REFLECTIVE LEARNING IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN THE FIELD OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Reflective learning is very much part of social work education. A qualitative study was proposed with final-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa doing a course in the field of substance abuse. The participants completed a reflective exercise on abstaining from an aspect/habit/substance in their own lives for three weeks. Six themes emerged, namely abstinence from: depressants, stimulants, opioids, food, social media and bad habits. Findings indicated that students gained an insight into possible harmful patterns in their own lives as well as into the complexity of life-long abstinence in prospective clients’ lives. Recommendations are provided for social work education, practice and research.


REFLECTIVE LEARNING IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN THE FIELD OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE INTRODUCTION
After introduction of democracy in South Africa in 1994 social work education changed from norm-to outcomes-based education. This entailed the development of certain learning outcomes which social work students need to acquire before they could qualify as social workers. Challenges to meaningful assimilation of knowledge are posed by passive learning, where students merely repeat or reproduce others' ideas, parrotfashion, to pass a module, or strategic learning where students only learn "enough" to obtain a pass mark. There are also a significant number of students who struggle to engage with their study material, failing to make it their own. To qualify as a social worker and achieve the required learning outcomes, it is important that students engage meaningfully and deeply with their studies rather than just attempt passive or strategic learning (Collins, 2014:2).
To quote : "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." Social work education is very much about "learning by doing" and demands a deeper or more thorough kind of learning than passive or strategic learning. Deep learning implies that the student attempts to make sense of big ideas. Deep learning is an essential part of preparing for the social work profession where theory and practice are integrated and where social work values and ethics should be internalised (Biggs, 2003;Collins, 2014). In the social work profession one's own connectedness to certain issues such as substance abuse could enhance a sense of self and one's approach to practice (Heron, 2005).
In professions such as social work it is vital to have a greater insight into one's own identity (including one's own personal life experiences and values) as well as into one's clients' identities. Reflective learning is a valuable way to achieve relevant learning outcomes and to develop insight into and knowledge of one's own identity as well as of clients' identities and challenges. Critical reflection can be viewed as deep learning and is crucial for a greater connectedness to social work issues. Specific learning outcomes will be more meaningful and contribute to preparation for social work practice if students learn by doing, thus through critically reflecting on an issue at hand (Davys & Beddoe, 2009;Herrington, Parker & Boase-Jelinek, 2014).
Critical reflection can be viewed as a core element of, and a highly effective and powerful tool in, social work education. It is during training that social work students have the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences and develop relevant skills for use in the future. Toporek and Worthington (2014) value reflective learning as a useful technique where students need to show sensitivity and humility in dealing with vulnerable clients. Clients who abuse substances are one of the vulnerable groups of clients social workers have to engage with. Stein (2008) argues that in the field of substance abuse it is important that social workers have insight into the complexity of addiction and the challenges an addicted person has to cope with. Social workers have to guard against having and fostering negative thoughts around substance abuse and addiction.

CONCEPTUALISATION AND THEORETICAL DISCUSSION
Reflection Dewey (1933) introduced the concept of reflection as an important component of learning and added that it was necessary to incorporate experiences into an existing framework of knowledge, taking into consideration a student's life experiences as well as current observations. White, Fook and Gardner (2006) observe that the journey of reflection is not easy and often uncomfortable. This journey could, however, also be liberating if one's shackles of complacency and ritualised patterns could be removed. Clarity is needed on what reflection entails, while those who claim to practise it should ensure that they indeed do so and are not merely analysing a learning experience. It is also important to ensure that students know and understand what is expected of them regarding reflection work, as this is nowadays very much part of tertiary students' curricula (Bellefeuille, 2006;Beytell, 2014;Cowan, 2014;Johns, 2010;Jones, 2009;Van den Heuvel, Au, Levin, Bernstein, Ford-Jones & Martimianakis, 2014).

Reflective learning
Reflective learning occurs in several fields such as teaching, nursing, paediatrics and social work. Some overlapping termsnamely reflexivity, critical reflection, transformative learning and action researchare also used to describe reflective learning. Reflective learning can be defined as "the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective" (Lam, Wong & Leung, 2007:93). Learning is thus an active and developmental process and is the responsibility of the individual. What one learns becomes part of a body of knowledge that is drawn upon in future reflective observations. Reflective learning can be viewed as a cumulative process during which past experiences and reflections will shape and construct future learning (Boyd & Fales, 1985cited in Lam et al., 2007. Reflective learning is more concerned with "who am I" and linking this with "what I do". It thus means being mindful of oneself during a learning experience. Several authors (Bozalek, Carolissen, Leibowitz, Nicholls, Rohleder & Swartz, 2010;Dyment & O'Connel, 2011;Johns, 2010;Lam et al., 2007) maintain that reflective learning is a very effective approach as students learn to discover themselves and are enabled to personally engage with their studies. Teater (2011) identified four steps educators could take in order to underpin successful learning in social work, namely to revisit the learning outcomes; to determine teaching methods and learning activities; to design assessment; and lastly to provide feedback and evaluate. These steps encourage students to reflect and assess critically what they have learned and how they can apply this knowledge. At the same time passive or strategic learning would be reduced.
Herrington, Reeves and Olivier (2010) identified three stages of reflection that students should apply in their studies (closely linked to the steps mentioned above): first by returning to the experience, indicating that the experience is understood and internalised; second, by attending to the feelings around this experience; and lastly re-evaluating the experience through integrating new knowledge into their conceptual framework. It is thus the mutual responsibility of educator and the student to ensure successful learning. The educator has the task of designing learning outcomes in such a way that students should meaningfully engage with their studies and also make what they have learned their own. Evaluation is also a dual, continuous process for educator and student. Reflective learning can be summed up as learning that involves active and successful intellectual and affective activities in which students engage to explore their experiences to lead them to new understandings and appreciations (Herrington et al., 2010). Herrington et al. (2010) also note the value of critical reflection in e-learning courses, where students are granted the opportunity to engage in meaningful reflection regarding relevant learning outcomes. Teräs and Herrington (2014) indicated how blogs could be useful for students for reflection during e-learning. Some authors (Heron, 2005;Herrington et al., 2010;Teater, 2011) also describe reflection as a form of debriefing which could assist the students to deal with certain issues in their lives in order to grow and develop. Nilvarankul, McCann, Rungreangkuljih and Wongprom (2011) and Yip (2006) add that reflection is a process of self-analysis and self-evaluation that could lead to self-enhancement.

Substance abuse
Substance abuse poses a major threat to the wellbeing of society, communities, families and individuals. The escalating problems and negative effects associated with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) are evident worldwide, in South Africa and specifically in the Western Cape (Department of Social Development, 2013). A variety of drugs can affect the wellbeing of people. Drugs are classified into categories according to their legal status, their chemical composition or the route of taking the drug (orally, intravenously, smoking, inhaling or snorting). According to Hitzeroth and Kramer (2010), there are broadly seven main groups of drugs, namely stimulants (such as coffee and tobacco), depressants (such as alcohol), hallucinogens (such as LSD), opioids (such as painkillers), cannabis (such as dagga), inhalants (such as thinners) and anabolic steroids (such as depo-testosterone).
Non-drug addictions commonly referred to as process addictions are also evident in society. Addiction to gambling, the internet, sex or eating could all be viewed as process addictions. Interestingly, the neurobiological features, antecedents, symptoms and treatment are similar for both drug addiction and non-drug addiction. With any addiction dopamine floods the brain and the brain chemicals ultimately change the make-up of the brain, resulting in an increased appetite for the drug or non-drug (Carlson, Matto, Smith & Eversman, 2006;Fisher & Harris, 2013).
It is inevitable that social workers will deal with the devastating consequences of AOD abuse. Addressing substance abuse is a specialised field in social work and social workers need knowledge and insight into the complexity of AOD. The aim at most of the rehabilitation centres is to aid life-long abstinence. Life skills and coping skills are taught in order to help clients to cope without AOD outside the rehabilitation centre. Social workers need an understanding of how difficult it is to never use AOD again and why relapses often happen when triggers and cravings arise (Fisher & Harris, 2013;Stein, 2008).
Social work intervention will be required when social workers are directly working in the field of substance abuse, but most social workers in other fields will also encounter challenges relating to substance abuse, as discussed below. Social work intervention could be indicated where children are neglected or abused as a result of parents who abuse substances. Teenagers who clash with the law often experience substance dependence problems that will require social work intervention. A link has been found between domestic violence and substance abuse, and social workers intervening with domestic violence cases often need to deal with substance abuse as well. In the field of gerontology, social workers often deal with clients who have become addicted to prescribed or other medicine (Drabble, 2007;Gardner & Poole, 2009;Mallow & Ward, 2009;Riger & Bennett, 2014). It is thus clear that social workers in all fields need some level of knowledge and skills for intervention in the area of substance abuse.
In dealing with substance abuse, reflective learning is of the utmost importance as students' attitudes in this regard could influence their dealings with their future clients. Fisher and Harris (2013:7) stress the value of a reflective exercise in substance abuse modules where students need to abstain from a certain substance or aspect for a certain period. This exercise allows them to examine their own inner journey of having a chance to change certain aspects of their own lives. The main purpose of such an exercise is to reflect on any harmful patterns they themselves exhibit and which might need change, but also to gain insight into the field of substance abuse and how difficult it is for an addictive person to abstain from AOD for a lifetime.
Reflective learning may thus enhance students' learning experience regarding substance abuse. This journey of getting to know oneself better is an important one for social workers who work in the field of substance abuse, as it would enhance their ability to help others. As mentioned before, people who seek help for their addiction are often vulnerable and it might be beneficial to receive help from social workers who can identify with them and respond effectively. Reflective learning provides one way through which social work students in the field of substance abuse can effectively combine the "who I am" with the "what I do". This entails taking a closer look at their own lives and experiencing the difficulty in abstaining from something for a period of time, as their potential substance abuse clients need to abstain from AOD for a lifetime (Fisher & Harris, 2013;Hall, Amodeo, Shaffer & Vander Bilt, 2000;Stein, 2008).

