Role of rural camps in nurturing field practicum: narrative from a faculty of social work, Delhi, India

Abstract

Rural camps are an integral part of practice learning for most schools of social work in India. The paper locates the relevance of rural camps in social work education and unveils its pedagogy and broad learning framework. Based on the experiential account of the author in a rural camp as a teacher educator, the paper situates the role of camps in professional development of social work students and how it enables to bridge the gaps between academic knowledge base and the complex realities of practice. The unique standpoint of the paper is the students’ account of their experiences, challenges faced and its impact on their personal and professional growth.

Keywords:

• Rural camp
• field work
• integration of theory
• professional development
• social work students
• India