Needs and expectations of field instructors in practice education

Abstract

Practice education is regarded as an integral part of the curriculum in the education of social workers. This means that, in their implementation of the practice education programme, training in titutions depend heavily not only on welfare organisations being prepared to accommodate students for practice education, but also on social workers being prepared to act as field instructors in practice education. The field instructor is the person at the welfare organisation who is primarily responsible for students implementing the practice education programme as set out in the curriculum of the training institution. In view of the fact that it is the field instructors who are predominantly responsible for the implementation of the practice education programme, it is important for the training institution to be aware of their needs and expectations with respect to practice education. If training institutions are aware of the needs and expectations of field instructors in their negotiations for placing students at welfare organisations and can make some attempt to satisfy them, they would be able to enhance the satisfaction of field instructors in performing their roles and tasks. This will in turn limit the high turnover rate among field instructors, as well as improve the quality of the practice education programme.