PROBLEM STATEMENT
From the discussion above it is clear that reflective learning should form an integral part of social work education. Although a significant number of studies (Bozalek & Biersteker, 2009;Dyment & O'Connel, 2011;Stein, 2008) have been done on reflective learning in social work, not much has been done on reflective learning in the field of substance abuse. In the light of the views of Herrington et al. (2010) as discussed earlier, it would benefit the social work profession to explore how reflective learning can be utilised so that students could engage with activities and explore their own experiences in order to gain new understandings and appreciations, in the field of substance abuse and specifically life-long abstinence.
The research question for this study was: What are the experiences of final-year social work students when abstaining from a certain aspect/habit/substance in their lives for three weeks in order to reflect on possibly harmful patterns in their own lives, and to gain new understanding and appreciation of lifelong abstinence?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The goal of this study was to explore the experiences of final-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa when they abstained from any aspect/habit/substance for three weeks in order to reflect on possibly harmful patterns in their own lives and to gain new understanding and appreciation of lifelong abstinence.
A descriptive design was used to present a picture of specific details of the reflective journey of the students. In addition an exploratory design was used to gain insight into the students' experiences of this reflective process they were engaged in (De Vos et al., 2011).
Criteria for inclusion were that all participants had to be final-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa. Non-probability, purposive sampling was done from a population consisting of final-year social work students. The whole population, namely all final-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa, participated in the study, thus total population sampling applied (Amrein-Beardsley, Zambo, Moore, Bus, Perry, Painter, Carlson, Foulgor, Olson & Pucket, 2012;De Vos et al., 2011;Kamler & Thomson, 2006;Maxwell, 2009:36).
Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethical committee of the university where the study was conducted. The research can be regarded as low risk regarding whether participants might have experienced discomfort or inconvenience. The goal of the research was explained to the participants and their informed consent was obtained. The identifying details of the participants were not supplied in the research and pseudonyms were used. Confidentiality was maintained throughout and the data were kept in a safe place (De Vos et al., 2011).

Data collection and analysis
Students were required to keep a journal for a period of three weeks with the purpose of encouraging critical thinking about dependency and to experience how challenging it is to abstain from something that is part of one's daily life, as can be seen from the assignment below: The data that were collected presented a "thick description". Data analysis was done by categorising the data (the completed reflection exercise) into different themes or categories. These observations were developed into certain themes. (The journal was for the students' own use and they were not required to hand it in.)  Forty-nine final-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa took part in the study. The age of the students varied between 21 and 35 years. Forty-six (94%) of the students were female and three (6%) male. The fact that the majority were female correlates with the tendency worldwide that most social workers are female (Dahle, 2012). Seven (14%) of the students were Black, 28 (57%) were White and 14 (29%) were Coloured.

Themes
Six themes emerged from the data, namely abstinence from depressants such as alcohol; stimulants such as tobacco; opioids such as pain-killers; food such as bread and sugar; social media such as Facebook; and bad habits such as excessive sleeping.

Theme 1: Depressants
Two of the participants (4%) indicated that they wanted to stop drinking excessively as illustrated by the following excerpts.
"I am going to try to leave binge drinking. This happens over week-ends and also at nights when I work as a bartender. I did a pregnancy test a couple of days ago which came out positive… This helped me to stop the binge drinking, as I want the best for my baby. This is however not easy, as my body still craves after the alcohol. I also quit my job as bartender, but this means I do not have any income…" (Laura) "I decided to give up alcohol for three weeks. I chose alcohol because it is something that I have become quite dependent on for fun, socialising and to relax. I managed to refrain from alcohol for only a few days before drinking again. I work at a bar...…Although I managed to abstain from binge drinking episodes for three weeks, I did feel disappointed in myself for not being able to completely abstain from alcohol. From my experience, I feel that if an addict is surrounded by people and an environment which advocate the use of a substance, they will really struggle to give up that substance. I gained better understanding of what it is like to try to live with something that I am used to having. Therefore I have more appreciation towards recovering addicts and I am able to empathise more effectively with addicts." (Sophie) It is significant that these students seemed to have developed insight into the consequences of excessive use of alcohol. Laura could identify with experiencing cravings, as was discussed during lectures. A craving refers to a person's longing to use a certain drug again after he or she has stopped using it (Fisher & Harris, 2013). Laura also realised the danger of the alcohol for the unborn baby. This was also discussed during lectures. Sophie pointed out the people and environment that play a role in an addictive person's life (Fisher & Harris;2013;Hitzeroth & Kramer, 2010). It is noteworthy that 4% of the sample admitted that they experienced problems with alcohol. What is significant is that these are young adults and, if they do not attempt to control excessive drinking, it might lead to dependency. Although this was not a representative sample, alcohol abuse poses a health risk to students who engage in excessive drinking.

Theme 2: Stimulants
Fifteen of the 49 participants (31%) indicated that they wanted to reduce their intake of stimulants. Eight of the 15 students (53%) wanted to reduce their caffeine intake. Seven (47%) wanted to quit smoking or reduce their smoking. Dawn indicated that she substituted tea for coffee. A substitute drug is often used to replace the current drug of choice (although it is evident that this participant did not use harmful drugs). Both Dawn and Celeste indicated how difficult it was to give up coffee, although caffeine is not as harmful as other more dangerous substances. They also indicated what triggers played a role during this exercise. A trigger might be any stressful situation or painful memory that might lead to use of the drug again (Fisher & Harris, 2013). West and Roderique-Davies (2008) affirmed that caffeine withdrawal symptoms included headaches. Both participants also mentioned that they developed insight into the difficulty of abstaining totally from a substance. It is meaningful that these students, although they did not use harmful stimulants, indicated that they experienced a small portion of the difficulty substance abuse clients face should they go for rehabilitation (Fisher & Harris, 2013 Both Judy and Maxine indicated the difficulty of giving up an addiction. Addiction is regarded as a disorder in which a person become intensely preoccupied with behaviour or an act that provides an appetitive effect. This appetitive effect affects the brain and occurs in several behavioural patterns in order to maintain the addictive habit. Part of an addiction disorder is the inability to choose to alter or stop the addictive pattern (Fisher & Harris, 2013). Judy also referred to the influence of friends and how difficult it is to give up something while your friends are still doing it. This correlates with literature that friends can cause an addictive person to relapse. A relapse is a return to uncontrolled drug or non-drug use, following a period of abstinence. Relapses are regarded as normal and most substance abuse clients have relapses (Dodge, Krantz & Kenny, 2010;Fisher & Harris, 2013). Both students mentioned how this exercise helped them to gain a better understanding of the challenges an addicted person has to face.

Theme 3: Opioids
Three participants (6%) indicated and acknowledged that they experienced problems with opioids as reflected by the following excerpts. It is noteworthy that all three participants indicated that they were addicted to painkillers. One of the respondents did go for treatment before she completed this reflective exercise. Leila indicated the supportive role of her friend. Rita mentioned her initial physical difficulty without the pills and also her craving. The literature (King, 2014;Stannard, 2012) points out the increase of addiction to pain-killers and sleeping tablets. It is a known fact that a significant number of people take medication to manage stress levels or pain. The role of medication in student's life should not be underestimated, as they do experience some levels of stress and anxiety regarding their studies. The danger of getting addicted to opioids if not managed properly should be noted.

