences can be followed according to the
particular fieldwork program in which the student is enrolled. That is, the student can be undertaking a
part-time or full-time placement, or the placement could be a block or concurrent placement.
A major feature of this book is its practice orientation. Each chapter begins by introducing the main
topic and important features of the relevant stage of the placement. A brief chapter outline and dis-
cussion of the relevant subtopics follows. The subtopics include a range of exercises, examples, check-
lists, ideas and other helpful material, which offer the student and supervisor ways to positively engage
with each stage of the placement.

viii
 Preface

Throughout the book, responsibility is placed on the student to be a curious and responsible learner
and to be proactive in planning and managing his or her placement. Likewise, supervisors are encour-
aged to explore and demonstrate the values and qualities consistent with the helping professions,
such as empathy, respect and professional integrity, as they assist students to practise and learn
on placement.
Each human service course differs in how it administers its field education programs. This book is
designed to accommodate these differences. It presents the core practice issues and ideas that can be
adapted to individual course requirements.
Students and supervisors can use this book as a guide as the placement progresses, or the exercises
may be selected to enhance specific stages of the placement.

ix
 RESOURCES GUIDE
For students
As you read this text you will find the following features to assist you with your learning:

PART 3 Teaching and learning on placement

Exercise 7.5
For the student
Think over your supervision sessions:
1 If feedback or constructive comments on your work are not a regular part of supervision sessions, do any of the following
reasons explain why?
t :PV BSF BDIJFWJOH CVU ZPVS TVQFSWJTPS JT OPU BXBSF UIBU QPTJUJWF GFFECBDL JT SFRVJSFE GPS ZPVS DPOGJEFODF
t :PV BSF OPU BDIJFWJOH BOE ZPVS TVQFSWJTPS EPFT OPU LOPX IPX UP HJWF ZPV DPOTUSVDUJWF DSJUJDJTN
t :PV NBZ CF HJWJOH DVFT UIBU ZPV BSF WVMOFSBCMF BOE ZPVS TVQFSWJTPS GFFMT VOFBTZ BCPVU ZPVS SFBDUJPO
2 What can you do to change this?

For the supervisor

Think about the feedback you have given to the student recently:
1 Is the feedback evaluative as well as descriptive?
2 Is your feedback encouraging as well as honest and direct?
3 Does the student know what you think about his or her progress?
4 %P ZPV GJOE JU FBTJFS UP HJWF GFFECBDL UP DFSUBJO QFPQMF FH QFPQMF XIP NBZ CF ZPVOHFS TVCPSEJOBUFT XPNFO

Finding the balance between being honest and being facilitative can be difficult (Trevithick 2000,
p. 98). For effective feedback to occur, the student must trust the motives and intentions of the super-
Exercises encourage you to apply
visor and the content of the feedback must have credible sources (Marriott & Galbraith 2005). The fol-
lowing guidelines should help you find this balance when giving feedback. Note that the term ‘receiver’
is used instead of ‘student’ or ‘supervisor’, as either one may need to give the feedback. When you give
feedback, try to remember the following points.
1 Be concrete: Describe specific behaviours and give reasons or examples: for example, instead of say-
the content and reflect on your own
ing ‘I thought that the interview went well’, it would be more helpful to say, ‘I really liked the way
you started the interview by quickly introducing yourself and putting the client at ease.’ Feedback

2
methods can include verbal, written or, perhaps, information from an audio or videotape.
Be timely: Try not to have a delay between the activity and giving the feedback, and have sufficient
information. Some receivers may require more time and preparation to receive feedback.
experiences.
3 Be careful about language: Instead of using the term ‘criticism’, use terms like ‘coaching’, ‘critical
appraisal’, ‘critical feedback’.
4 Be consultative: It can be irritating for the receiver to hear something he or she already knows
about his or her work. Doel et al. (1996) suggest it is preferable to say, ‘As we agreed, I’m going to
give you some feedback about your court report, but I thought it only fair to ask you what you
thought about it first’ (p. 76).
5 Be balanced: Recognise both strengths and weaknesses. Doel et al. (1996) recommend giving feed- Working with difference
back in terms of ‘what I would keep’ and ‘what I would change’.
6 Be objective: Focus on the behaviour, rather than on personal attributes: for example, ‘It was a good
idea to focus on the issue of his gambling, but I don’t know if he appreciated you bringing it up in Sue is placed in a community-based palliative care service for her final placement. Sue accompanied the visiting nursing team on a home
front of his wife. Maybe you could have waited to see if his wife brought it up first’, rather than visit to a young woman with two young children, who is dying of ovarian cancer. At the team meeting the following day, Sue disclosed
‘You were too confronting with him.’ that she started to cry when she was observing the nurse’s interactions with the client. The nurse confirmed this and added that she
7 Be supportive: Focus on sharing ideas and information, rather than on giving advice; and explore asked Sue to leave the room ‘to compose’ herself and added that she did not want the client to become upset by Sue’s ‘unprofessional’
alternatives, rather than offering answers and solutions. This leaves receivers free to decide for behaviour. On the car ride back to the agency, the nurse was supportive and empathic towards Sue’s emotional situation. Using a critical
themselves how to use these ideas (Shardlow & Doel 1996, p. 111): for example, ‘I was interested incident analysis tool (see Chapter 8), the supervisor and Sue discussed this event in supervision.
in how you decided to handle the disagreement during the committee meeting’ or ‘I would have t 5IF FWFOU JT DSJUJDBM CFDBVTF 4VF GFMU APVU PG DPOUSPM
thought that some of the members would have liked to be given an opportunity to speak’ or ‘What t 8IBU BSF UIF JNQMJDJU BTTVNQUJPOT BOE IPX EP UIFZ EJGGFS GSPN UIF FYQMJDJU POFT 5IFSF JT BO JNQMJDJU BTTVNQUJPO UIBU GFFMJOH
were you thinking could be achieved by choosing to change the agenda?’ emotional is equated with a lack of control. On a deeper level, there is an assumption that a good professional is in control and
8 Be creative: Most feedback tends to be given verbally and thus is open to misinterpretation or mis- therefore does not feel emotions.
understanding, or may not be heard at all. Demonstration, direct observation and process record- t %FDPOTUSVDUJOH UIF FWFOU BOE GJOEJOH BOPUIFS QFSTQFDUJWF 4VF RVFTUJPOT XIFUIFS TIF BHSFFT PS OPU XJUI PUIFS QSPGFTTJPOBMT BCPVU
being emotional and whether there may be an alternative model of professionalism which incorporates being able to be emotional.
ing will promote understanding and self-evaluation. Written feedback can provide a useful record
t )PX DBO 4VF VTF UIJT BXBSFOFTT UP DIBOHF QSBDUJDF 8IBU EPFT UIJT QSBDUJDF JNQMZ BCPVU UIF XPSLFST BOE UIF BHFODZT GVOEBNFOUBM
for students and contribute to the evaluation process.
WBMVFT 8IBU JT CFJOH BTTVNFE BCPVU UIF OBUVSF PG IVNBO CFJOHT $PVME UIF EJTQMBZ PG FNPUJPO CZ XPSLFST CF B QPTJUJWF UIJOH
8IFO 8IFSF 1SBDUJDF SFTFBSDI NBZ PGGFS TPNF FWJEFODF UP FYQMPSF UIJT JEFB

74 Adapted from Fook 2011.

In this example, the critical reflection was able to unsettle the dominant, implicit assumptions in
order to discover and change relevant thinking and practices and reformulate a framework for practice.

