Themes in the supervision of social care students in Ireland: building resilience

The field placement is core to the education of social care practitioners and practice teachers’ behaviours influence the learning and development of future practitioners. However the practice teacher role is complex with responsibilities to the agency, clients and the student [Davys, A., & Beddoe, L. (2000). Supervision of students: A map and a model for the decade to come. Social Work Education, 19(5), 437–449]. Twenty practice teachers were interviewed individually about their views of their role, in particular what they saw as most and least important. Inductive thematic analysis resulted in the identification of five themes: (1) the nature of the work; (2) acceptance of individuality; (3) commonality and differences from staff; (4) focus on positives and (5) practice involves planning, doing and reflecting. Although resilience was not specifically mentioned the findings indicate that supervisors engage with students to assist their learning in ways that proactively build resilience in line with Grotberg’s [Grotberg, E. (1995). A guide to promoting resilience in children: Strengthening the human spirit. La Haya: Bernard Leer Foundation] model, sending students messages in relation to I have (support, skills and strengths), I am (respected and respectful of others), I can (contribute). This study expands on the literature by informing us how practice teachers interact with students to promote resilience. It is suggested that Grotberg’s model forms the basis of a new paradigm to ensure the development of future resilient practitioners.