A crisis in the procurement of quality placements for social work students has been acknowledged within Ireland and internationally for several years. The Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing public health restrictions further exacerbated this crisis. Just as social work practice and education adapted resulting in rapid changes to social work practice education, there followed a national cyber-attack on Irelands health service forcing yet another adaptation and rethink on the secure use and application of technology.
Within the challenges posed by these contemporary crises there emerged the opportunity for a new and innovative collaboration made possible using technology. The collaboration of Irish practice education coordinators from six higher education institutions providing social work education came together to collaborate and respond proactively to support practice teachers and placements. This collaboration, the first of its kind in Ireland included the Irish Association of Social Workers with Irish Government funding.
With the increasing deployment and use of technology in contemporary social work practice, this unique collaboration sought to connect with social work practice teachers nationally using online learning platforms and technology. Utilising the online learning platform hosted by and in collaboration with the Irish Association of Social Work the initiative hosted a series of open access and free to attend CPD. This responded to the ongoing need for CPD which is a Social Work Registration Board requirement for education programmes and registered social workers. CPD included report writing essentials, managing challenges on placements, supervision, promoting feedback literacy, and responding to racism on social work placements. The use of online open access technology enabled access to national and international contributors. Resources from these CPD sessions were added to our learning and teaching website ensuring access to support practice teaching into the future.
The creation of a learning and teaching website was informed by lessons learned from the national cyber-attack in 2021. A T4 structure embedded within the host HEI ensured maximum security in addition to future proofing the website. The website contains a series of commissioned video resources on themes related to practice teaching including assessment, supervision and reflective practice, communication, and feedback, addressing concerns on placement, theory to practice and ethics and governance issues. The website also hosts publications and research and resources and presentations from an inaugural practice teaching conference.
Ethical approval was secured for research conducted online with practice teachers. This captured for the first time the contemporary experience of practice teaching in Ireland and ensured the voices of social work practice teachers formed part of the national conversation on the development of a national strategy for social work. The report is published and open access on our website.
This initiative was possible through the application of technology tools informed by professional values and relationship-based practice. Resources were shared generously including an entire eBook series. Professional values and accreditation standards were never compromised, and our co-creation of practice teaching resources utilised the strengths of technology to enable a coordinated, collaborative national response from the HEI practice education coordinators to contemporary placement challenges.