Strategies
Hawkins and Shohet (2000) describe different modes of supervision to assist students to work with dif-
ference. The following approaches to supervision may be useful:
• Discuss explicitly the cultural contexts of clients and seek to understand in cultural terms the issues
raised by clients and the way they raise them.

APPENDIX • Discuss ways of responding appropriately in this context.

• Discuss the ways in which the cultural differences between student and client and/or the student

Useful weblinks •
and supervisor can be seen in the relationships.
Explore the cultural assumptions made by the student and the supervisor.
Professional associations • Discuss the social, organisational and political issues that are a result of difference.
Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) http://www.aasw.asn.au/ The Australian Association In addition to being useful in supervision, these approaches can assist students in their work with
of Social Workers provides a range of useful tools, including the 2010 Code of Ethics and the Practice clients and to make links between individual experiences and political and social structures. It is impor-
Standards for social work. tant for students to feel safe in discussions of their experiences, whether they come from minority or
Practice Standards for social workers: achieving outcomes http://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/16 dominant groups. ‘Their social identity and the extent to which they have internalised society’s domi-
Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) http://anzasw.org.nz/ nant ideologies and values will determine how they respond to issues of privilege and oppression’
ANZASW posters summarising practice standards and codes of ethics http://anzasw.org.nz/wp-content/ (Smart & Gray 2000, p. 103).
uploads/ANZASW-A3-Poster-Official1.pdf
Australian Community Workers Association http://www.acwa.org.au/ The professional association for
all paid and unpaid human services workers in Australia regardless of their occupational title or
SUMMARY
educational background. Human service practice aims to address structural and individual inequality by recognising the diversity
International Federation of Social Workers http://www.ifsw.org of people’s needs and empowering people who have less power and status in the dominant culture.
Students need to understand how their attitudes and values are created by their own culture in order to
Information sources useful for practice develop awareness of prejudices and stereotypes that may inhibit effective practice with people who
Australian Bureau of Statistics http://www.abs.gov.au are different from them. Agencies also need to be aware of the impact that diversity and difference may
New Zealand Statistical Services http://www.stats.govt.nz have in placements and be prepared to modify their practice to ensure that students are given equitable
New Zealand Ministry of Social Development http://www.msd.govt.nz access to learning opportunities.

Social work in a range of countries

Social Workers Across Nations http://www.naswdc.org/nasw/swan/default.asp
Social Care Online – Social care institute for excellence UK http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/
default.asp
Social work on the web http://www.socialworker.com/websites.htm 157
Global information for practice http://ifp.nyu.edu/rss-feeds/ http://ifp.nyu.edu/advanced-search/

Student supervision
Critical reflective practice resources http://reflectivepractice-cpd.wikispaces.com
Reflection-learning development, University of Plymouth http://www.learningdevelopment.plymouth
.ac.uk/LDstudyguides/pdf/11Reflection.pdf
Donald Schon – learning, reflection and change http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm
Sample boxes contain practical
On line student supervision project – resources for field educators http://www.socialworksupervision
.csu.edu.au/

Global context of practice

Social change online http://www.socialchange.net.au
information, examples and scenarios
Poverty, inequality and globalisation http://www.globalissues.org/
Opportunities for international aid work http://www.australianvolunteers.com
United Nations Development Program http://www.undp.org

Indigenous affairs
to help you to engage with the field
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care http://www.snaicc.asn.au
Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/

Practice areas placement process.

Information on a range of population groups in Australia
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare http://www.aihw.gov.au
Australian Council of Social Service http://www.acoss.org.au

185

An appendix lists reputable websites so

that you can extend your reading and find
key organisations.

Online Resources
Visit http://www.cengage.brain.com and search for this text to access the online resources that
come with this book. The companion website contains key weblinks, additional examples of learning
agreements, and blank forms from the text for you to download.

For instructors
Access your instructor resources via http://login.cengage.com.

Artwork
Digital files of the images from the text are available for use in a variety of media. Add them into your
course management, use them within student handouts or copy them into lecture presentations.

x
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the Department of Social Work and Social Policy, La Trobe University, for supporting
me while I wrote this edition, and the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, University
of Queensland, who accommodated me for six months while the first edition was written.
Helen Cleak

I sincerely thank all the students and field educators who taught me what I know about field education,
and the staff in the Field Education Unit at the University of Queensland who gave me very valuable
feedback on drafts – thanks, Diana and Mary.
Jill Wilson

We also wish to thank the talented team at Cengage Learning who nurtured the book from manuscript
to finished product, especially Rebekah Jardine-Williams (formerly of Cengage Learning), who believed
in the concept of this book from the start and was the linchpin of the first edition.
We are indebted to all the students, field educators and social work colleagues who have shared
their fieldwork stories and experiences over the decades. Special thanks to colleagues from the Vic-
torian Combined Schools of Social Work who supported the initial concept for this book and to col-
leagues in the field education unit at the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, whose
contributions over many years are reflected in the book. All continue to develop ideas around best
practice in fieldwork education.
Our thanks also go to the following reviewers, who provided incisive and helpful feedback:

Jennifer Cartmel, Griffith University

Hilary Gallagher, Southern Cross University
Cate Hudson, University of South Australia
Teresa Lynch, University of South Australia
Neil Mellor, University of the Sunshine Coast
Amanda Nickson, James Cook University

Finally, thanks to family and friends who contributed ideas and who understood that we were not
available for other activities during the last hectic months. Your support is invaluable.

xi
PART 1
PRE-PLACEMENT PLANNING

Planning for field placement is an important activity for the student

and supervisor, as well as the agency and the training institution.
For the student, placements mark particular stages of their studies –
points they have reached by successfully completing a range of
courses or subjects. Pre-placement planning helps students to
decide which placements may be suitable for them, what opportu-
nities and constraints may affect the successful completion of a
placement and, perhaps, whether this is the right time to undertake
a placement.
The current economic and managerial environment means that
the agencies that offer field placements are under increasing pres-
sure from funding bodies to improve their efficiency and productiv-
ity. Agencies may need to be assured by supervisors that offering a
placement won’t compromise their resources. Students might feel
that they are embarking on a period of unpaid labour, often at con-
siderable financial cost to themselves, and that they are doing the
agency a favour. There is also a greater number of courses requiring
work experience or field placement, so competition for placements
can be fierce. These realities have to be negotiated by all concerned.
Taking the time to prepare for field placement will increase the like-
lihood of its being successful. The processes outlined in the follow-
ing two chapters help in this planning process.

