The Future of Fieldwork in a Market Economy

Abstract

The economic reforms of the past decade have had a dramatic impact on social services. The application of market forces to the welfare sector—including competition, contestability, contracting and diminishing funding of strictly defined policy objectives—has exerted an influence on social work education. This impact has been particularly sharply felt by those engaged in supervised field practice programmes in schools of social work. In this paper, the writers outline their experiences and undertake a process of analysis and reflection with the aim of creating a shift in thinking about fieldwork which encourages the development of new models for the achievement of fieldwork goals.