How has COVID-19 affected mentoring in social work practice teaching?

ABSTRACT

This article is based on the premise that the Covid-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented experience in contemporary social work education, and that it presents unique challenges to all involved in practice teaching and require a comprehensive understanding of what has been termed as ‘New Normal’. The results of a survey conducted in Slovenia are presented regarding the course of practice teaching before and during the Covid-19 epidemic, the provision of mentoring support in normal and emergency situations, and the challenges of mentoring in times of changed circumstances. The findings indicated that the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the practice teaching of social work students in terms of both the content and nature of mentoring, and that the students were less satisfied with their practice teaching than they were in the pre-Covid-19 era. Nonetheless, one promising finding was that mentors supported students in an adaptive manner; therefore, the students were consequently able to acquire the necessary practical skills.

POVZETEK

Članek temelji na predpostavki, da pandemija Covid-19 predstavlja izkušnjo brez primere v sodobnem izobraževanju na področju socialnega dela in edinstven izziv za vse, ki so vključeni v praktično usposabljanje, ter zahteva celovito razumevanje tega, kar je bilo poimenovano kot ‘nova normalnost’. Predstavljeni so rezultati raziskave, izvedene v Sloveniji, o poteku praktičnega usposabljanja pred epidemijo Covid-19 in med njo, o zagotavljanju mentorske podpore v običajnih in izrednih razmerah ter o izzivih mentorstva v času spremenjenih okoliščin. Ugotovitve kažejo, da je pandemija Covid-19 vplivala na praktično usposabljanje študentk in študentov socialnega dela tako z vidika vsebine kot narave mentorstva in da so bili študentke in študentje manj zadovoljni s praktičnim usposabljanjem kot v obdobju pred pandemijo Covid-19. Kljub temu pa je vzpodbudna ugotovitev, da so mentorice in mentorji študentke in študente podpirali na prilagodljiv način, zato so študentke in študenti posledično lahko pridobili potrebne praktične veščine.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work profession
• student support
• mentor
• supervision
• pandemic

KLJUČNE BESEDE:

• Socialno delo
• podpora študentom
• mentoriranje
• supervizija
• pandemija

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tadeja Kodele

Tadeja Kodele, PhD is a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana. She is a qualified social worker. Her research interests mainly cover social work with families, children participation and practice teaching in social work. She has participated in many scientific research projects in various fields. She has presented her research work at several conferences and congresses and in scientific journals.

Tamara Rape Žiberna

Tamara Rape Žiberna, PhD is a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, where she is a member of the Department of Research and Organization and the Centre for Practical Studies. She is a qualified social worker. Her research interests are mainly related to teamwork in social work, social work research and social work practice education.