This trimester culminates in the production of your practice framework. Your practice framework is a statement about how you practice now as an emerging social work practitioner. Writing your practice framework is in large part an exercise in self awareness, and students are therefore expected to work on this document throughout the trimester.
In preparing your practice framework you are required to prepare two research papers, where you are the subject of the research. You are required to write these papers as a curious, neutral observer of yourself in practice. By analyzing the ways that you make sense of a situation, and the ways you engage in practice, it is hoped that you will start to uncover aspects of your practice framework, such as values and beliefs, theories, skills, and knowledge (personal and professional).
In order to research yourself you should document and analyse your engagement in some form of social work practice, taken (ideally) from your placement experience. This will involve:
- Explaining what you saw and did;
- Critically discussing what skills you used in this example (be specific – it is not sufficient to simply name the skill);
- Critically discussing what personal and/or specialist knowledge you used;
- Critically discussing what theories informed your way of making sense of this situation, and your way of intervening; and
- Critically discussing personal and professional values and beliefs that contributed to your way of making sense and intervening.
- Critically discussing the influence of agency/organizational contexts
Note that the form of analysis required for the reflection for 4002HSV is very different to that required for practice reflections for field placement.
1) Ability to clearly describe and critically analyse an interaction, issue or event that illustrates the student’s emerging practice framework (20 marks);
(2) Quality of critical analysis of the social work theories and practice methods used by the student in this observed event or interaction
(3) Quality of critical analysis of the social work skills and specialist knowledge used by the student in this observed event or interaction
(4) Quality of critical analysis of the personal and professional values, ethics, beliefs and use of self in this observed event or interaction
(5) Quality of the critical analysis of the influence of the agency/organizational context in this observed event or interaction
(5) Scholarship, written expression, logic, range and quality of resources and referencing.
