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A team approach to practiceteachingChristopher Durkin & Makhan ShergillPublished online: 25 Aug 2010.

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SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION, VOL. 19, NO. 2, 2000

A team approach to practice teaching

CHRISTOPHER DURKIN & MAKHAN SHERGILL

Abstract The ideas presented in this paper were originally generated in a workshop at an NSPCC

conference on Practice Teaching in March 1996. In this article we wish to develop some of these ideas

further and explore the idea of a team approach to practice teaching. This is not some radical new

notion, but an acknowledgement of the reality of many placements. Although a student will be

allocated a practice teacher (and possibly an off-site practice teacher) he or she will not function by

themselves but will be part of an organisation. It is this wider structure and its effects on the student

that we feel needs closer scrutiny. Firstly, we believe that not enough attention has been given to the

power that organisations can have over an individual (particularly one whose stay is only short-term

and possibly part-time). Secondly, we believe students can obtain benefits from the wealth of

knowledge existing in any team, drawing on the skills and expertise of all team members. When team

learning works well we feel that it provides benefits for all partiesÐ the student, the practice teacher,

the team and service users.

`Caught between two settings’

A social work student is caught between two settings, the college and the agency, thusexperiencing two levels of accountability. As David Sawdon (1991) has pointed out `Thedistinctive contribution of the practice teacher is to enable a blending process whichencompasses the tensions between ª educationº and ª trainingº when seeking to promotecompetence’ .

There is an expectation of fluidity of movement between the academic environment of thecollege and the practice-based setting of the agency. The complexity of this movement hasperhaps been understated and fails to acknowledge the existence of two distinctive organisa-tions. This also illustrates the struggle that social work has as a discipline, striving both foracademic respectability and professionalism.

Organisational setting

As practice teachers, the starting point should be to acknowledge that a student is onplacement to an agency and therefore contractually subject to the employment regulations ofthat agency. Paper 30 (CCETSW, 1995) talks in terms of a student having `to demonstratecapacity to work as an accountable and effective member of the organisation in whichplaced’ , and goes on to talk about identifying ¼̀ the nature of the team and own contributionto it’ . When a student embarks on a placement in any organisation there seems to be an

Correspondence to: Christopher Durkin, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Child Protection Team, 278 East® eldRoad, Peterborough PE1 4BE, UK. Tel.: 01733 558245.

ISSN 0261-5479(print)/ISSN 1470-1227 (online)/00/020165± 10 Ó 2000 The Board of Social Work Education

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assumption of adaptation; the feeling is that the student will conform to the agency. Thiscomes over as very much a one-way process because, as Martin Davies (1996) points out,`what you don’t want, especially at student level is someone who is an outsider, a socialisolate who simply cannot cope with the demands of the organisation’ . Martin Davies’ ratherstark statement illustrates the power of the agency, highlighting the fact that we operate¼̀ within hierarchical and bureaucratic structures which demand unilateral control ofassessment and clarity of objectives’ (Humphries, 1988). Yet for any organisation to besuccessful we need ¼̀ to identify what the team gives its members and that has to besomething members value’ (Owen, 1996).

This highlights a dichotomy between power of the whole and the need for trust within ateam. With the introduction of internal markets and a fragmentation brought on by the splitbetween purchaser/provider, we have the need for a greater role for the team at the point ofservice delivery. Just as practice teachers, students, tutors and managers cannot work inisolation nor can teams, thus resulting in a constellation or clusters of interconnected teams,i.e. a network. Although the majority of practice teachers may operate on a singleton basis,they are likely to be operating as social workers in a team setting, many of whose teammembers will not be trained in social work.

Team formation

A team is not something that can form overnight with the prescription to its members to`get interested and participate’ (Peters, 1989). Tom Peters goes on to talk about theself-managing team becoming ¼̀ the basic organisational building block’ . Peter Senge makesa similar point when he states `Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are thefundamental learning unit in modern organizations’ and goes on to say ¼̀ unless teams canlearn, the organisation cannot learn’ (Senge, 1992).