1
1 Preparing for placement –
student
CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION
The period of learning during which a student is located in a human service agency is called a place-
ment, a field placement or, in North America, a practicum. A placement is usually valued by students
and remembered long after many other aspects of academic courses are forgotten (Shardlow & Doel
1996, p. 4). Real-life experiences can be very influential in shaping hopes and fears for subsequent
placements (O’Connor, Wilson & Setterlund 2003), as well as offering significant models of practice for
the future.
It is estimated that social work students spend up to one-third of their academic time in their place-
ments and preparing well for placement is important (Fernandez 1998). The success of a placement will
be enhanced by spending some time thinking through a number of important steps before the place-
ment begins. This chapter will help you to lay the foundations for a successful placement by clarifying
your preliminary expectations and learning needs and offering some strategies to negotiate a successful
placement.
If this is your first placement, you are likely to want to test out whether a career in human services
is for you. Perhaps you want to know if you can do it without too much personal pain. Does your devel-
oping identity as a human service worker ‘fit’ with who you are? Are you ready for placement?
If this is your second or subsequent placement, you will have a good idea of the issues involved in
selecting and making the most of a placement. If your previous placement was a great experience, you
will be keen to repeat it. If it was less than satisfactory, or if it is a repeat placement, you will have spe-
cific agendas about what you want and need to achieve. Whatever the experience in your first place-
ment, you need to try to not let unfinished business from your first placement affect your new one.
The person in the agency who is primarily responsible for the student’s learning tasks and who
undertakes the final evaluation of the student may be called field educator, field instructor, practice
teacher, clinical teacher, teacher or supervisor; we will refer to ‘supervisors’ in this manual. Talking with
your new supervisor about your gains and losses in previous experiences is one way of helping to keep
the two placements separate.

WHAT IS A FIELD PLACEMENT?

Field placement offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself and how you generate and use infor-
mation as a human service practitioner. It also gives you an opportunity to develop a professional
value-base and to understand the nature of your future practitioner role. A good placement engages

2
 1
Preparing for placement – student

you in a range of tasks that extend your professional skills and knowledge, and tests out your real inter-
est in and suitability for this career.
There are tasks associated with planning the beginning, middle and end of placement. At each stage
there is the opportunity to capitalise on the opportunities offered and learn from mistakes. These stages
are characterised in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Stages of

2 placement

4
1 5

3
Stages
1 Exiting from your training institution and anticipating placement:
a ‘This placement will be great.’
b ‘This placement meets many of my needs, but there are still some niggles.’
c ‘This placement is not great, really, but is the best I could get at the time.’
2 Getting started:
a Does your supervisor meet your expectations?
b Can you engage with the tasks outlined in the learning agreement?
c How have you been received by other staff and clients?
3 During placement:
You feel disappointed because your placement doesn’t meet all your expectations.
a Can you learn to successfully manage frustration and feelings of aloneness?
b Can you learn from situations that don’t go well?
4 Later in the placement:
You develop a more realistic perspective about:
a the quality of your relationship with your supervisor
b balancing the ‘wins’ and ‘losses’
c placing yourself in the broader context that impacts on your work with clients.
5 Finishing up:
a You reflect on what has been achieved.
b You learn from missed opportunities.
c You develop self-awareness and maturity as a human service practitioner.

GOALS OF A PLACEMENT
Each training institution has its own requirements and goals. Some of the essential fieldwork goals for
any placement are:
• to provide students with exposure to evidence-based knowledge and theories in the various
approaches and interventions used in human service programs
• to help students extend their understanding of professional roles and sense of professional identity
• to broaden students’ cultural understanding and competence

3
PART 1 Pre-placement planning

• to improve students’ interpersonal skills

• to apply critical thinking skills to inform professional judgement
• to help students extend their self-awareness and skills as reflective practitioners.

HOW TO CHOOSE A PLACEMENT

Matching a placement to your personal and professional goals is not easy. What may be challenging to
one student might be overwhelming to another and boring to someone else (Collins, Thomlison &
Grinnell 1992, p. 3). These authors compare the process of choosing a placement to that of children
going to a lolly shop with their parents. The children are able to choose one item and are given some
time to ponder their decision, but once it is made, it is final and the item is paid for. Never mind that
the child did not know that their lolly had peanuts! The choice of placements can be tempting, but the
selection process is limited and knowing about the peanuts is your responsibility and must be lived
with unless the circumstances are extreme (p. 37). Your choice can be guided by the following three
questions: What is in it? Will I like it? Can I have it?
Training institutions have different ways of organising placements for students in their human ser-
vice programs. In some, placements are organised with very little input from students; in others, stu-
dents are expected to negotiate their own placement, or they have some choice. It is more likely that
there is a scarcity of available placements, and this may result in fierce competition between students
and between programs to secure placements. Some agencies, by the nature of their service, have very
clear requirements that will make some placements unavailable to you (e.g. a male student would not
usually be placed in a domestic violence refuge, a family therapy service may not want to take an inex-
perienced student, and a multicultural agency may require a student to speak a particular language).
If your program offers some choice, you need to prepare for the process of selecting a placement
well before you begin the stage of final negotiation.
Where you do your placement will often be a compromise between important considerations, such as:
• the availability of placements
• the factors that best help you to learn
• your expectations for the placement and your ambitions for practice when you graduate
• the practical considerations in balancing placement with the rest of your life.
A successful placement will have the necessary ingredients to make it workable and meet your per-
sonal and educational needs.
Of course, the course coordinator is responsible for helping you with your academic preparation for
placement, as well as providing information about the variety of available placements. They will prob-
ably give you specific guidelines and expectations for placement, so read this chapter in conjunction
with these. If your program allows you some choice, it is helpful to work through a self-assessment
process to ensure that you can make an informed choice.

ARE YOU READY?

Social workers work with the most disadvantaged groups in our society and this requires us to be
knowledgeable, ethical, proficient and accountable. Although your training institution may have
assessed you as academically ready to embark upon a placement, it is common for students to feel ill-
prepared and even scared about undertaking a placement.
Social workers, like most other professional groups, can never be truly competent and need to
engage in lifelong learning, so the question is really ‘Can I practise safely and can my engagement and
interventions make a difference in people’s lives?’ For a student, this ability is a gradual process of mas-
tery which the placement can offer through exposure to the world of work, and feedback and instruc-
tion through supervision, discussion and the use of learning tools.

4
 1
Preparing for placement – student

Ask yourself the following questions about your readiness to undertake a placement:
• Do you feel able to conduct a basic interview including engaging, gathering basic information in
order to make an assessment and intervention plan?
• Can you identify some of your practice frameworks, such as theories? For students on their first
placement, what you need at this point is
• to be able to identify a number of different practice approaches
• to have some ability to use at least one practice approach in an intervention with a client, group
or community group.
• Have you an ability to be self-reflective, self-critical and able to receive and use feedback?
• Are you able to structure and write a social work report, an assessment or a formal letter?
• Have you some understanding and ability to respond sensitively to diversity and cultural differences?

PLANNING FOR PLACEMENT

The following steps provide you with the basic information you need to consider in planning for your
placement. If you have already done a placement, then include that experience in your review.