Theme 4: Food
Eighteen of the participants (37%) mentioned that they wanted to change some or other eating habit. The food they wanted to reduce or eliminate varied from sugar Although the 18 students who completed their reflective journey did not suffer from any serious eating disorders such as anorexia, they all indicated the difficulty trying to abstain from certain foods and also indicated that they had gained insight into how difficult it is to break destructive habits. Research (Fisher & Harris, 2013;Matusek & Knudson, 2009) emphasises the hard road to recovery from an eating disorder. Recovery in many ways is more complicated than the eating disorder itself. Yiend, Parnes, Shepherd, Ross and Cooper (2014) also indicated the correlation between negative selfbeliefs and eating disorders. It is significant to note that 37% of the participants made use of this reflective exercise in trying to develop healthier eating habits. Most of these participants could not abstain from the food they wanted to give up.

Theme 5: Social media
Eight of the 49 participants (16%) indicated that they wanted to abstain from the social media as shown below:  , 2014). Some other participants mentioned that they wanted to give up watching Internet movies and listening to music while studying. Only a small number of the nine participants managed to abstain from social media for the whole three weeks and all of them indicated how difficult it would be to give up something for the rest of their lives.

Theme 6: Bad habits
Three of the 49 participants (6%) identified bad habits such as excessive sleeping and procrastination as aspects they wanted to change. Quinn, Pascoe, Wood and Neal (2010) point out that temptations present different challenges to good intentions and some adjustments and behaviour modification need to take place in order to break a bad habit as both Leah and Sue mentioned. Although bad habits are not as harmful as substance abuse, it is meaningful that three participants wanted to change what they perceived as bad habits. The also indicate their struggle to give up their bad habits.

CONCLUSIONS
 The participants in this study all indicated that they had developed new understanding and appreciation of the difficulties of lifelong abstinence and hopefully this will help them to realise the struggle their prospective substance abuse clients would face if they go for rehabilitation.
 A significant number of them also pointed out that they needed to change some harmful patterns in their own lives. It is significant that five participants (10%) indicated that they struggled with dangerous substances. Two of them (4%) remarked their struggle with alcohol, while three (6%) revealed their addiction to opioids.
 It can be concluded that reflective learning is a valuable component of teaching social work students, specifically in the field of substance abuse, as they could reflect on the challenges prospective clients will have to face in their efforts at rehabilitation as they themselves experienced a small glimpse of the difficult road of total abstinence.
 The nature and scope of substance abuse should not be underestimated and social workers should collaborate to render the most cost-effective, efficient services, with the necessary empathy. This empathy could be gained through reflective exercises.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations for social work practice:  Social workers who work in the substance abuse field should be afforded the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and possible harmful habits they might need to change;  Social workers in the field of substance abuse should also be given the opportunity to reflect on how they view their clients. A non-judgemental attitude could create a safe environment for clients where they feel safe to deal with their addiction problem;  All social workers, regardless of where they practice, should have knowledge and insight into the different kinds of addiction as well as how to deal effectively and empathically with clients who experience an addiction problem.

Recommendations for education:
It is recommended that:  Reflective learning be utilised optimally in order to help students engage with deep learning;  E-learning also be utilised at residential universities where students could engage with a certain topic or learning outcome by means of the Internet;  Students be enabled to reflect on any possible harmful or addictive patterns in their own lives in order to render effective services to their clients;  Reflection on the difficulties of life-long abstinence be encouraged in order for students to grasp the complexity of addiction.

Recommendations for further research:
 More research be conducted on the reflective learning of students, specifically in the field of substance abuse.

INTRODUCTION
Since 1994 the enrolment of students at universities in South Africa has more than doubled (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2013). This has been consistent with the country's aim of building a new education and training system to meet the needs of a democratic society by overcoming unfair discrimination, expanding access and improving the quality of education.
Within this context the number of social work students has also increased. Increased access to university and specifically to social work education has been made possible by a scholarship scheme instituted by the Department of Social Development as part of its Recruitment and Retention Strategy (Department of Social Development, 2004). Other factors such as the certainty of a job at the end of one's studies, and the generally lower entrance requirements for social work, have made social work an attractive option for many young people.
No one can deny that social workers are needed in South Africa to help address the enormous burdens of poverty, HIV/AIDS and violence, and thus the increase in numbers of young people wanting to enter the profession is to be welcomed. However, if social workers are to be successful in addressing the many problems facing this country, they need to be well educated and socialised into the profession which is rooted in a specific ideological base that deeply values respect for others and social justice.
This article considers whether the increase in numbers of students without a simultaneous increase in resources for social work education might not be a threat to the professional socialisation of social work students. It begins by providing an overview of social work education globally and in South Africa, and then goes on to discuss what is meant by professional socialisation. The possible threat posed by large classes to professional socialisation is then discussed in relation to both classroom and field practice education.

SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION
Formal education for social work began in the United States in the late 1890s with short training courses for social workers and by the beginning of the twentieth century, fulltime year-long training programmes had been introduced (Austen, 1983). The need to be recognised as a profession played an important role in the development of social work and social work education, and in 1915 Flexner's speech, "Is social work a profession?" to the National Conference of Corrections and Charities emphasised the importance of "an orderly and highly specialised educational discipline" (Flexner, 2001:155 1 ) as the means through which members of a profession gain the knowledge required. He was of the opinion that there were six criteria by which to judge whether or not an occupation was a profession. These were that "professions involve essentially intellectual operations with large individual responsibility; they derive their raw material from science and learning; this material they work up to a practical and definite end; they possess an educationally communicable technique; they tend to self-organising; they are becoming increasingly altruistic in motivation" (Flexner, 2001:156). Greenwood (1957) reiterated these criteria and summarised them as: systematic theory; authority; community sanction; ethical codes and a culture. The need for systematic theory implied that professionals acquire knowledge based on abstract principles, not just operational procedures, and that this knowledge is gained through extensive formal education.
Great strides have been made in terms of developing professional social work education worldwide. In 2001 both the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) adopted an international definition of social work, which was revised in 2014. These two bodies also developed and adopted the "Global standards for the education and training of the social work profession" in 2004 (Sewpaul & Jones, 2005). These standards were intended to be aspirational rather than prescriptive. They sought to ensure that social work education supports the core functions and values of social work such as support for human rights, social justice and a commitment to caring for and empowering individuals, groups and communities. They also reflected a "commitment to the professional and personal development of social work students, with particular emphases on the development of the critically self-reflective practitioner and the pace of values and ethics in social work education and training" (Sewpaul & Jones, 2005:226).
Social work education in South Africa has been influenced by these global developments and in 2003 the Bachelor of Social Work degree was registered in the National Qualifications Framework. 2 By 2007 all universities offering the social work qualification were required to ensure that students completing the Bachelor of Social Work were able to demonstrate competence in the 27 exit-level outcomes. While the author remains critical of the BSW with its outcomes-based approach (Simpson, 2010), there is no doubt that the institution of the BSW has been a genuine attempt to improve the quality of social work education and ultimately the quality of social work practice in South Africa.
The purpose of teaching in professional disciplines differs from pedagogies in other academic disciplines. Not only must the student learn the knowledge required for the profession, but must also learn what it means to be a professional. One does therefore not "learn for the sake of knowledge and understanding alone; one learns in order to engage in practice" (Shulman, 2005:18). Professional practice must also be characterised by integrity and responsible, ethical service, and professional education must socialise the student into what this means. This is also reflected in South African policy documents such as the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework, which states that professional degrees should emphasise "general principles and theory in conjunction with procedural knowledge in order to provide students with a thorough grounding in the knowledge, theory, principles and skills of the profession …. and the ability to apply these to professional or career contexts" (Council on Higher Education, 2013:32). Miller (2013) points out that there is long-standing and general agreement about the importance of professional socialisation in social work. It can be described as that process whereby an individual entering a profession adapts both externally to the requirements of the specific career role and internally to their self-conceptualisation of that role (McGowen & Hart, 1992).