Having recognised the place of the team in social work, it is perhaps important to try andunderstand what we mean by the word team. Owen (1996) identifies four distinctivecharacteristics:

· it is more than just a group of people;· it has a common purpose ¼̀ which is clear to each team member’ ;· it ¼̀ requires continuous hard work’ ; and· it has a `feel’ about it, in which ¼̀ members are open and direct with each other, without

anyone feeling personally attacked’ .

The whole essence of team learning is sharing, in which trust and dialogue are crucialcomponents. Peter Senge emphasises the word dialogue, drawing on its original meaningfrom the Greeks which `¼ meant a free flowing of meaning through a group, allowing thegroup to discover insights not attainable individually’ (Senge, 1992).

As Rome was not built in a day, a fully functioning team cannot be formed in a day, andas a consequence we cannot assume that students will just `slot in’ from day one. We may beclear in our minds how the placement is going to `map out’ , but do the other team membersshare the same view? Unless the whole team is expressly committed to taking students (acommitment that needs to be revisited before the arrival of each student), then problems mayarise; for instance, the student may feel isolated, potentially shunned by some team members.

For a team to work effectively it must take into account the interrelations between theneeds of the individuals, the team as a whole and the task they perform. As Payne and Scott(1982) point out `The assumption is that there are core values, shared by team members and

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A TEAM APPROACH TO PRACTICE TEACHING 167

some agreement about tasks. Also people inside and outside the team can be encouraged tothink of it as having some permanence’ .

Payne and Scott go on to look at the distinction between a team and a network which ¼̀ ischaracterised by interactions with a wide range of people’ . This is important with a studentwho will be working in a team, which exists within a multi-disciplinary framework. If weadopt a systems approach in analysing a team we can see that the student is a member of anumber of systems and sub-systems, with each one overlapping. The importance of analysingthe make up of the team for the student is that it allows them to firstly understand thedynamics of the team and secondly enables them to begin to provide the practice teacher withevidence of their ability to `identify the nature of the team and own contribution to it’(CCETSW, 1995).

Social work is, as Dominelli (1988) suggests, a `political activity operating on a number ofdifferent levels that impinge on the practice teacher/student relationship’ . Despite this largedose of reality, Owen’s (1996) thesis that the use of a team approach can create ¼̀ synergy,whereby the team’s output is greater than the individual’ s contribution alone’ is relevant tosocial work education. In the context of practice teaching, the contribution of other teammembers can benefit the student in greater proportion than the sum of the individual input.Equally, the student’ s contribution to the team could be much greater than the costs involvedin placement provision.

Team preparation

Before the arrival of any student the team should state clearly their desire to have studentsand explore issues like conflict resolution, support and workload relief. Unless these issues arediscussed before the arrival of a student, the clarity and trust required to ensure a high-qualityplacement will be absent. In the Peterborough team, for instance, we had extensive discus-sions before agreeing to take students. In these discussions we looked at such general issuesas who was interested in taking students, to the more specific ones of type of work that couldbe undertaken by the student. In that team the final decision to take a particular student restswith the team and not the individual practice teacher, thus ensuring a degree of jointresponsibility for the success of the placement.

Teams are not static organisations, they are dynamic entities in which staff need to developand grow. To function at its optimum the composition of the team is crucial. It is not madeup of an `identikit’ of professionals but a balance of skills, expertise, and personalitiesÐ thetask of the team will obviously affect this make up. The selection of a student is thereforevital, requiring careful planning both for the individual practice teacher and the whole of theteam. The pre-placement meeting helps the student to obtain a flavour of the forthcomingplacement. In our experience such a meeting enables a matching process to take placeascertaining the students’ views with that of the practice teacher.

The student has to cope with being different, and needs time to assess the difficulties oftrying to `break into’ what is often a tightly knit group of experienced and possibly scepticalprofessionals. In our experience, unless the practice teacher openly discusses this issue andacknowledges the power relations within the team, then this feeling of difference will continueto be pronounced. Throughout the placement account must be taken of issues of gender,ethnicity, and disability both in terms of team dynamics and the allocation of work, puttingin place support systems and outside consultants. This is an issue that may have resourceimplications, and as a consequence needs to be discussed with senior management before thearrival of the student. The success of any placement is so often dependent on detailedpreparation.

