International fieldwork: a mirroring of the expectations and experiences of social work students

ABSTRACT

International fieldwork is a significant element of the internationalization of the social work profession. This paper describes the expectations and experiences of social work students engaged in international field education. There are different models practised by universities for international exchanges and fieldwork. This paper focuses on the reciprocal agreements between universities to facilitate student fieldwork. The qualitative study presented here recruited participants from Australia, USA and India, who travelled internationally for their fieldwork. The findings highlight the expectations and experiences the students had during each phase of the international fieldwork and the learning, specifically with issues of cross-cultural practices, social work service delivery systems, setting specific requirements, adaptations and challenges found across the three themes of preparation and planning; undertaking placement; concluding and re-presenting fieldwork. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the findings and how these relate to international fieldwork pedagogy, supervision and models of international placements.

KEYWORDS:

• International field education
• phases of international fieldwork
• fieldwork and cultural learning
• preparation for international fieldwork
• undertaking fieldwork
• re-presenting international fieldwork

Acknowledgments

My gratitude to Dr Jason Schaub, Lecturer, Department of Social Work and Social Care University of Birmingham, UK who looked over my draft paper and reviewed with patience numerous times with questions and suggestions on language and structuring. I thank Professor Thomas Thiruthanathi, member of faculty at Rajagiri College for his helpful suggestions to write this article. My sincere appreciation to all the social work students from Australia, USA and India who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. P. Rajeev

Dr. S. P. Rajeev is an Assistant Professor, in the Department of Social Work, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (Autonomous), Cochin, Kerala, India, He is also a Research Associate with the Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.