Step 1: Self-assessment
Students often worry that their lack of practical experience will disadvantage them, and they forget that
they usually have had some experiences that will help them with the demands of placement (Royse,
Dhooper & Rompf 1993, p. 28).

Conduct an audit
The first step is to conduct an audit of the things that you bring to the placement. It comprises the skills,
knowledge and experience that you have gained throughout your life and includes the following:
• Education history – including specialisations such as politics, women’s studies, criminology, and
mental health. Education provides useful background knowledge in most placements. The learning
achievements of a previous placement would also be relevant.
• Work history – including paid and voluntary work in welfare-oriented or other fields. Previous work
experience gives you important knowledge and skills.
• Personal history – including any significant life events, such as being a parent, suffering the death of
a significant person, having a disability, migrating from another country, travelling, or other experi-
ences that have shaped your thinking and maturity.
All these experiences help in the next stage of identifying your practice framework.
In Chapter 2, there is an inventory for assessing your learning style (pp. 18–20). It may be helpful to
do this as part of the planning process to include in your skills and knowledge audit. Learning styles are
not fixed and it is important to consider ways in which you can expand your learning approaches on
placement to improve your capacity to maximise your learning experience. Your assessment could
enable you to identify, at the beginning of placement, what will help you learn during the placement.

Identifying your framework

A combination of knowledge, skills, values and purpose forms a framework for understanding the world
of practice, and how you use this framework depends, in part, on how you like to think things through.
In explaining your framework, perhaps you move from big ideas to particular incidents. For instance,
say you believe that the particular issues people face are a result of broader inequalities in society; this
overarching idea will affect your understanding of situations (your knowledge), and hence what
approach you will adopt (your skills). This knowledge and these skills are supported by a set of values –
for example, you believe in empowerment or self-determination. You might like to test out your broad
ideas by thinking about particular situations. Consider the following example.

5
PART 1 Pre-placement planning

You are discussing with your siblings who should pay for repairs to a house that was bequeathed to your widowed mother. Your mother
has an adequate but not extensive income. The will states that if your mother dies, the house will become the property, in equal shares,
of the surviving siblings. You feel that you should not be trying to maximise any potential gain for yourself in this situation, as, unlike
your siblings, you don’t have any dependants. The discussion covers issues about whether your mother should contribute to the cost of
repairs, whether all the siblings should contribute, and to whom the house really belongs.
Your responses indicate something about what you believe and know in this situation. You think that as it is your mother’s house
you should support her to stay there as long as she likes. As she looks after the house, you feel that she should not have to make a
further contribution now. Would you feel differently if you had a family of your own for whom you had to provide? Would you think equal
shares were fair when the other siblings have spouses who work? The different situations of each of your siblings might highlight
different value positions.

Workers often experience a gap between what they say in principle and what they ought to do in
practice. Exploring this gap helps them to identify their ideal in relation to what is real in a given situa-
tion. Thinking about these gaps may give you ideas about areas of knowledge, skills and values you
might like to work on in placement.
Your self-assessment (Exercise 1.1) will help you to explain to your potential supervisor what mat-
ters to you about human services, what you know about and what you know how to do.

Exercise 1.1
Fill out this table to identify your knowledge, skills and values in the three key areas of education, work and personal history.

What do you know? What skills do you have? What are the main values that you hold?
From your studies
From your work experience
From your life in general

From this review you will be able to identify:

• what is of core interest to you at this time
• what framework of skills, knowledge and values currently underpins your hopes for achievement in your chosen profession
• where your framework needs to be developed further.

Step 2: The placement setting

Once you have identified what interests you in relation to your current abilities, the next stage is to make
the link between these interests and the type of agency that you consider would help you to capitalise on
your assets and meet your goals. To identify a placement that is likely to suit you, consider the following.

What type of agency would you prefer?

Information about the agency could include the focus of the work, its size, the number of staff and how
bureaucratic it is; it may also indicate the rules and regulations you will have to follow. Obviously, a
large bureaucratic setting will offer a different placement experience from a small voluntary agency.
Types of agencies include:
• government – federal, state and local
• non-government organisations (NGOs) which are often run by community organisations or churches
• private organisations that may make a profit.
How comfortable are you working in a small and more intimate setting in contrast to a larger and
less personal workplace? All human service agencies have both strengths and limitations. What could
each type of agency offer you? A larger organisation may provide more resources and opportunities for
observing different styles of practice. Some students feel more comfortable or familiar with an agency
in which guidelines are clear and lines of authority are explicit. A smaller organisation may offer a more

6
 1
Preparing for placement – student

intimate relationship with staff members, and you may be required to cover a greater range of tasks
because work roles are less regulated.
Consider your previous work experience or perhaps a previous placement. It may be appropriate
and important to experience a contrast to this. Do you have any preferences? If so, what are they and
why have you reached these conclusions?

What type of clients interest you?

Human service agencies provide services for people from a wide and diverse range of ages and back-
grounds. Due to specialisation within the field, most agencies target a particular segment of the popula-
tion (Kiser 2000). These groups include:
• aged people • offenders
• children • people with disabilities
• ethnic communities • students
• families • unemployed people
• people with mental health issues • veterans
• low-income earners • women
• men • young people.
Do you have particular life or work experiences that make working with any of these groups more
or less interesting? Sometimes it is better to avoid areas in which you already have such experiences. At
other times, these experiences have a lot to do with why you are doing the course, and you may prefer
to do placements in which you work with people to whom you already have a strong commitment.
You might choose to work with groups where you think you can make a difference so you may be
less interested if you think their issues are ‘permanent’ and practice is not going to make their issues
‘go away’. You may conclude that, in the latter situation, you would become too frustrated. This conclu-
sion may be an assumption and not reflect reality. You need to acknowledge such beliefs because they
will have an impact on your practice. You may be ‘giving’ others problems that really belong to you.

What issues interest you?

Human services vary in terms of their major goals and purpose. Some agencies offer a generalist service
to people with a range of issues, whereas others will specialise in one type of service. The particular
field of practice of an agency tells you about the specialised needs of the clients with whom you will be
working. Exercise 1.2 will help you identify your interests at present.

What skills do you want to gain?

It is important to consider what skills you want to gain from placement. Think about your starting
points for each of the following skills (agencies may be reluctant to offer you a placement if you have
few starting points):
• advocacy • information and referral
• casework • community development
• case management • research
• counselling • social policy
• emergency/trauma assistance • program development
• crisis intervention • group work.
What type of agency would best help you to gain the skills you have identified?

Step 3: Personal interests

Your motivation for and interest in pursuing this course has to be a major consideration in your choice
of a placement, although this may not be fulfilled in all of your placements. Your motivation may be
based on your future career aspirations, beliefs and passions, or strong feelings about certain fields or
approaches or human service issues.

7
PART 1 Pre-placement planning

Exercise 1.2
Use the following list to determine your interest in these different fields of practice. Are there areas you particularly want to avoid at
this time? If so, why?