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Pre-placement agreement

In beginning to draft a placement agreement the issue of how the student is assessed needsto be addressed, being specific about the use of colleagues’ observations and views. AsStengelhofen has observed `peer feedback is also important in laying down the concept thatit is part of professional work to be observed and evaluated by one’s own colleagues’(Stengelhofen, 1993). It is important that the student is clearly aware of which teammembers’ views are sought in the assessment process to prevent any feelings of oppression.One NSPCC team has formal evaluative meetings at the end of the placement with the soleaim being to ascertain colleague feedback.

The pre-placement meeting is the cornerstone of a good learning experience. It allows thestudent and the practice teacher to explore the team’s potential as a placement. It allows thepractice teacher to give an indication of the team’s values, the theoretical basis of the work,and the range and types of work available. Such a meeting enables the student to assess thequality of the placement.

The first encounter, if handled well, can help `facilitate informed choice and participation’(Preston-Shoot, 1989). The practice teacher’s role will be made much easier if he or she isgiven sufficient information by the College or University. Although accepting that eachplacement has to be a new start, the information obtained could provide clues as to potentialareas of difficulty as well as areas of future interest. Information about the student’spre-course experience may also help in the planning of the placement; for instance, astudent’s lack of work experience with children under 5 years of age may lead to the need forthe student to spend time at a family centre. Incorporated in this process is a need to takeaccount of the student’s prior experience on their course and their possible perception oflimited skills. The acknowledgement of the importance of their past life, work and educa-tional experience is fundamental for adult learning, recognising a shift ¼̀ from an over-concentration on content towards broader educational strategies which address processfactors in learning’ (Coulshed, 1993).

Joining a team

The student’s experience of joining a team is often seen as analogous to joining a group (see,for example, Abramson, 1990). Like group work we are not merely concerned about task butalso about process, for example issues of participation and morale are important. The newperson will be `different’ , and will go through a number of phases when joining the team, aprocess that is again analogous to group development. The process commences at thebeginning of the placement with the student feeling deskilled; then the student begins toadapt and realise what is expected; as the placement moves on the student begins to performand by the end of the placement is hopefully feeling relatively skilful (see Preston-Shoot,1985).

Although any new team member may not progress through all the above stages, ithighlights the potential problem. This may be even more problematic for a student, whosestatus within the team is different from other members; for instance, they may not be full timeand are certainly not permanent, staying for only a relatively short period of time. To helpaddress this issue there is a need to have a period of induction, which would include meetingall the team members including administrative staff members. It is in this initial process ofinduction that the student will begin to discover the wealth of knowledge and expertise withinthe team, allowing the student to identify possible areas of interest and thereby enabling thestudent to take part of the responsibility for his or her learning.

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The reduction in length of the placement and the rise of part-time students has madematters worse. Students will only have limited time to be `up and running’ , adding to analready pressurised learning experience. Part-time students may be even more penalised byonly being able to attend the placement on days that do not coincide with such importantevents as team and allocation meetings where the student gains a wider picture of the life ofthe team and can be involved in casework, policy and development discussions. Part-timestudents may be affected by the fact that one of their placements may have to be in theirnormal place of employment. This could produce a potentially conflicting relationshipbetween the needs of the student and that of an employee. This could also affect therelationship between the manager and the student, a confusion of roles between manager/practice teacher and student/supervisee.

There needs to be an adoption of clear strategies to counter the likely disadvantages thatpart-time students will face. These strategies need to be clear and specific so that they arepracticable in application rather than rhetorical about intentions. For example, the practiceteacher must ensure that the student has access to the team’s information systems. Addition-ally, the team could allow for the practice teacher to make additional requests for specificcases in allocation meetings. Depending on the setting, service users may also feel discrimi-nated against by the part-time nature of the placement. In residential establishments, forexample, the residents may be confused by what they see as the transitory nature of theirworker. An adoption of a team approach may well partly address these issues by allowing fora pairing arrangement amongst staff.

If the student is going to have a successful placement, the practice teacher must be awareof the difficulties new members have when joining a team. This is particularly important inorganisations like the NSPCC where teams are often small, and sometimes tightly knitgroups, in which members may have been together for many years. The latter highlightsanother factor, namely the organisational culture. In any organisation there are two levels,one formal with clearly stated aims and objectives and another informal, in which custom andpractice play a significant role, sometimes producing `teams within teams’ . In any organis-ation the informal levels of communication are perhaps more crucial to the well being of theteam than the formal channels, often highlighting areas of conflict. It is this organisationalculture that can hinder a successful placement.

