Taking the Show on the Road in Holding Academic Classes in Community Agencies: Exploratory Study Findings

ABSTRACT

Social work educators often teach students clinical knowledge within a university classroom, whereas students tend to learn clinical practice through their practicum experiences. This article describes data from a cross-sectional, mixed-method study on one way to effectively bridge the gap between teaching clinical knowledge and practice to graduate students. In this study, students participated in a newly developed and delivered 3-hour weekly course, over 12 weeks, based around students’ observation of ongoing live family therapy sessions at a children’s mental health organization. Findings suggest that this course design can fill a gap between the classroom and practicum experiences for students.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-university partnerships
• mindfulness
• practice skills
• social work education and research

Funding

This study receiving internal funding from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.

Additional information

Funding

This study receiving internal funding from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.