Field Level of interest

Addictions (drugs, alcohol, eating disorders)
Ageing (including community care and residential care)
Child protection
Child and family welfare (foster care, parent support, residential care)
Corrections
Crisis support
Disability
Education
Employment assistance
Family violence
Health (hospital and community)
Homelessness (youth, adult and family)
Income security
Information and referral
Legal
Mental health
Rehabilitation

Practical considerations
Your choice of placement may be affected by domestic and personal circumstances such as:
• Location: How far are you prepared to travel to the agency?
• Transport: Is the agency well serviced by public transport? If you use your car, does the agency pro-
vide a parking bay? In some agencies it is necessary to have a driver’s licence, if not a vehicle.
• Domestic issues: Do you have flexibility in your working hours, or do you have responsibilities to
pick up children, attend to a family member, go to work and so on?
• Financial considerations: You may need to consider a local placement to reduce the cost of public
transport or using your car. If the agency expects you to use your car, can you afford this? Will the
agency reimburse your costs?
• Police clearance: Most agencies now require students to provide evidence that they don’t have a
criminal history of concern to the agency. If in doubt about your own circumstances, it is
important to check this out with your training institution or in the interview when you meet
your supervisor.
• Immunisation: Some agencies now request that students be immunised if they are going to work in
settings where they may be exposed to infection. This can be expensive and uncomfortable for
some, so it may be important for you to ask.
• Time or workload constraints: Do you need a part-time placement? This will be determined largely
by your training institution, but it may be a positive option. This may limit what kind of placement
you can choose, as many agencies want a full-time placement, but some agencies do prefer a
part-time student because of staffing or space considerations. You should ask yourself how a part-
time placement might help or hinder your learning.

8
 1
Preparing for placement – student

Step 4: The pre-placement interview

The purpose of the pre-placement interview is to find out whether this placement has the broad poten-
tial to meet your learning requirements. You will, therefore, need to be clear about your requirements
before you meet with your supervisor. Exercise 1.3 comprises some useful questions to think about.

Exercise 1.3
1 What can you learn from this placement?
2 Is there sufficient scope for you to experience the aspect of practice in which you are interested?
3 What/how can you learn from your supervisor?

What do you need to know about the agency?

Supervisors are busy and would appreciate not having to describe the essential activities of their agency
if the information is available on the Internet or in a pamphlet. However, they need to know that you
are interested enough to research the field and that you have a broad understanding of the function of
the agency, the client group(s) that it serves and, perhaps, some of the types of services it provides.
Write a list of relevant questions to help focus the interview.
If the agency is nearby, you can get this information by dropping in to look around and obtain an
annual report or pamphlets. Don’t expect to chat to your supervisor or other workers at this point. Talk
to other students and staff from the training institution or look up the agency’s website. Staff at your
training institution will usually have information and ideas to help you research the agency or the field
of practice.

What do you want to find out at the interview?

Make a list of the practical considerations you want to discuss at the interview. Some considerations
may be:
• Will you use an agency car or your own car for work? Does the agency reimburse transport costs?
• Do you require a driver’s licence?
• Are you likely to be included in agency meetings?
• Where will you sit? Do you have a computer and telephone and, if not, how can you access one?
• What are the requirements regarding starting times, lunch breaks, finishing times, any out-of-hours
work?
• What are the likely tasks of the placement?

Step 5: Applying for a pre-placement meeting

It is becoming more common for supervisors to want more control over the selection process, and so
students may be asked to write a letter of introduction or provide a curriculum vitae (CV) before a
placement interview is offered. You may be expected to come well prepared to present yourself and
your learning needs and to have an understanding of the agency, their work and why you would like to
work there. There may be more than one staff member at the interview and they may want you to pres-
ent some examples of your work, an academic transcript or perhaps a previous field placement evalua-
tion. A summary of the self-assessment exercises above could be sent or shared.

Step 6: Meeting your supervisor

You will often meet your supervisor for the first time at the pre-placement interview. The research is
clear that a positive supervisory relationship is the most important predictor of student satisfaction with
their placement, and effective supervision is most likely to occur when there is a match between the
learning needs of the student and the approach of the supervisor (Alle-Corliss & Alle-Corliss 1998,
p. 65). However, it can be very difficult to assess your personal and academic compatibility with a

9
PART 1 Pre-placement planning

supervisor in one interview. In addition, your institution may not give you much choice about where
you do your placement.
Your expectations are crucial to the success of your placement. It is best to aim for a ‘good enough’
relationship with your supervisor. Remember that you may have an excellent learning experience with
someone who has a very different view of life. The best placements are those in which you have taken
some risks and been challenged beyond your comfort zone.

Exercise 1.4
From the list below, select three attributes of an effective supervisor that will be crucial to your learning on placement. Select
another two that are desirable but not essential.

Attributes During the pre-placement interview

Your supervisor has the time to supervise you. Your supervisor offers adequate time for the interview, appears
prepared and not exhausted, has already thought about some
tasks for placement and has prepared information for you.
Your supervisor supervises in a way that is complementary to Your supervisor discusses the style of supervision, how often it
your style of learning. will take place and the expectations for the content of
supervision. He or she may use different methods of supervision
(e.g. process recordings, observations).
Your supervisor’s personality will not clash too much with For example, does your supervisor have a sense of humour? Is his
your own. or her office too tidy or too messy?
Your supervisor has expertise and ability. Your supervisor has experience in the field and is able to
articulate his or her knowledge and skills.
Your supervisor has the ability to share knowledge and skills. Your supervisor has experience in supervising staff and students
and is able to talk about his or her knowledge and skills in an
inclusive and accessible way.
Your supervisor is open to your ideas and values difference. Your supervisor asks questions about your goals and views, does
not dominate the discussion, and is respectful of your ability and
background.
Your supervisor is willing to allow you to experience a range Your supervisor is not overprotective of clients, allows you access
of practice situations. to staff activities, discusses ways to involve you, and assists you
to develop autonomy and self-directed learning as the placement
progresses.
Your supervisor has involved the agency and other staff. The administrative staff respond positively to you. The supervisor
involves other staff in the interview or in the placement.
Your supervisor is honest and self-aware. Your supervisor does not appear defensive about his or her work
or knowledge and is able to say what he or she does not know.

After your initial meeting you will have formed impressions of each other and will have some
preliminary expectations of supervision: Can you trust your supervisor? Does your supervisor seem
interested in you as a person? Are you interested in what motivates your supervisor as a practitioner?
Reviewing Exercise 1.4 after the pre-placement interview helps you to decide whether your supervisor
can offer you effective supervision.
The important items that you should have answers to at the conclusion of this interview include:
• your field educator’s own professional background and experience, including his or her placement
supervision and other supervision experiences
• whether your broad learning goals for the placement can be met
• whether your potential supervisor is interested in you and what you bring to the placement
• the frequency, length and availability of the supervisor for formal supervision
• the range of other people who will be involved in supervision
• whether specific learning and/or practical needs have been discussed and resolved
• the degree of access to other people in the organisation.