PROFESSIONAL SOCIALISATION IN SOCIAL WORK
Professional socialisation takes place in different ways, which has implications for social work education. Two different views of socialisation have been identified in the literature. The first is the structural-functional perspective (Barretti, 2004;Miller, 2010), which posits that professional socialisation involves the acquisition of the values and attitudes, interests, skills and knowledge directly through didactic teaching and indirectly through interaction with significant members of the group. This can be seen as an "induction" approach through which the student learns the appropriate social roles and behaviours to participate as a member of the profession. The second view of professional socialisation is the symbolic interactionist perspective (Barretti, 2004;Miller, 2010). This focuses on the motivation, identity and commitment of the student and sees socialisation as a process whereby the student learns to adapt to the practice and organisational context.
Both these views of the way that professional socialisation occurs require that students be provided with opportunities to interact meaningfully with members of the profession, both as teachers in the classroom and as mentors and supervisors in the field. Not only do students need knowledge about what the social work profession is, but also the opportunity for self-reflection and the development of self-awareness. It is through the social interaction with significant people that socialisation is said to take place. The importance of relationships thus cannot be under-estimated and this is the aspect that large classes may compromise.
While the focus of this article is on the formal socialisation of students during their social work education, it must be remembered that socialisation is an on-going process which starts long before the student enters the formal social work education programme and continues long after the student leaves and continually adapts to changing employment and practice settings. Prior socialisation (Miller, 2010) forms the building block on which further socialisation takes place and as such has implications for the education process. Prior socialisation refers to those early experiences which influence an individual's development and worldview, and which may impact on the individual's choice of a profession. For example, there is evidence that an idealistic orientation and family background play a role in career choice of social work (Lev-Wiesel, 2003). The literature also suggests that one's personal and social values also play a role in professional socialisation. For example, a student's inherent empathic ability enables him or her to acknowledge and understand the feelings of clients, while a positive sense of self and wellbeing enables them to cope with stress. The ability to differentiate between their own needs and the needs of clients is also essential (Shlomo, Levy & Itzhaky, 2012).
Prior socialisation for many South African students has been problematic and many young people entering higher education in South Africa bring with them a myriad of social, economic and academic challenges that impact on their ability to succeed academically (Cross & Carpenter, 2009) and which in turn may impact on their professional growth. The difficulties facing students has been borne out in a number of South African studies. Earle (2008) found that students at the Universities of Limpopo and Stellenbosch reported a high level of childhood trauma and a study at UNISA (Schenck, 2009) found that students experienced challenging socio-economic circumstances as well as traumatic childhood experiences. In a more recent study van Breda (2010) found a high prevalence of psychosocial vulnerability amongst social work students at the University of Johannesburg. Seventy-seven percent of these students had experienced the loss of a parent or significant other and more than half reported growing up in poverty and as continuing to struggle financially. A third of the students reported experiencing some form of abuse and nearly 14% had terminated a pregnancy. These studies found that, to varying degrees, these life challenges impacted negatively on the students' wellbeing and academic performance. Negative life circumstances are in themselves no reason to exclude students from social work studies and, indeed, overcoming such experiences may help students to develop empathy and a strong sense of service to others. However, some students may bear emotional scars that compromise their professional development (Dykes, 2011) and this has implications for the education and training of social work students.
It thus seems clear that many students entering social work require additional support during the process of professional socialisation. If, as discussed previously, it is the relationship and interaction with significant members of the profession that plays an important role in this process, large classes may be a further impediment to the development of a professional social worker.
In summary then, social work educators need to do more than help students to develop academic knowledge and skills. They also need to model professional behaviour and nurture personal and professional growth. This teaching and learning in social work education takes place in two primary contexts, the classroom and the field. Each of these contexts will now be discussed and the challenges presented by large classes will be examined.

CLASSROOM TEACHING
Classroom teaching forms a major part of social work programmes and much important learning takes place in this context. An interesting finding from Miller's study (2013) was that students appear to develop their relationship to social work values in the classroom and those students who reported that values were emphasised in their classroom were more committed to social justice. The importance of what happens in the classroom therefore cannot be under-estimated. In this section I discuss how professional socialisation may be compromised in large classes.
The notion of what constitutes a large class varies; Mulryan-Kyne (2010) pointed out that the nature of the programme, the accommodation and facilities available, and the resources required as well as the background of the students all play a role in determining whether a class size is too large. Cuseo (2007) reported that most of the studies that he reviewed tended to rate class sizes of less than 25 as small and those with more than 50 as large. The Australian Universities Teaching Committee (Moulding, 2010) stated that any class of more than 80 students can be considered to be a large class. In reviewing what he considered to be best practice, Cuseo (2007) suggested that that ideal class size was 15. Social work classes in South Africa are certainly larger than this ideal and the first-year social work student intake for 2014 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal was 250!
One of the problems of large classes is that teaching methods are linked to class size. Cuseo (2007), quoting McKeachie (1986), wrote that they are "inextricably intertwined" and the larger the class, the more reliance on lectures as a teaching method. Lectures are certainly useful for presenting information, for introducing a topic and arousing interest, for providing the structure and context around which students can then read and engage in self-study, and for explaining, developing, summarising and synthesising information introduced in readings or after discussions and self-study (Cooper & Robinson, 2000;Mulryan-Kyne, 2010). However, a number of problems associated with lectures have been identified and it is these problems that impact on the professional socialisation of social work students.
Becoming a professional requires students to reflect on their learning and to be active thinkers. However, the physical context of large classes is not conducive to active learning (Carter, Barrett & Park, 2011). Large lecture theatres are often tiered, have fixed seating and a lectern at the front. This creates what Carter et al. (2011) referred to as a "physical hierarchy" which reinforces the notion of lecturer as conveying the knowledge and students as passive recipients. Large classes thus reduce the level of student involvement (Cuseo, 2007). There is insufficient opportunity for questions and answers and many students may feel intimidated to ask questions or to comment. Problems of acoustics, visibility and attention all contribute to the problem and in the South African context, where for many students the language of instruction is not their mother tongue, this situation is exacerbated. Interaction between students and teachers, and between students themselves, thus decreases. Some research has demonstrated the dangers of this and Long and Coldren (2006), for example, found that positive lecturer-student relationship contributed to positive learning outcomes and that students who were involved with other students rated themselves as performing better.
Lack of involvement in the classroom can also lead to students becoming anonymous and more passive learners. This leads to lessened individual accountability and student engage in behaviours that would not occur in smaller classes. Noise and distraction increase, absenteeism may not even be noticed, late arrival and early leaving become common, and students engage in more off-task behaviour (sending and receiving cell phone messages, catching up on work for other courses) during lectures (Mulryan-Kyne, 2010). In preparing students for professional practice, we aim to inculcate norms of respect and consideration for others, which becomes very difficult in the context of large classes.
Considerable pedagogical barriers also exist in large classes. Because it is difficult to know students, it becomes difficult to meet the individualised needs of students.
Lectures then tend to teach to the "average" student, which means that brighter students become bored and weaker students get left behind (Toepell, Cole & Lathrop, 2002). Furthermore, the development of higher-order thinking skills is hampered by large classes and Cuseo (2007) provides a summary of a number of studies that consistently support this assertion. An interesting study reported was that by Fischer andGrant (1983, in Cuseo, 2007), who demonstrated that in small classes of 15, answers to questions were on average analytical in nature, in classes of 16-45 they were characterised by comprehension, and in large classes of 46 or more students the answers reflected factual recall only. Similarly, the Australian Universities Teaching Committee Large Classes Project (Moulding, 2010) found that large classes impacted negatively on the development of higher-order thinking skills. The implications of this are dire. Social workers require more than just factual knowledge. If they are to be able to address the many complex issues facing communities in South Africa, they need to be able to think critically and creatively. Large classes do not facilitate the development of these faculties.
Helping students to internalise social work values and develop a professional identity calls for creative teaching methods. In an effort to address the personal challenges that many social work students bring to university, several universities have experimented with student autobiographies (Dykes, 2011). Students are asked to reflect on their life experiences and to identify what has impacted on their development and identity. These types of exercises are time consuming and require considerable commitment from the lecturer to read carefully and to respond in ways that will be facilitative to the student's growth. In large classes this will simply not be possible and it may even raise ethical concerns if the lecturer is unable to deal with issues that students may raise in their autobiographies.
Large classes also present challenges with assessment. Frequent assessment with feedback to students is linked with good learning outcomes. Assessments provide a structure for learning and the opportunity to improve performance (Cuseo, 2007). The type of assessment is influenced by class size. Large classes often rely on multiple-choice questions or questions requiring short answers. This in turn influences how students prepare for assessments as students preparing for multiple-choice questions are more likely to use surface learning techniques such as memorising (Cuseo, 2007). Large classes are also less likely to promote student writing. Given that writing promotes student learning and depth of learning (Cuseo, 2007), and that professional social workers are required to write reports for a variety of reasons, this is an issue of concern. Providing detailed and consistent feedback, which is so important in promoting student learning, is compromised in large classes.

