There are no shortcuts: Trusting the social work training process

Abstract

Summary

The article explors the effects of a disrupting situation on the professional socialization process of social work students. It relates to the various phases of developing the role of consistency of the process and its effect on the student's development as a social worker. Students worked with refugees in a makeshift camp in wartime, professional identity and self-efficacy as they appear in the literature. In the absence of supervisors and other social workers, surrounded by an extremely distressed population, students confronted a series of acute, challenging problems without having had adequate academic or pratice preparation. In spite of this, students entered this activity with an enthusiastic approach wanting to provide help and support to the population of the camp.

Findings

Two months after their work at the refugee camp, students reported a sense of powerlessness and insignificance in their field placements – feelings that we think were related to the disruption of their structured training program. This incongruence created a dissonance for the students who found it difficult to bridge a connection between their academic field experiences and their wartime role. After sharing their ambivalence with faculty members through focus groups they worked through their feelings

Applications

Student social workers can be a valuable source of manpower in man-made or natural disasters; but teachers and supervisors must bear in mind their responsibility to carefully reintegrate them into the normal academic training process following such an experience.