10
 1
Preparing for placement – student

Be careful of placements that will only allow you to do administrative tasks that will not extend your
skills and knowledge. Most agencies require all staff to undertake some administrative activities, such
as answering telephones and photocopying, so students should expect to contribute in this way. How-
ever, it is important that you have work that is relevant to your learning goals and that your tasks
include appropriate professional practice with or on behalf of individuals, groups, families and com-
munities.

SUMMARY
Taking the time to prepare for placement by thinking about what you want and what you need will help
you to negotiate a successful placement and begin it with realistic and positive expectations. Planning
will also help you to make the best use of the initial interview with your supervisor and to set some
practical objectives, so that your experience on placement will challenge you to learn new skills and
methods or practice without overwhelming you.

11
2 Preparing for placement –
supervisor
CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION
You are a worker in a busy human service agency. You receive a call from a university, a TAFE or a stu-
dent to inquire whether you will take a student on placement. Or perhaps your team leader approaches
you to supervise a placement, and you have been thinking about supervising a student for some time.
A number of factors could be helpful to consider at this point:
• Are you ready to have a student on placement?
• Do you have time to spend with a student?
• Is your organisation able to support a student placement and, if so, what sort of work would be
available for the student?
• What support will you have in supervising a student?
• How will you determine the right ‘fit’ between you, the agency and the student?
• What do you know about teaching?
• What characteristics of supervision do you think are important?
Research suggests that the most important ingredient in your readiness to have a student is that you
want to teach!
In many cases, the only models of supervision that workers have are those they experienced as stu-
dents or as participants in other training courses. Your experiences of being supervised, either as a stu-
dent or as a staff member, will play a part in shaping your work as a placement supervisor.
Why do you want a student on placement? Is it:
• an opportunity to reflect on your own clinical practice
• to keep you up to date to with the latest theories and approaches
• for the development of other skills, such as teaching and supervising
• for the satisfaction of seeing the student grow
• to support your profession
• to serve as a mentor and role model.

Exercise 2.1
Make a note of three characteristics of supervision that you valued and three things that concerned you as a student in your place-
ment or within staff supervision. Examine your list. Do you think you will be able to offer the first three characteristics and avoid the
second three?

12
 2
Preparing for placement – supervisor

For example, students may value the following characteristics:

• They are given the opportunity to get involved in the work fairly quickly.
• They are given feedback about what they do well, as well as what they do less well.
• They have time and space to try new things.
They may be concerned about the following:
• They are asked to spend a lot of time analysing details when they are already very busy.
• They are left too much to work things out for themselves.
• There is no appropriate time and space for thinking things through.
As a worker, you are probably more flexible in how you learn, but you should remember that your
student might have a more dominant learning style. Most students are interested in getting involved
quickly in practice situations, but this may be more difficult for a student in your agency – it is impor-
tant to ensure, however, that your student is given some ‘doing’ things in the early days. You also need
to remember that students who seem quite competent should not be taken for granted and asked to do
more and more. Students can be asked to do so much that their learning is compromised. It is impor-
tant for students to have an appropriate space and access to the facilities they need to do a placement
in your agency.

PREPARING FOR PLACEMENT

Is your agency ready?
It is difficult to find an agency that does not experience uncertainty and crises, and it is helpful for stu-
dents to observe how agencies adapt and change as a response. However, students need an environ-
ment that is stable and resourced enough so that they are not confronted with chaos on a daily basis.
Having a student on placement does make demands on staff time and energy and can interfere with
established work patterns, so staff need to be willing to welcome a temporary new member and to
spend time with them.

Can your agency offer a good placement?

Students generally report that they learn a great deal from all agency staff and that this is a valuable as-
pect of being on placement. As the placement supervisor, you are responsible for ensuring that students
are given opportunities to interact with other staff, that staff know what they can ask the student to do,
and that the student is clear about lines of accountability. You are generally responsible for the stu-
dent’s workload, so you need to know what they are already doing and what others are asking them to
do. Information and support on placement comes from many sources, both from within and outside
your agency. Perhaps it helps to consider that being a placement supervisor is like being a conductor in
an orchestra – you bring things together, you know what is happening, you help the student to make
sense of their part in the whole process and show them how they can fine-tune their performance, but
you can’t run around playing all the instruments yourself.
If you are likely to be very busy and unavailable for certain periods, then co-supervise with a col-
league. Task supervision by another staff member, or supervision provided by the training institution or
a part-time placement may be other ways to offer a viable placement.
Sometimes having more than one student on placement means the students can support each other
and solve problems together, instead of relying on the supervisor for ideas and feedback. Group super-
vision may improve time management, but it can mask individual learning problems, so should be sup-
plemented by one-to-one supervision. If support is available from the student’s training institution, it is
generally a good idea to say, as early as possible, if you think that extra input from the institution would
be helpful.

Does your agency have work for a student?

Students need defined tasks for their placement. They need the opportunity to reach agreed objectives
in their work with individuals, groups or communities. A range of issues can arise in allocating work:

13
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 TO BACCHUS.

The poet sings in love-sick verse

Plaints thy goblets soon disperse;
Pluck the willow from his head,
’Twine the vine-leaf in its stead,
Fill the bowl with drink divine,
Give the wounded minstrel wine;
And the fool now fraught with pain,
Ne’er shall weep for love again.
See! it scarcely stains his lips,
Yet to draughts have turned his sips.
Subtle raptures swiftly fill
Every vein with fiery thrill;
Long before its rage is o’er
Pants the reeling wretch for more;
Squeeze the grape, fill high the bowl,
Wine shall cheer the wounded soul.
Let the ruddy torrent flow,
Heal all wounded hearts below,
Freely let the red stream pour,
With its storm the blood shall roar;
Surges of mad ecstacy
Shall embroil life’s phantasy;
Clouds of joy before the brain
Dull the deeper sense of pain.
Love is great; but in life’s dream
Wine alone shall reign supreme;
To old Bacchus! drink and sing;
Cupid’s Victor! Pleasure’s King!
 LOVE’S WHISPERS.

I hear soft breathings in the gentle breeze,

Though whence or how they spring I cannot tell.
They whisper on the hill and in the dell,
Along the streamlets and among the trees;
Like the sweet humming of a thousand bees
In harmony, as if some magic spell
Fashioned the dew to music as it fell,
Like merry mermaids, chanting ’neath the seas,
Or fairy chorus in a moon-lit grove,
Or band of nightingales, each to its rose
Trilling of love when all things else repose.
Such sweet sounds haunt me wheresoe’er I rove
Shaping themselves to words that sing to me,
“Happy art thou of men, thy loved one loves but thee!”
WORK.
Work! use all thy will, give all thy might,
Ply all thy strength,
Until the golden dawn of early light
Shall change at length
Into deep purple shades, soft, pure and bright,
That bring glad tidings of the peaceful night.

Work! while the subtle seasons onward roll

In certain course,
The ways of this frail world to help control;
That keen remorse
In life’s last moment—’ere thy deeds unroll
May strike no sudden anguish to thy soul.

Work! taking lessons from the mighty Past,

What men have done;
Yet let not those old masters hold thee fast,
They have begun;
What later souls must finish. They have cast
The first stones at earth’s evil—not the last.

