Documenting Practice in Fieldwork: Examples, …

1 Documenting Practice in Fieldwork: Examples, Illustrations and Feedbackedited byKwong Wai-manLee Tak-yanChee PhyllisDepartment of Applied social StudiesFaculty of Humanities and social SciencesCity University of Hong KongSecond Edition, First Reprint, November 1998 Documenting Practice IN Fieldwork: EXAMPLES, ILLUSTRATIONS AND FEEDBACKTABLE OF CONTENTS PageIntroduction 1 Background StudyCommunity Study Report 3 Background Study 9 Proposal for the Selection of Practice Assignments 17 Learning ContractLearning Contract (1) 20 Learning Contract (2) 22 social Work RecordingsCase Recording - Conventional (1) 26 Case Recording - Conventional (2) 30 Case Recording - Conventional (3) 34 Case Recording - Narrative (1) 40 Case Recording - Narrative (2) 44 Group Recording - Narrative 48 ProposalsGroup Proposal (1) 55 Group Proposal (2) 63 Group Proposal (3)

2 69 Mass Program Proposal 77 Reflection Journal and Fieldnotes 81 INTRODUCTIONIt is not uncommon to find weary faces in the campus when social work students are having theirfieldwork placement. I recalled asking one social work student how she was doing. She gave me a sadsmile. She had been working late in the night to get the process recording done. There are thirty or sopages! Can you imagine it? She had my recalled when I was a social work student, I did not find too much paper-work to do. At least it neveroccurred to me it was paper-work that consumed much of my time. I spent a great part of my time inmaking client contacts, or else reading. Somehow, the Practice of fieldwork instruction has changed somuch that it is simply not good enough to be good in working with clients. social work students need tobe good also in Documenting the good work they do.

3 Much of the paper-work is generated as a result ofthe two ideas that we introduced into our field training programme three years ago when the first cohortof BSW students were out for their first fieldwork idea is to provide a structure for students learning experience in their placement by incorporatinga number of tasks and assignments. Students are required to report in written form what they learn aboutthe clients they serve, the placement agency, and the host community. They are required to prepare awritten proposal on the range of Practice assignments they would be interested to take up and, afterreaching the final decision on what assignments to do, they have to prepare a learning contractidentifying how they would go about meeting their learning needs through the pursuit of these practiceassignments with the support of their fieldwork supervisor.

4 They are required to write at least two piecesof process recording, and a reflective account of what they learn from re-living their practiceexperience recorded in audio- or video-tapes. Another idea is to require each student to develop aportfolio, the purpose of which is to document their performance. The portfolio is looked upon as theauthoritative source of evidence for evaluating a student s performance. I have often come acrossportfolios a full box-file would regret seeing students doing paper-work simply for the sake of it. If ever a student writes thirtypages of verbatim record of a counselling session, he/she will have a hard time to find the space to read,to plan and to reflect on his/her Practice experience. I am not saying that paper-work is going to be anuisance. It is a nuisance only if it is done with the least concern of what purpose it serves.

5 Whenever wewrite about our Practice and our Practice experience, we are not simply satisfying a reasonable(sometimes unreasonable) demand of the fieldwork supervisor. The writing itself must serve assomething good, something that contributes to learning about social work, about our Practice as asocial worker, and about ourselves as a social worker. I like writing not simply to tell another personwhat I do, but to tell how I deliberated on what I do, and to reflect on my deliberation and what I do asI write. This is how writing becomes a learning tool to me ( Robert Yinger, Journal Writing as aLearning Tool , Volta Review, Vol. 87, 1985, p. 21-33).It is with this aim in mind that we assemble a sample of the documents produced by past students in thecourse of going through their fieldwork placement.

6 They are selected for a variety of , it is because they bear certain good features. Sometimes, they are selected to illustratedifferent ways of Documenting Practice . Sometimes, they are selected to demonstrate what it is like topractise. One of the editors of this manual, Ms. Phyllis Chee, has edited the original documents andmade typographical amendments. With another editor, Mr. Lee Tak Yan, they offer their comments atthe end of each document. I hope their comments will help students to learn from reading others have also included some of the work authored by the four BSW students who have just completed theirsecond placement under my supervision. I used to give my feedback to their work in written , you may pick up something useful from the written feedback I gave them. You may pick up frommy feedback something about my conception of good social work Practice and of Documenting one spractice.

7 In particular, I wish to draw your attention to the narrative accounts of their practiceexperience. I try out the narrative style of recording Practice in this placement, and I find it a good wayof writing about one s is the first edition, but this is not a finished product. We are going to have a lot to learn from you asthe user of this manual. Do you find it helpful? What further refinement you wish to see? Please supplyyour feedback to me, and to the two other editors as well, whenever you have something to say. Pleasedrop a note to me, or e-mail me (e-mail address: sswmkwon). We anticipate the second edition will comealong the way, probably the third edition too. In the end, we look for a final product that captures thework and the experience of social work students in field training, and shows how writing can be used aslearning Wai ManYear Coordinator, BSW, Yr.

8 221st June, 1996 SAMPLE COMMUNITY STUDY REPORTS tudents: This community study report is jointly prepared by two students. The report shows their initialexperience in understanding the field setting and the : Multi-Service Centre for the ElderlyIntroductionThis is the Community Study Report of our fieldwork placement at XYZ Multi-Service Centre for theElderly. This report serves several purposes. Firstly, it helps us to have a general understanding of theknowledge and services of elderly people in Hong Kong. Secondly, it helps us to gather informationabout the elderly population and the elderly service provision in the AA District. Thirdly, the reportfacilitates our understanding of the characteristics of the community, services provided and elderly sneeds in the BB order to achieve the above-mentioned purposes, our report will be divided into three sections.

9 SectionI focuses on the elderly population in Hong Kong and the social welfare policy towards them. Section IIdiscusses the elderly population and the elderly service provision in the AA District. Section IIIemphasises the elderly population and the elderly services available in the BB Estate. Special attentionwill be given to the services provided by the XYZ Multi-Service Centre for the Elderly which we areplaced. We hope this study will further provide us with the knowledge and insight in planning ourservices for the clients/members of the I: The elderly population and social welfare policy towards the elderly in Hong KongThe elderly population of Hong Kong has increased over the past years. This can be attributed to factorssuch as a longer life expectancy and good medical services. This trend is expected to continue in theyears ahead.

10 The elderly population in Hong Kong is estimated at about 791,000 in social Welfare Department (SWD) is responsible for the planning and development of services forthe elderly in accordance with the objectives laid down in the White Paper through the Department s andnon-government agencies provision of elderly services in each 1993, the SWD operated one social centre, two sheltered housing schemes and one hostel for theelderly while the non-government organisations provided 177 social centres, 18 multi-service centres,72 home-help service teams and provisions of four 50-seater buses for recreational purposes for non-government organisations further provided different types of residential services for the 1993, there were 4,389 accommodation places in the care-and-attention homes, 7,700 places in homesfor the aged, 1,503 places in elderly hostels and 171 temporary accommodation places.