TEACHING IN THE FIELD
The second context for teaching social work occurs in the field and this aspect of social work education has been valued since the early days of social work education. In summarising the development of field education, Wayne, Raskin and Bogo (2010) pointed out that it was originally based on the belief that students learn how to practise through apprenticeship types of experience under the guidance and supervision of an expert practitioner. This is an essential aspect of the student's professional socialisation as they "learn to practice social work through delivering social work services in agency and community settings" (Bogo, 2006:164) and it is in the field that they begin to apply in practice the knowledge, skills and values they have been exposed to in the classroom. Many students report that field education is the most crucial component of their social work education (Shlomo et al., 2012). So valued is this aspect of social work education that the Council on Social Work Education in the United States has described field education as the "signature pedagogy of the social work profession" (Wayne et al., 2010:327). Field education is thus designated as the primary method of instruction by which the student learns to perform the role of practitioner. In South Africa the present Bachelor of Social Work is based on an outcomes-based approach to education, which requires that students demonstrate their mastery of the learning objectives or exit-level outcomes. This time and resource-intensive requirement is extremely difficult to meet in the context of large classes.
Several studies have demonstrated that the student-supervisor relationship plays a pivotal role in the development of a professional identity (Barretti, 2004;Shlomo et al., 2012). The supervisor-student relationship provides the context for learning in the field and supervisors play a central role in the professional socialisation of social work students. An obvious corollary to this is that there must be sufficient field placements with suitably qualified, able and willing supervisors for all social work students. Large numbers of students limit placement opportunities and the situation is exacerbated by problems in the field of social work. Dominelli (2004) points out that neoliberalism, globalisation and corporate managerial strategies which result in decreased funding and demands for increased productivity have serious implications for contemporary social work practice. In South Africa nongovernmental organisations have been under pressure to expand their services towards addressing prevention and early intervention (in keeping with a social development paradigm), while continuing to offer statutory services to children in need of care in a context where funding and resource provision remain static (Loffell, 2008). The NGO sector is thus facing many challenges with shortages of funding and experienced staff, while many are reluctant to accept students who are hold Department of Social Development scholarships as these students have a contractual obligation to work for the Department and are unable to are unable to take up employment with the NGO that provides the fieldwork placement. At the same time there is pressure on the Department to provide placements for all its scholarship students. It is our experience that this has resulted in some cases of students being placed in offices where there is overcrowding and generally poor working conditions. In these circumstances professional development is compromised as students, for example, struggle to make sense of how to maintain confidentiality when two clients are being interviewed in the same office and where there is insufficient filing space and files are packed on the floor. Under such circumstances, ensuring that student placements provide adequate learning opportunities and good supervision becomes a luxury and seriously threatens the professional socialisation of students.

WHAT ABOUT SOLUTIONS?
It would seem that large classes may indeed threaten the professional socialisation of social work students. However, given that this is the situation that social work educators find themselves in, can anything be done to mitigate the negative effects of large classes, and what new and creative ways can be found to encourage professional socialisation in large classes?
Some efforts have been made to make large classes seem smaller; for example, Yazedjian and Kolkhorst (2007) suggested using small group activities within the large class to promote participation and active learning. Students could be asked to break into small groups in different sections of the lecture room to discuss a particular topic or answer a set of question and then return to their seats. Feedback from students is then requested and this is linked to the course content by the lecturer. Of course, this assumes that the lecture room is big enough and the layout suitable to accommodate this kind of movement of students during a lecture. On a smaller scale, students can be asked to work in groups of two and three with the students seated next to them.
The increased use of technology in providing learning support and blended learning which combines class sessions with specific web-based activities have also been mooted as a solution to some of the problems inherent in large classes (Carter et al., 2011;Cooper & Robinson, 2000). Online learning activities such as tutorials and quizzes could help to reinforce course content and identify where students need additional support. Electronic discussion forums could provide students with opportunities to practise academic writing and to reflect on various aspects of the course content. Regular student postings also provide the lecturer with feedback on how students are interpreting material. While these might be ways of increasing student participation, Bryant (2005) warns that they are not without costs to the lecturer. Clear instructions and guidelines to students are essential and monitoring online discussions is time-consuming.
Efforts have also been made to address the problems of field education by exploring new possibilities for field placements. Some universities have experimented with universitycommunity partnerships (Cook, Bond, Jones & Greif, 2002;Simpson & Sathiparsad, 2010) whereby university staff and students form partnerships with communities in order to offer social work services while at the same time providing student training. The use of non-traditional sites for student field placements has also received attention; for example, Ferguson and Smith (2012) reported on the advantages and disadvantages of placing students in social movement organisations.
These efforts are all admirable in their attempt to provide students with more meaningful learning experiences. They seek to address some of the challenges to learning and professional socialisation that are the result of large classes. However, they still require resources, both in terms of lecturers and materials. The fundamental problem remains, namely that increased student numbers has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in resources. Social work practice takes place in the context of a relationship between a social worker and the client system. The professional socialisation of social work students takes place primarily in the context of a relationship. Without a sufficient number of people to guide, mentor and teach social work students, their development as professional social workers will be compromised.

CONCLUSION
The Bachelor of Social Work degree is a professional qualification and as such is intended to prepare students to enter the profession of social work. The aim of social work education is to produce graduates who have a strong sense of the mission of social work, who identify with the fundamental values of social work, who are critical thinkers and self-reflective practitioners, and who are skilled at intervening at multiple levels (micro, mezzo and macro) to help people resolve problems and create a better society. This article has considered whether large classes pose a threat to the professional socialisation of social work students. It concludes that large classes do indeed impact negatively on student learning, both in the classroom and in the field. However, it acknowledges that efforts can be made to overcome some of the barriers that large classes present in respect of the professional development and socialisation of students. Despite this, the warning of Chapman and Ludlow (2010:118) should be heeded: "There is a danger that large classes may introduce a burden to learning that is just too difficult for students and lecturers to overcome, despite their best efforts".
If we are serious about protecting the profession of social work and truly contributing to the betterment of society, we need to ensure that we either reduce the number of social work students being accepted at our universities, or that additional and sufficient resources be made available to enable social work students to develop into competent professional practitioners. The challenge to social work educators is how to bring about this change in the context of a very complex higher education terrain.

LEARNING PROFILES OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS: WHO ARE YOU AND HOW SHOULD THIS INFLUENCE MY TEACHING? INTRODUCTION
Internationally, classrooms reflect an increasingly diverse world of differing ages, abilities, cultures, interests, motivations and difficulties (Rosslyn, 2004;Tomlinson, Brighton, Hertberg, Callahan, Moon, Brimijoin, Conover & Reynolds, 2003). The situation in South Africa is no different. The majority of South African students currently in higher education are first-generation (non-traditional) students commonly (and indiscriminately) described as underprepared, coming from impoverished backgrounds in terms of economic strength, poor schooling and socio-cultural resources, and using English as additional language (Bozalek, 2013;Carelse & Dykes, 2013;Collins & Van Breda, 2010;Hlalele, 2010;Smit, 2012).
In order to facilitate learning for these diverse groups, it is vital to know who the adult learner is in terms of the role of personal circumstances in the learning endeavour, as well as to ascertain how adults learn (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007;Ramsden, 1992). The current student profile at the university where the study was undertaken started to emerge during the 1980s, when the institution initiated an affirmative action admissions policy designed to broaden access particularly for students from all historically disadvantaged communities (Bozalek, 2013). For the non-traditional and adult learner, the concepts of self and self-directed learning are vital (Hyland-Russell & Groen, 2011) in that they feed into their individual learning approaches; this in turn advances the philosophy of learner-centredness (Wilcox, 1996).
Learning styles have been variously defined in the literature. For this study the overall notion of learning profile will be used to refer to students' personal traits (such as biological, cultural and societal factors; emotional and social influences; academic record and learning preferences) that optimise the individual's learning (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011;Rollnick, Lubben, Lotz & Dlamini, 2002). A learning profile consists of two dimensions (Fry, Ketteridge & Marshall, 2009;Vanthournout, Coertjens, Gijbels, Donche & Van Petegem, 2013), namely, learning styles (stable personal characteristics of the learner), and learning approaches (changeable competencies related to task and context). Lecturers have to address these variances within their classrooms where "equality of opportunity" is fulfilled when the varied needs of the learners are met (Tomlinson et al., 2003). Studies confirm that there is a link between self-efficacy and personal beliefs (learning styles) and the student's approach to learning of specific activities (learning approaches) (Kell, 2006).
Very few studies have been undertaken to explore or examine the link between the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of some social work students, their learning profiles and appropriate teaching and learning methods. Studies on the learning profiles in social work have mostly focused on the implications for fieldwork education (Cartney, 2004(Cartney, , 2000. Previous studies have explicated the ACEs of some social work students at a particular university as being the following: (i) Childhood abuse epitomised by emotional, physical and sexual abuses; (ii) Troubled family life through ineffectual caregiving, parental absences, unmet needs, being left behind, substance abuse, inadequate financial/material support, and intimate partner violence. The learning profiles of these students that emerged as a result of the impact of ACEs manifested during social work teaching and learning (Dykes, 2014(Dykes, , 2012(Dykes, , 2011. Their responses were typified by their narratives of distress, tearfulness, negative and struggling emotions, rationalising, and especially a fear of their own bias and partiality regarding particular issues that closely mimic their own (Dykes, 2014).
To date, many quantitative studies have been done to examine the learning profiles of social work students mainly using Kolb's learning styles (Cartney, 2000;Chesborough, 2009;Massey, Kim & Mitchell, 2011;Williams, Brown & Etherington, 2013), which focused strongly on learning approaches. Students' overly emotional reactions within the teaching and learning environment imply that learning profile inventories that focus mainly on assessing cognition and learning approaches would not account for the impact of students' ACEs on their learning. However, there are two instruments for quantitative research that do take these aspects into consideration, namely, the Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model, which includes emotional and psychological processing, and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI) which also includes affective factors in its measurement (Hawk & Shah, 2007).
Studies that gleaned teaching and learning strategies on the basis of students' selfreported ACEs and their link to students' learning profiles are scant. Consequently there is a lack in the literature of qualitative studies exploring appropriate teaching and learning strategies based on social work students' ACEs and their particular learning profiles.
The aim of this study is to explore and describe key social work teaching and learning strategies from research participants, based on the impact of adverse childhood experiences and consequent learning profiles. Therefore the research question is: What are key teaching and learning strategies from student and staff participants, based on the impact of adverse childhood experiences on learning profiles of social work students?

TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING THEORY AS THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
From the myriad teaching and learning theories and approaches that exist, transformative learning theory (TLT) gained relevance because of its focus on the personal realities of the student and the possibility of transformative outcomes for the learning process.
Transformative learning theory is most often associated with Jack Mezirow (Professor Emeritus of Adult Education, Columbia University). Higher education (HE) classrooms are appropriate spaces for students to engage in activities to reflect on the roots of their beliefs and opinions (Riggs & Hellyer-Riggs, 2009;Taylor, 2008) and TLT creates the learning spaces to undertake such reflections (Taylor, 2008). Therefore learning in TLT is based on using our previous knowledge (and experiences) to support new and/or amended learning to guide our subsequent actions or behaviour, thus contributing to a paradigm shift (Taylor, 2008). Mezirow (1997:5) confirmed that transformative learning "is the process of effecting change in a frame of reference". Frames of reference describe our reality, reflecting the essence of our experiences, for example, our thoughts and feelings as well as our usual responses and reactions (Imel, 1998;Taylor, 2008). Mezirow (1997:5) asserts that frames of reference "are the structures of assumptions through which we understand our experiences" and experiences consist of mental (cognitive), action (driven by impulse, desire or resolve) and affective (emotion) parts. Frames of reference are mainly constituted from our social and cultural interactions driven by our primary caregivers.
Transformative learning is achieved when we critically reflect on suppositions or conjectures that underlie our frames of reference. However, learning is only achieved when what we have to learn relates to our frame of reference. In linking frames of reference when designing teaching and learning methods, six elements that lecturers should reflect on are recommended (Imel, 1998;Mezirow, 1997;Riggs & Hellyer-Riggs, 2009;Taylor, 2011Taylor, , 2008.

The elements of TLT
 The centrality of experience: Experience is gained through social interaction with other peers or in practice (work) learning environments.
 Critical reflection: Interrogating the authenticity of their suppositions that originate from previous experiences.
 Rational discourse: This is used when we have need to query the understanding, veracity or relevance (relating to norms) or genuineness (relating to feelings) underlying the conversation or discussion.
 Holistic orientation: The inclusion of different ways of learning, for example, the relevance of the rational and the emotional, as well as the interpersonal.
 Awareness of context: The consideration of traditional, cultural practices together with personal beliefs that play a strong role in the learning process.
 Authentic relationships: Creating real relationships with other students where students acquire confidence in engaging with learning on an emotional level, which can often be perceived as challenging.
These six elements have implications for the roles of educator and student.

The lecturer's role
 Structured learning: Have all necessary information ready for learning, from beginning to end, from small bits on which to base larger bits.
 Learning profiles: Not exerting undue pressure on students to learn and to scaffold learning in accordance with students' learning needs.
 Participatory learning: Provide equal and frequent opportunities for students to participate and offer their opinions and viewpoints.

The student's role
 Learning to use the imagination: To be able to delineate problems from diverse viewpoints; to be critically reflective, as well as to be able to fathom the best possible solution in a given situation.
 Participating in discourse: Discourse with others is essential to substantiate the core of one's perceptions and decision making.
The transformative qualities of learning in TLT are shown through the roles of the educator and student juxtaposed with the elements of TLT. Proposed classroom teaching methods include learning contracts, group projects, role play, case studies and simulations, while learning activities include critical incidents, metaphor analysis, concept mapping, consciousness raising, life histories, repertory grids and participation in social action. The over-reliance on critical reflection (and therefore too logically focused) can be tempered with emotions and intuition which can be facilitated through discernment (Imel, 1998). Of note for this study, Mezirow (2011:26-27) affirms "that Transformative Learning often occurs as the result of an adult gaining insight into unresolved traumatic experiences occurring in childhood". Therefore, the essential elements of TLT tie in well with the focus of the study on ACEs and learning profiles of social work students. It is evident that to achieve personal transformation outcomes for students, both teaching and learning have to create opportunities for these specific outcomes.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The qualitative case study design (Creswell, 2013) was used to explore how third-year social work students at a specific university experienced ACEs in relation to teaching and learning and the students' learning profile. The research population consisted of 86 third-year students in the module. Data were sourced from student and staff participants.
Students were asked whether they would volunteer their reflexive assignments in a specific third-year social work module. Data were collected from 20 reflexive assignments, selected from an initial volunteer sample of 30 students. The purposive sampling method (Creswell, 2013) was used to select a further sample of 10 student participants (from the above sample of reflexive assignments) for individual interviews. Two staff participants who taught the sample of students within the same time frame (excluding the researcher) were also interviewed.
The purpose of the writing of formative, reflexive assignments and individual interviews was to connect students with the role and influence of their own childhood experiences in their professional learning context. Students were asked to do personal introspection by reflecting on seven questions focusing on the role of their own childhood and family experiences in their social work learning. The aim with staff interviews was to obtain their perspectives on their teaching activities and experiences with students who might have endured challenging circumstances, and the possible impact within the class context.
Thematic analysis was used to gain understanding of the patterns, forms and configurations of the data sets. The data were analysed in accordance with the steps in within-case analysis (Babbie, 2014;Bernard & Ryan, 2010;Creswell, 2013;De Vos, 2011) and used thematic analyses of: (i) each reflexive assignment, individual student interview and staff interview; (ii) each data set (20 reflexive assignments, ten individual student interviews and two staff interviews); and (iii) comparisons of data sets for data synthesis, comparing and contrasting. Four validity strategies were undertaken to enhance the trustworthiness of the study, namely member checking, rich descriptions, triangulation and researcher self-reflexivity especially with regard to bias and power differentials (Creswell, 2013). Consent and ethical clearance for the study were obtained from two institutions before the study was undertaken.

KEY FINDINGS: PARTICIPANTS' SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
The data that emerged from student and staff interviews supplied three key suggestions by these two distinct sets of role players in relation to teaching and learning strategies as well as methods regarding the role and effect of ACEs (Table 1). The table shows the three main suggestions derived from the data (main themes) and the nine different components of the main suggestions (sub-themes). Each key suggestion (main theme) is explored separately in the following sections.

Teaching and learning activities
The suggestions about teaching and learning methods in class that are pertinent to the experiences of student and staff participants are explicated in two sub-themes.

Extend participatory learning methods and activities
Participants identified participatory methods such as reflective assignments, case study use and movies as conducive to learning and suggested that lecturers should include more of these in teaching and learning.
 "I think that there should be like more exercises on more stuff like the reflective summary where you can be in touch with your feelings and you can share your experience." [Student participant]  "I think the lecturer should just continue those case studies where people can unpack and discuss in small groups because in that way yes you'll be in pain or you'll be uneasy but at least you will be in the company of your friends and your class mates." These narratives show participants' views on what they relished as learning activities. Participatory methods can provide a springboard for experiential learning activities (Bozalek & Biersteker, 2010;Lee & Fortune, 2013;Norton, Russell, Wisner & Uriarte, 2011;Wehbi & Strake, 2011). Examples of transformative and experiential learning methods are reflection and reflexive exercises (Mezirow, 1997;Wehbi, 2011). These exercises have been extolled as being central to social work education for promoting deep (and new) learning and critical thinking skills (Hinett, 2001;Hussain, Mehmood & Sultana, 2011;Ringel, 2003). The benefit of reflection is that it can be the means of integrating and making sense of cognitive (rational and factual) and metacognitive (selfawareness, personal assumptions and insight) experiences (Baum, 2012;Hinett, 2001;Pallisera, Fullana, Pandarias & Badosa, 2013) and socio-political learning constraints (Chapman & Clegg, 2007). Pertinent to the research findings of this study, reflexive exercises enhanced insight into the emotions of learning to facilitate awareness of students' own feelings, actions and values. These exercises develop their professional responses and reactions (Furman, Coyne & Negi, 2008;Hussain et al., 2011). In participatory methods the use of case studies and movies, and written exercises are often cited as means to facilitate deep and reflective learning (Gibbons & Gray, 2004;Hussain et al., 2011;Pallisera et al., 2013). The value of this suggestion is that participatory and reflective methods should not be an inconsistent application at the will of individual lecturers, but should be structured as part of the teaching philosophy of the social work programme, with appropriate debriefing embedded.