Work! but seek not false Ambition’s flame

To light thee on;
Not so the men of wisdom ever came
In days long gone;
No sordid dream,—no bare desire for Fame
Has left on Memory’s lips one worthy name.

Work! in the hope of sowing seedlings great;

Let others reap,—
That, when stern Nature bids thy step abate,
Thy body sleep,
Thy soul shall tremble not at Death’s dark gate,
But calm and sure shall meet its After-Fate.
WHERE BLUE BELLS NOD.

Where blue-bells nod beneath the trees

And violets scent the summer breeze
I love to lie the whole day long
And listen to the wild bird’s song,
While bees hum in their harmonies.

Proud wealth can buy its days of ease,

But not made up of hours like these;
To none doth rank or fame belong
Where blue-bells nod.

In vain the arts may strive to please

The sense with novel images;
For me, this sweet, cool fern among,
All Nature’s right, all Art is wrong;
Ah! leave me with my birds and bees,
Where blue-bells nod.
 LOSS AND GAIN.

Since thou hast come the world and I have parted,

Like chance-met friends whom love has never chained,
Away it spins, mad-brained and merry-hearted,
While I count o’er what I have lost and gained.
My losses are the breath of idle greeting,
The siren-song of pleasure, folly’s laugh,
Wealth’s patron smile, the pedant’s wit most fleeting,
And all that goes to make youth’s epitaph.
My gain is thee, who hath removed my blindness,
Torn off the mask of sin, stript shame’s disguise,
Shown me man’s frailty, taught me gold’s unkindness,
And made a very heaven beneath the skies.
So do I feel like one from dreams awaking
Who laughs at night and all its foolish making.
 TRIO.

FOUNDED ON A WELL KNOWN PASSAGE OF DANTE.

I.

Do you remember, dear, the day we sat

And read together from an old love-book
Alone in that sweet, calm, sequestered nook
Which Nature made for souls to marvel at?
Beneath us stretched a soft and shining mat
Of velvet verdure; leaves and blossoms shook
As songsters all their melodies forsook
To hear a legend from Love’s laureate
We knew no fear, for there was no one by,
The stream seemed in its ripple to repeat
That tale of Lancelot, so sadly sweet,
Whom love enthralled in endless slavery.
Ah, me! there is no greater grief than when we feel
The thought of happier days o’er present sorrows steal.

II.
 When from your lips the words fell on mine ear
Full many a thought our souls together drew
In sympathy, that with the story grew
Still more intense, and oh! so wondrous near.
Our eyes were dimmed by Love’s all-pitying tear
And from our cheeks the blushing colour flew
As if ashamed of its divulgent hue;—
How well we understood the story, dear!
The blue vault overhead bore not a cloud
Upon its surface; on our sky of love
Not e’en the shadow of a sigh did move,
Where now the soul-storm rages long and loud.
Ah, me! there is no greater grief than when we feel
The thought of happier days o’er present sorrows steal.

III.

But one sweet passage from the book you read

The o’ergrown bud of love contrived to burst,
And all the beauty it had warmly nursed
Broke in our trembling hearts and blossomèd.
Youth’s long-fought fire our unloosed fancies fed;
Our souls felt Love’s unsatiable thirst;
O! happiest moment then, but now the worst,
When life’s blue sky grew all aflame with red!
But when you told how that long looked for smile
Was kissed by noble Lancelot, then—then—
You kissed my quivering lips; nor read again;
And bliss eternal breathed in us awhile.
Ah, me! there is no greater grief than when we feel
The thought of happier days o’er present sorrows steal.
DE SENECTUTE.
Ninety years forever fled
Seem but ninety minutes past,
As I, waiting for the last,
Live alone among the dead.

Musing in the gloom and glow,

Lo! I see a ghostly train,
Spectres conjured by the brain,
Images of long ago.

From the soul rise strangled cries,

Death-groans from the sins it wrought;
From the mind spring buried thought,
Poisoned hopes, vain sympathies.

In a weird, phantasmal band,

Seen as though in life’s eclipse,
Perished women kiss my lips,
Dead men take me by the hand.

Infant figures glad with glee,

Cluster in unbidden band,
Clasp my old and palsied hand
Pulsing high with memory.

Pass light fingers through my hair,

Once like their’s all tangled gold,
Silvery now and thin and old,
Bleached with age and blanched with care.

Softly touch my parchment skin,

Laugh and touch again and ask
That I throw aside time’s mask,
Dull with years and dark with sin.

Look into my dim, dead eyes,

Di ith t th t t t
 Dimmer now with tears that start
From the little left of heart
That to those dear souls outflies.

Crowds of spirit-children pass,

Faces, lost long years ago,
Buds, soon buried in the snow,
Playmates—comrades in the class.

Chide me for my childish tears,

Bid me join the childish game,
Call me by a childish name
None have named for scores of years.

Youths, high-souled, with aims that age

Neither blighted nor betrayed,
Look with truth-lit eyes that made
Noble life’s short pilgrimage.

Friends whose friendship now I crave,

Hearts whose love I yet would feel,
One by one before me steal,
In and out my living grave.

All things I have seen and known,

Read in book and dreamed in dream,
Stand as true as they did seem
When I claimed them for my own.

I have tried the truth of life,

Kissed love’s lips till they grew cold,
Drained the cup and clutched the gold,
Mingled in the human strife.

Seen men come and go like leaves

Through the falls of many years,
Joined their laughter, shared their tears,
In the plot the great God weaves
In the plot the great God weaves.

Ninety years forever fled,

Seem but ninety minutes past,
And I, waiting for the last,
Live alone among the dead.
THE COMING OF SUMMER.
Grim Winter rose and girded on his sword
To battle with the world. At each swift blow
The wind hissed cold, and at the sound abhorred
Birds ceased their singing and the river’s flow
Stayed in its course, the sun’s warm glow
Reached not the flowers through the air’s dark frown,
The last leaves perished, and the crystal snow
Paled the soft bosom of the earth so brown
And all her pulsing life was frozen down.

Within Time’s wondrous palace of past years

Nature sat grieving on her ancient throne;
Her furrowed cheeks were wet with scalding tears,
And from her wrinkled mouth ’scaped many a moan;
For she was brooding on delights long flown,
When all was bright and happy and the land
Flourished in fruitfulness, and there was known
No sign of sorrow, ere stern Winter’s hand
Gave right of spoil to all his ruthless band.

“Ah me!” she cried aloud in accents sad,

“That ever son of Time should work such woe,
And he of all the offspring I have had,
The eldest, unto whom my love did go
Like streams that meadow margins overflow
With rainy surfeit for the thirsty earth;
Whom I had hoped from childhood would upgrow
Rich in high thought, bold deed and noble worth,
And yet Woe’s curse fell on him from his birth.”

In simple beauty Spring knelt gently down,

Kissed the sad tears from Nature’s care-worn face,
Smoothed from her thoughtful brow each troublous frown
With tender hands, that left of pain no trace,
And then upstood in modest maiden grace,
Saying: “Behold! mine hour hath come to me;
Saying: Behold! mine hour hath come to me;
I go to make my love a resting-place
Against his coming from beyond the sea—
A throne most fitting for his sovereignty.”