There are grave dangers that students may be `sucked’ into the office politics and forcedto take `sides’ ; a particularly destructive process. In this context the practice teacher may becalled upon to support the student in challenging colleagues. This may be a potentiallydamaging experience for both the student and the practice teacher and will need considerablesupport from both the practice teacher’s line manager and/or the agency’s practice learningco-ordinator. The agreement should clearly lay out the avenues for conflict resolution, whichcan at times be complex, involving practice teacher, student, team manager and course tutor.Support systems that can be used must be clearly stated to ensure any procedure is carriedout in an open and fair manner. Another instance in which the existence of support systemswill be important is when there is a potentially failing student. It must be remembered thatif you have a potentially `failing’ student it is important that the practice teacher is specificas to which competency the student is failing. In this scenario the support of team memberscan help a practice teacher, allowing them to see that the failure is not down to their lack ofskill or the learning opportunities that they have provided.

`Manager of a learning experience’

We have identified some of the difficulties a student may have in being integrated into a teambut if a practice teacher is not aware of the potential pitfalls and problems the placement may

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fail. Equally, if the practice teacher sees all the problems as his or her responsibility and failsto ensure that the student is the team’s responsibility, the placement may fail, and in theprocess, deprive the student of a full learning experience. Neil Thompson (1990) talks aboutseeing the practice teacher as having a management role in which the practice teacher acts asa `manager of a learning experience’ . Although there is a management role involved inpractice teaching, the word manager fails to acknowledge the loss of power for a practiceteacher which a team approach inevitably involves. In adopting such a method we involveothers in the assessment process and allow others onto our `turf’ .

Practice teaching is not a neutral exercise in which two people get together and performtheir tasks. To be successful the student’s own life experiences have to be validated,acknowledged and used in the learning process. Although one author suggests the relation-ship may be one of partnership (Thompson, 1990) this fails to acknowledge the trueinequality of the relationship and the power invested in both the practice teacher and thetutor. We can see that the power relationships may be more complicated and potentiallyskewed when we enter into the equation other hierarchical members of the organisation,including managers and directors, i.e. the team or project may well only be an isolatedmicrocosm of a large organisation. As Beth Humphries et al. (1993) have pointed out `wemust encourage students to have ª a view of professionalismº not as neutral, but as takingsides, as sharing power and expertise, as developing skills in understanding and influencingorganisations, in working collectively inside and outside agencies, in finding ways to recogniseand to challenge sometimes oppressive practices’ .

Further exploration needs to take account of the meaning of partnerships. The differencesbetween the University and practice settings need to be considered and seen as positivelycontributing to the student’s experience rather than as being conflictual. Similarly, clarityneeds to exist between financial and professional partnerships and how these can impact onthe student’s learning process. A useful starting point would be to consider and draw parallelsbetween the `partnerships’ of practitioners and service users and explore what these tell usabout our accountabilities towards promoting anti-discriminatory practice.

It could be argued that currently most academic institutions see their role in partnershipswith placement agencies as only providing the student with a theoretical knowledge base.This stance puts the onus on placement agencies to address the `professional’ deficits that thestudent may hold. A more healthy collaboration would be around a more equitable sharingof responsibility for the overall development of the student.

If we move on to look at the role of the practice teacher we can begin by acknowledgingthat the placement is a central part of social work education. If we are clear in putting in placeboundaries we will ensure a clarity of purpose. This clarity is vital in other respects, forinstance in ensuring that the student is clear about the role of the team manager in theplacement. In the NSPCC, for example, it is clearly stated that the project manager hasultimate casework responsibility which by implication suggests that the student’s cases will bediscussed in the practice teacher’ s supervision with his or her manager. The starting point forputting in place these boundaries is the pre-placement meeting.

It is at this stage that the student, and practice teacher, can begin to draw up an agreementor contract. The pre-placement meeting may be too early to draw up the contract and notallow for a full incorporation of the tutor into the contract. This is vital, as it is within thecontract that such things as grievance procedures are outlined.