Expand use of real-world issues that students face
Participants expressed the need for lecturers to use real-world issues (authentic learning) to better prepare them for practice. A real-world context refers to concrete or realistic learning experiences in contrast to the often intellectual, academic or model-type context of the classroom (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, 2010).
 "I can say to my lecturers, yes it is good work that they are doing but I think they should elaborate more on these issues, elaborate more that these things these are things that are real, these are the things that we face and that you should expect in the future." [Student participant]  "…bringing in more issues at the same time will also trigger those personal experiences, maybe like the issues of rape it is quite a traumatic situation." [Student participant] Here the narratives showed participants' desire to learn through issues that they could strongly relate to (and identify with) in theory and in practice. The narratives also show that there was a need to bring students' own personal (and family) issues into the broader discussions so that they could relate to and learn from them. These suggestions present an opportunity for classroom learning to be structured around a different orientation to the learning that already takes place in classrooms on similar issues. The difference here is that students want their own experiences to also be included. Their suggestions have trust and ethical implications as to the way in which these needs could be facilitated within classroom learning. The participants expressed the need for their learning to be real-world based (in terms of the students' real world); this seems common sense but should be structured in a way that learning and students' privacy are not compromised for those who do want to disclose personal experiences.
Theme 1 contained suggestions that are relevant to learning as participatory methods can be the conduit for reflective (reflecting on direct experiences) and reflexive (reflecting on personal experiences) learning. Reflective/reflexive learning facilitates critical thinking and deep learning. Significantly in terms of this study, reflexive tasks enable students to gain insight (self-awareness) into the emotions of learning. Using real-world issues presupposes that students would be better prepared for practice and that the learning context be based on realistic learning tasks positioning students' personal experiences within their general learning.

Lecturers' immediacy behaviours
The second suggestion clarified participants' views about lecturers' personal and professional behaviours within the classroom (called immediacy behaviours). A positive lecturer-student relationship is conducive to learning and predicated on proximity (the level of cooperation and closeness) and influence (the balance between dominance and compliance) (Brekelsman, Den Brok, Van Tartwijk & Wubbels, 2005;Myers & Anderson, 2010). Janis Anderson (in 1979) identified these actions as immediacy behaviours and key components in classroom communicative behaviours that foster student engagement and the social presence of the lecturer (Burroughs, 2007;Gendrin & Rucker, 2007;Reupert, Mayberry, Patrick & Chittleborough, 2009;Sibii, 2010). This suggestion revealed three sub-themes that focused on self-disclosure, lecturer reactions and debriefing imperatives.

Encourage student self-disclosure (sharing/talking)
Participants suggested that lecturers encourage sharing and talking about students' personal experiences.
 "Well I would actually say is you could encourage people to talk more in class, to share their stories." [Student participant]  "I also suggest that maybe instead of doing case studies or like in terms of activities, they would just ask maybe because there are students in class that also went through similar situations." [Student participant] The narratives unmistakably illustrated the need of participants to share their life experiences and to listen to those of fellow students within the classroom context. Good teaching should not only facilitate academic success, but also life success by being aware of the interrelatedness of socio-emotional skills and academic outcomes (Grauerholz, 2001;Zins & Elias, 2007). Meyer and Turner (2002) confirm that emotions are entangled in the responses of both students and lecturers, and therefore are central in the relational aspects in the classroom. By teaching holistically, lecturers can link academic teaching to students' personal experiences and, in this way, deep learning takes place (Grauerholz, 2001). Although there are boundaries to student self-disclosure (student protection, stigma and discrimination), the notion of self-disclosure is a shared and necessary activity that would consequently influence class interactions (Rosenbloom & Fetner, 2001).
Furthermore, the lecturer's role is to manage the process of student self-disclosure in relevant ways and take into account its possible implications and impact on the students themselves (Tardy & Dindia, 2006;Ward, 2008). Self-disclosure is determined by certain principles, such as the amount to disclose, level of information to share, timing of disclosure and types of information (Jeffrey & Austin, 2007). This finding shows that self-disclosure is necessary, but that it should be structured and purposeful in terms of teaching and learning and professional outcomes.

Respond to students' emotional reactions
Recommendations were obtained about the responses that student participants expected to their emotional reactions. Participants show through these narratives that they want lecturers to engage with them on a more intimate level and to be able to see them as real people with personal histories and not only as learning vessels. Historically, universities have been the site for intellectual and logical reasoning, underscoring the pre-eminence of the Cartesian dualities of, for example, cognitive vs affective, mind vs body, and the gender split, rendering the context for higher learning devoid of feelings and passion (Blomberg, 2013;Leathwood & Hey, 2009;Varlander, 2008). Therefore the place of emotion in learning in higher education has been strongly impugned (Leathwood & Hey, 2009).
However, studies have confirmed the significance of emotion in learning and the necessity for HEIs to recognise its influence and role within the learning context (Cartney & Rouse, 2006;Kasworm, 2008;Storrs, 2012) and for lecturers to respond fittingly to students' emotions (Storrs, 2012;Varlander, 2008).
Participants proposed that suitable lecturing skills included, for example, being sensitive to students' viewpoints; preparing students beforehand regarding the emotional content/possible impact of topics; being empathic and observant; providing personal examples; and allowing voluntary student participation. Some strategies that lecturers could use in the classroom in emotionally charged situations are: cultivating a supportive culture in the class, for example, respect for other's histories and feelings; adhering to the principles of confidentiality and boundaries; recognising the distress of others; initiating dialogues as co-constructions of meaning; facilitating reflection; taking the student's perspective; and active listening (Agllias, 2012;McLaughlin, 2000;Storrs, 2012). Varlander (2008) used Crotty's (1998) definition of constructivism to link the role of emotions in learning to the constructivist notion of learning where knowledge building is socially constructed out of the interactions between people and their environment.
The cited literature has presented very meaningful ways in which the personal narratives of students can be elicited, providing a structure for confidentiality, respect and trust. The suggestion clearly indicates that structured responses to students' emotions in learning will form part of future teaching and learning in HEIs.

Create debriefing opportunities
Recommendations included suggestions for debriefing opportunities for emotionallyladen discussions and reflective tasks. Debriefing will provide space for students to reflect on their knowledge and practice in order to consider and integrate their perceptions, feelings and behaviour during the learning exercise (Dreifuerst, 2009;Rudolph, Simon, Raemer & Eppich, 2008 Engum, 2010;Sieminski & Seden, 2011). Debriefing, including critical reflection, should therefore be included in academic planning (Garrett et al., 2010) because it is vital for experiential learning (Fanning & Gaba, 2007;Rudolph, Simon, Rivard, Dufresne & Raemer, 2007). Debriefing can be free-form, for example, through email and telephone conversations with the lecturer, but it will depend on the lecturer-student ratio in the class (Agllias, 2012). Debriefing can also be open in the classroom, where the lecturer may ask students to explore their own socio-emotional histories that could lead to countertransference issues or vicarious traumatisation (Didham et al., 2011). The findings again denote that participants are clear about their needs. Debriefing in the class (or after) is essential and the literature verifies this task; whether free-form or structured (or both), this must be part of the mind-set of the social work lecturer.
Theme 2 involves lecturers' immediacy behaviours, which prompted three suggestions. These suggestions encouraged student self-disclosure; exhorted lecturers to institute structured responses to students' emotional reactions in class; and recommended the creation of structured debriefing opportunities. The suggestions are relevant with regard to the ACEs of students and their resultant heightened emotions, and they clarify the role of lecturers in this context.

Fieldwork and placement learning
Staff participants suggested that students be sufficiently oriented and prepared for theory and practice. Fieldwork learning is a purposeful plan for practice learning that takes place in professional work settings in order for students to integrate theory and practice under the tutelage (supervision) of a qualified social worker (Bogo, 2006;Dhemba, 2012). Fieldwork learning is often cited as social work's signature pedagogy (Wayne, Bogo & Raskin, 2010). Social work fieldwork emerged from the apprenticeship model of learning by doing and through role modelling by the practitioner (Cleak & Smith, 2012). The aim of social work fieldwork supervision is to facilitate opportunities for theory and practice integration and the development of a professional persona (Cleak & Smith, 2012;Everett, Miehls, Dubois & Garran, 2011). There are four sub-themes.