So Spring walked forth into the icy cold,

And as her first soft footfall touched the earth,
A joyous thrill on everything took hold,
And from the spot a snowdrop white had birth;
Then a bold robin piped across the dearth
Of frozen land a loud defiant sound;
Then Winter knew his power was little worth,
And sped him forth to higher vantage ground,
With all his yelling rout fast flying round.

The birds set up a chorus of glad song,

Watching their nests among the shady trees;
Insects in quick innumerable throng
Made live the earth and air; gold-laden bees
Scorned the fine butterflies that flew at ease
Among the blossomed beauties of the fields;
The strong young leaves defied the assaulting breeze,
Spreading the brightness of their verdant shields
To guard the nurseling fruit that Autumn yields.

Where the thin moonbeams cast their joys along

A verdured vale of rapturous delight
Spring caught the echoes of the herald’s song,
And saw the flowerets in the dead of night
Lift up their watchful faces, glad and bright,
And heard the birds soft singing through the shade,
Singing for Summer and the morning light;
Then sank her soul within her, and afraid,
She watched the circuit that the fast moon made.

As Death, unseen, poised high his vengeful dart,

And Nature knelt beside Spring’s fallen form,
Ni ht’ t t i ’ t d t
Night’s outer curtain ’gan to wave and part
Before the sun’s first breath, so bright and warm;
The diamond dew to rainbows did transform,
The flowers raised up their heads to their full height,
The breeze bore on its wings a music storm
As every bird sang forth in full delight
And loudest strain the sighings of the night.

And Spring, revived a little, moved her head,

And to her mother said, in accents mild:
“Before he comes, alas! I may be dead.
O hasten to him, mother, for thy child,
And give him this, I plucked it in the wild,
And tell him ere King Death his mantle throws
I would he kissed my lips, and on me smiled.
O haste thee, mother mine! take this white rose,
And bid him come my dying eyes to close.”

With her last word the golden door swung free,

A blaze of sunshine scattered all the gloom,
Sweet music rolled in a voluptuous sea,
The radiant air was filled with scent and bloom,
And Summer stood, the bravest-hearted groom
That ever bride had waited for and won;
But Spring lay like an image on a tomb,
Her too-short pilgrimage already done,
Her blue eyes closed, her latest breath begun:

And as her soul forsook its frail abode,

Golden-haired Summer, with a cry of pain,
Across the threshold of Time’s palace strode,
With tears that fell in showers like to rain,
Calling on Spring to come to life again.
But tears could not disturb her last repose,
And all the calling of his heart was vain.
Summer still thinks of Spring—his grief he shows,
When golden raindrops fall upon the rose.
g p p
 RONDEL.

God’s wisdom all my spirit fills

With faith that puts to flight all doubt,
The snow dissolving into rills
Refreshing earth from last year’s drought
Adown the peeping slopes of hills
Carve their increasing channels out,
God’s wisdom all my spirit fills
With faith that puts to flight all doubt.

The day that stirs, the night that stills;

Spring’s masque of flowers; rich summer’s rout;
Each wonder, far past finding out,
With joy and love my bosom thrills;
God’s wisdom all my spirit fills
With faith that puts to flight all doubt.
THE ABBEY WALLS.
This was the Abbey long years ago
When a priest was pious, a lord was brave
And a lady repeated her Ave slow
With fair eyes fixed on the architrave
As she heard a sanctified voice that clave
The clear bright air with a holy strain:
All have been lost in Time’s great wave—
Only the old grey walls remain.

One arch still stands of all the row

That circled the Abbey so tall and brave,
These flags as legend would have us know,
Are the very stones that used to pave
The cloister-walk, when a proud margrave
Heard from his hiding a love-talk plain
Which he never forgot and never forgave,
Only the old grey walls remain.

Here where the nettle and nightshade grow

By a nameless stone, is the quiet grave
Of a murdered priest;—they laid him low
Under the walk of the quiet nave.
’Tis whispered alas! that a dagger gave
A stab to the heart that brought no pain;
Of all the story that Time could save
Only the old grey stones remain.

ENVOI.

Ballade! To that dead lady go

Say Love still sings its sad refrain;
Of its lofty hope and sunny glow
Only its old grey walls remain.
 THE VIOLET.

Born in the night and christened with the dew,

The violet lifts its face for morning’s kiss;
And each fair petal, filled with Nature’s bliss,
Weaves from the sunshine a sweet robe of blue.
The birds look down and wonder how it grew,
For yesterday the leaves where now it is
Lay green i’ the grass, and nought was like to this,
Earth’s earliest counterfeit of Heaven’s hue.
The shy hepatica; the showdrop white;
The trebly mounted trillium; the blaze
Of golden daffodil with sunny rays—
Have all arisen in their beauty bright;
But none of Flora’s first-born can compare,
With this blue-blossomed darling of the air.
LA FARFALLA.
Bright little butterfly, mounting at morning
Over Love’s garden of sweet delight,
Heedless of harm and the honey-bee’s warning,
Bent upon pleasure, in pains despite.
Gaily thou flutterest, gaudily flaunting
All thy fair charms to the winds that kiss
Like a soul in elysian happiness haunting
New meadows of bliss.

When the first grey beam of the dawn uplifting

Shadows of sleep from a world of dreams,
From sea-marge to mountain and meadow-land drifting,
Lighted at last on thy wings’ bright gleams
Kissed thee and waked thee and whispered thee hasten
To herald the sun where it might not smite
In the deeps of dark dells where white flowers wasten
And languish for light.

Thou hast bathed in the sun-flashing spray that arises

From ripples that laugh on the brook’s fair face,
Thou hast gazed in the mirror that Nature devises
For Beauty’s delight in her own sweet grace,
Thou hast basked in the heat of the noon-tide splendour
When cricket piped high in the grass beneath,
And the blossoms that carried thy burden so tender
Were crowned with a wreath.

The lily grew pale for thou passed its perfection,

The violet bowed in a passion of grief,
The daisy had hope of thy gracious election,
The blue-bell despaired of its heart’s relief,
The hyacinth spread all its beauties before thee,
The marjoram blushed as it caught thine eye,
The mignonette flung its sweet fragrance o’er thee—
But thou passed them by.
Welcome to Our Bookstore - The Ultimate Destination for Book Lovers
Are you passionate about testbank and eager to explore new worlds of
knowledge? At our website, we offer a vast collection of books that
cater to every interest and age group. From classic literature to
specialized publications, self-help books, and children’s stories, we
have it all! Each book is a gateway to new adventures, helping you
expand your knowledge and nourish your soul
Experience Convenient and Enjoyable Book Shopping Our website is more
than just an online bookstore—it’s a bridge connecting readers to the
timeless values of culture and wisdom. With a sleek and user-friendly
interface and a smart search system, you can find your favorite books
quickly and easily. Enjoy special promotions, fast home delivery, and
a seamless shopping experience that saves you time and enhances your
love for reading.
Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and
personal growth!

ebooksecure.com