It may be useful to consider the issues of partnership at the agreement stage of theplacement, making explicit the power dynamics and the relationships between the variousindividuals and institutions involved, with the focus being on the student’s learning experi-ence. This would allow both the academic institutions and students’ tutors to be more open

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A TEAM APPROACH TO PRACTICE TEACHING 171

to scrutiny, thus leading to a more transparent process of partnership and assessment of thestudent’s competence. As part of this process of exploration, the student needs to be awareof the differential levels of power and influence that an agency would have, both in theirimmediate locality and in relation to the academic institution. For instance, the agency mayhave a formal partnership agreement with a programme.

Assessment and evaluation

Within the agreement the assessment/evaluation process will be laid out enabling the student,practice teacher and tutor to see what methods of assessment will be used to evidencecompetence. Practice competence is concerned with what people can do, rather than withwhat they know. If competence is concerned with `doing’ , then it must be related to a contextor subject. It must denote the ability to do something (Holloway, 1994). Practice teachinghas become a more active task, in which the teacher needs to evaluate the student’sperformance. This represents a move from the more laissez-faire supervisory approach of theold CQSW, which was less rigorous and not so clearly defined and based almost wholly onone-to-one supervision.

One of the changes that has been brought in as a result of the Diploma in Social Work, isa requirement to observe a student’s practice. Such observations can be extremely useful inproviding evidence, but also can feel oppressive for both the student and the client whenbeing observed. Equally the presence of an observer can distort an interview. If the practiceteacher adopts a team approach the observations of colleagues can be extremely helpful andallow for a more balanced picture adding to the practice teacher’s observations. Obviously ifsuch an approach is to be adopted the permission of service users needs to be sought. Thisis not the introduction of some form of ad hoc assessment but the use of information gainedin a variety of forums including joint working and team meetings.

Joint working

Joint working can be a particularly powerful tool and is used extensively within the NSPCC.In joint working with colleagues other than the practice teacher, the student begins toexperience another professional perspective, allowing for gender mix and possibly a mix ofprofessionals from different ethnic backgrounds. Learning, therefore, becomes less compart-mentalised and provides the student with a different viewpoint.

Such an approach allows students to be involved in some potentially complex cases withthe qualified members of staff retaining case accountability. Such an approach can beadopted in Child Protection Assessments. These detailed pieces of work can involve parent/child observation, work with both the abuser and non-abusing carer, as well as work with theabused child. In addition it must be remembered that such assessments do not take place ina vacuum but are part of a wider child protection strategy, allowing the student to see thework of the team in the wider child protection network.

It provides the student with an opportunity to look at both process and content, toundertake a detailed case analysis and to reflect on practice. In sessions there are opportuni-ties for modelling and for the student to both plan and lead the discussions within a safeenvironment, knowing that their co-worker retains case responsibility. It allows the student anopportunity to explore their emotional response to a difficult area of social work and enablesthem to begin to develop strategies which will allow them to manage emotion in rationaldecision-making. Finally the student may be involved in report writing that could end up

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being presented to a variety of people including service users, social workers, quite possiblysolicitors and therefore ultimately the Court. The latter process is, by its very nature,evaluative and gives the student direct feedback.

The teaching involved in such an approach does not merely happen in the confines ofsupervision but is an active process that enables a qualified member of staff to provide adetailed analysis of the student’s competence in performing a range of tasks in a variety ofsettings. It is also an excellent piece of work to consider the student’s own anti-discriminatorypractice and to test the ethics of social work principles.

Joint working also allows for:

· analysis and promotion of reflective practice;· gender mix in co-working and consideration of personal and professional issues in positive

working with the opposite sex; and· promoting open practice and critical analysis.

By using the skills and expertise of colleagues, the student is able to explore differentmethodologies, drawing on the full team’s resources that may include colleagues who areNNEB trained and have experience in child observation and/or colleagues who are exprobation officers and thus have experience in working with adult offenders. From a team’sperspective it encourages open practice and therefore influences, changes and adds to theculture of the team, potentially inspiring colleagues to co-work and allow practitioners toconstructively scrutinise and analyse their own and others’ practice. The evaluation processdoes not stop at the individual student but involves the whole team and if it succeeds itengenders trust, a key component of team work. Such an approach allows the team to explorethe interrelationships between team members which are so vital for any learning organisation(see Senge, 1992).