Incorporate fieldwork education approaches
Suggestions for the inclusion of teaching and learning approaches for the practicum programme, namely the student-centred philosophy and the human capabilities approach, were particularly geared to the learning needs of students. These suggestions mention appropriate theories that would relate to students' learning profiles. The capabilities approach is based on welfare economics originally developed by Amartya Sen and further developed by the philosopher Martha Nussbaum (Maddox, 2008;Nussbaum, 2006;Robeyns, 2003;Walker, 2012;Wood & Deprez, 2012). A key principle is the focus on what people are able to do and to become, emphasising the values of autonomy and freedom (Robeyns, 2003), which can counteract an adverse past, present circumstances, and feed into educational needs (Wood & Deprez, 2012). The constructivist approach to teaching and learning is not dissimilar to the capabilities approach in that the principles of student-centred learning and active learning are particularly geared towards developing the students' capacities through flexible, selfdirected, collaborative, problem-based and experiential learning (Mascolo, 2009;O'Neill & McMahon, 2005). The suggestion that the fieldwork programme be underpinned with a specific learning approach is positive and the suggestions are worth considering as they link with a particular student profile.

Teach students self-assessment of strengths
To inform the learning contract, students should be assisted from the first year to assess their own strengths and to scaffold and reflect on them on a regular basis, instead of supervisors fulfilling this task. These suggestions focused on the skill of self-assessment by students which would advance their notions of self-efficacy and self-belief. Research has confirmed that selfassessment (where it operates as a mechanism for learning) can be a means for enabling students to accurately identify their strengths and weaknesses (Andrade & Valtcheva, 2009;Eva & Regehr, 2005). Benefits for students are professional self-regulation, appropriate goal setting, confidence boosting and increased motivation (Andrade & Du, 2007;Langendyk, 2006;Ross, 2006). For the most part students generally linked selfassessment to their perception of the time and effort invested in the task, not necessarily related to the standard of work (Taras, 2003). However, accurate self-assessment was linked to a deep approach to learning (Cassidy, 2006). This suggestion is sporadically used in social work at the specific university, but in a somewhat inconsistent and unstructured way. The cited literature has expanded the thinking around student selfassessment that, when used in the suggested way, will assist in achieving deep learning, but not in its current form. Therefore to develop deep learning, self-assessment must be embedded in modules across year levels for scaffolding of this skill.

Focus on mindfulness in learning
To focus on the self in the first year of study, with topics on self-development allowing students to reflect on who they are and "what they're about", will form the basis for their professional self and identity. These learning endeavours have been identified as mindfulness. Mindfulness in the classroom is a cognitive activity for raising students' awareness of their internal and external lenses that would enable them to pay unencumbered attention to their emotions and to the various viewpoints in the class as the learning process unfolds (Coholic, 2011;Napoli & Bonifas, 2011;Napoli, Krech & Holley, 2005 These suggestions clearly reflect the significance of students' early exposure to learning tasks that would provide opportunities for them to learn more about themselves. This focus will assist students in developing intra-personal awareness and strengths to manage their past, as well as assess whether social work is the appropriate career for them. The outcomes of mindfulness include self-acceptance, trust, non-judgmentalism and self-awareness (Birnbaum, 2008;Birnbaum & Birnbaum, 2008;Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leysen & Dewulf, 2008). The suggestion is an important one as it reflects and acknowledges the personal struggles of students especially in the social work learning context.
In Theme 3 fieldwork and placement learning were the dominant focus. The suggestions were attentive to the needs of students within their fieldwork and placement settings and the ideas that emerged essentially centred on enriching the learning experiences in this context. Furthermore, these suggestions are important as they are helpful strategies to sufficiently induct students into fieldwork practice for the year level, as well as for ongoing preparation sessions so that students could feel more self-contained, knowledgeable and confident about expectations and requirements.

DISCUSSION AND STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS
The three key suggestions from participants emphasised that students in HEIs (mostly adult learners) desire to be active participants in class; that they want lecturers to be more meaningfully engaged with them as whole human beings; and that their fieldwork and placement learning must not only take their needs (their "wholeness") into account but also their learning needs for fieldwork/placement learning, with particular reference to mindfulness practices that would teach and enhance self-awareness. However, the findings do not suggest that all social work students have endured harrowing childhood experiences. The majority of students in the population, however, did indicate levels of adverse childhood experiences.
The findings also show the need to rethink and reorganise the curriculum structure and design, as well as to incorporate aspects to familiarise staff with students' learning profiles and what these mean for teaching and learning. The value of knowing social work students' learning profiles lies in increased understanding of both context (social circumstances) and personal characteristics, because it is the combination of the two that determines students' emotional reactions within the learning environment. The impact of ACEs is particularly linked to the learning profiles of social work students.
Consequently this study has contributed to the knowledge relating to the significance of the learning profiles of social work students.
Participants' suggestions have supported the notion of lecturers understanding students' learning profiles in teaching and learning. These suggestions have strongly related to TLT as a learning philosophy and theory. The use of transformative learning methods is vital because of the personal transformative impact on the student. Therefore when one considers their experiences prior to their HE studies, the choice of TLT becomes clear.
The following teaching and learning recommendations can be made on the basis of the findings.

The professional use of self in the context of professional learning
The study's findings and conclusions have converged to produce the following considerations for the professional learning context.  The professional use of self (including the focus on counter-transference, intersubjectivity, self-disclosure and empathy) in an appropriate place in the existing social work curriculum to maximise optimal learning in terms of theory and practice.
 Introduction of contemporary psychodynamic theories (for example, intersubjectivity theory or relational theory) that would refocus attention on the socio-emotional factors forming the basis of behaviour, feelings and emotions, and development of awareness of how these link with early experiences, both in terms of students' selfawareness and their understanding of how they affect their clients.
 The inclusion of mindfulness practices in fieldwork learning to support students' post-traumatic growth, and teach self-awareness (such as facilitating self-observation and introspection regarding personal reactions, strengths, motives and histories) to develop insight and perceptiveness regarding feelings, behaviours and virtue ethics. These activities would contribute to the development of a professional identity, specifically developing a personal philosophy of practice. Examples of teaching practices are: journaling, reaction papers (after an exercise), seminar discussions, role plays, video/films, genograms, ecomaps and life history timelines (Heydt & Sherman, 2005).
 Consider the capabilities approach especially to support fieldwork education, which facilitates the focus on self-efficacy and which addresses students' past and present experiences and relates to their learning needs.
 Use the transformative learning approaches, for example, problem-based learning methods such as case studies of real-world issues, and critical reflective tasks such as thought-provoking interchanges, observations, reflective recall activities, and journal writing to facilitate introspection and future perspectives (looking backward, inward, outward and forward).
 Promote student self-development through facilitating skills regarding student selfassessment of personal strengths, social work and academic abilities that will be authentic and based within a growth and development context. In addition, all teaching staff should encourage and implement structured appraisals of students for a composite view of student profiles to be used to inform teaching and learning responsiveness.

Development of lecturers' immediacy behaviours
This refers to lecturers' immediacy behaviours which relate to the lecturer-student relationship and interaction. Therefore it is recommended that lecturers:  Extend lecturer presence in the class context through open and active interaction and engagement with students during class activities (alongside the use of constructivist teaching methods);  Increase lecturer credibility and trustworthiness in interactions with students through behaviours that show values (such as consistency, fairness, non-judging and nondiscrimination) for students to endorse and affirm lecturers' trustworthiness;  Develop the use of lecturers' self-disclosure that links up with the topic under discussion to benefit from the lecturers' experiences and knowledge.

Responding to students' emotional needs and vicarious traumatisation
Based on the study's findings and conclusions, three tasks concern the appropriate response to students' emotional needs and vicarious traumatisation. It is recommended that lecturers:  Incorporate structured debriefing sessions in class using case vignettes for discussion, reflection and (appropriate) self-disclosure;  Manage student self-disclosure to preserve confidentiality (taking place in consultation) and/or maintain principles of non-judging and acceptance (taking place in class), where discussion is structured and topic-specific;  Clarify appropriate lecturer and fieldwork supervisor responses to students' emotional reactions that include timeliness, appropriateness and sensitivity.
These recommendations provide an alternative framework from which to view social work students' past and present learning experiences. These recommendations could contribute to students fulfilling their potential and completing their studies despite the effects of childhood adversities. In the assessment of the social work competencies of students, Gibbons, Bore, Munro and Powis (2007) identified two vital factors, namely the resolution of adverse experiences and the lack of narcissism. The implementation of the recommendations from the study would directly address these factors.