Throughout the placement the student will be obtaining evidence of competence from avariety of professionals and contexts; for example, casework and team meetings as well asfrom service user feedback. Again we are involving the student in his or her own assessmentand thereby providing evidence for the core competency `working in organisations’ . In thissection it states that we need to seek feedback from `colleagues and other relevant profession-als’ as well as `service users and their carers’ .

Student evaluation

We have talked in this paper about the need to continuously re-evaluate the team’s commit-ment to students and the need to reassess this obligation before the start of each placement.Within NSPCC East we try to formally evaluate the quality of each placement by the use ofevaluative questionnaires and also by general discussion in the team.

The importance of obtaining regular feedback is illustrated by the views of one student whoundertook a second year placement in a small team in the Eastern region of the NSPCC. Shefelt that the experience was extremely positive as it enabled her ¼̀ to co-work with a numberof colleagues, with different approaches, strengths and styles of working’ . She goes on to saythat `it gave me the opportunity to be involved in a greater variety of types of work and Ibelieve, accelerated my learning because of the different personalities/perspectives involved.In addition I was able to evidence my learning objectives more thoroughly since a greaternumber of colleagues were able to contribute their views of my performance’ .

One of the benefits of the team approach is that the student is viewed as a team member,

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rather than `just a student’ , which in this student’ s case she felt was an `aid to confidence’ .However, as she rightly points out, with team membership comes ¼̀ responsibilities which goalongside being a member of a team, (sharing out tasks and flexibility)’ . Another student feltthat the team’s attitude to students helped towards a `breaking’ down of barriers betweenqualified and non-qualified staff, a reduction of feelings of isolation brought on by beingdifferent, albeit at the beginning she felt slightly `intimidated’ by what she perceived to be ahighly experienced and knowledgeable group of professionals. This student felt that thebenefit of the team approach for her was that it allowed her to be ¼̀ given a degree ofautonomy within a protected framework’ .

As we saw at the beginning of the article the whole essence of team learning is sharing, inwhich trust and dialogue are crucial components. If colleague trust is absent or a teammember sees the student as merely a temporary addition to a busy tightly knit team (or if theteam takes two students and one student is perceived to be more able), then the student islikely to feel oppressed, as has sometimes been the case. The team member’s hostility to astudent may stem from a perceived vulnerability on behalf of an established member of staff,who sees the student as a possible threat to their own way of working.

When the placement has not been a wholly positive experience there is a common threadin the student’s evaluative feedback. It is the lack of acceptance by one or more teammembers of the student as a part of the team that appears to have been the area of concern.Upon further analysis, poor team preparation accounts for a major part of this problem, i.e.the views of all team members have not been sought before the start of the placement.Sensitive team preparation before the arrival of the student can ensure that team memberstalk about their anxieties, clarify areas of responsibility, and formulate an appropriate policyof placement management.

Conclusion

Taking students on placement is not an easy option and needs more recognition as a valuableand legitimate professional activity. Good collaboration between the practice teacher and theteam over the planning of the student’s placement are beneficial to all involved. Whilst thestudent can benefit from an exciting and challenging learning experience, the team canbenefit from closer co-operation with each other, and can be inspired into more effective waysof working.

Prior to taking a student there needs to be a clear commitment from the team which isreflected throughout the placement. Thus the whole team, co-ordinated by the practiceteacher, need to take responsibility and involvement in the organising, planning, implemen-tation and evaluation of the placement.

In this article we have tried to look at the effect the wider organisation may have on astudent whilst on placement. We believe that if other team members are more directlyinvolved in the placement then this can facilitate learning. However, there are dangers of suchan approach in the form of oppression. The possibility of such dangers occurring can belessened by good pre-placement planning and the support of the full team. If such anapproach works well, the student can experience a process of `synergy’ by obtaining knowl-edge from all members of the team and not just the one. The team can benefit from the freshideas and a questioning approach brought by a student which, in turn, can promote positivedialogue between team members ultimately leading to closer co-operation, a greater degreeof trust and inspire more effective ways of working, thereby benefiting service users. From ateam’s perspective, the knowledge gained during the placement can therefore be `fed back’into the team, enhancing team performance.

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