Field Education: Learning with Community Impact

Brown feels fortunate that there are practitioners who are willing to serve as field instructors, helping educate students and introduce them to the profession and practice of social work. “In turn, though, many have told me that it is a symbiotic relationship,” she says. “They often gain new knowledge and best practices from the students, who are sharing the knowledge they’ve received at the university. This can have a long-lasting impact in the community.

The College’s field liaisons have heard similar sentiments from field instructors. Carol Taylor says she is often told how much the field instructors appreciate hearing what MSW students are learning in the classroom. “They love hearing about how things have changed since they got their MSW, new theories, and new ways of thinking about things,” she says. Kimberly Jenkins agrees, adding, “It is a reciprocal relationship. The field instructors are relating their skills and experience to the students, while the students bring new information back to the field.”

Catherine Melka says the reciprocal benefits extend to staff and faculty in the College. “Having students in the field helps us stay current with what’s happening on the ground, what practitioners are facing in their agencies; perhaps funding challenges, or changes to Medicaid we may not be aware of,” she says. “It helps us better serve our students and our community partners.”

“Plus, it’s beneficial to the university for us to have our name out there in the community with really great students,” says liaison Nereida Rosales. “It is common to hear from people in agencies and organizations that they really like our students, their passion and dedication. The agencies know the Jane Addams name, but they also know the quality of students and the quality of work attached to that name.”

“For all of these reasons, it is essential for the field division to maintain strong partnerships with agencies that are working in communities, providing services to the people who live there,” Brown says. “The benefits of the partnerships flow to everyone involved.”

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new and unique challenges for classroom education, and the challenges were not any less so for education in the field. Given the unique combination of people involved – JACSW students and staff, and the agencies and their clients – field division staff and field instructors were tasked with coordinating placements that would meet the needs of the agencies and their clients while providing a sound educational experience for students, all while maintaining health and safety for everyone.

Brown says that one of the first things she did as incoming director was to meet with the field liaisons to talk about the challenges they faced during the pandemic, and she reports that the challenges were very similar to what she had seen in her previous position as Director of Field Education at Governors State.

“I think the main challenge, especially in the beginning of the pandemic, was the uncertainty among some of our partners as to how they would meet the needs of clients in a remote fashion. They were struggling with that themselves, and then trying to incorporate students into the process created a further challenge,” she says. “But everyone collaborated, including our students, and we’ve navigated that very successfully. Plus, the agencies have become more adept at delivering remote or hybrid services.”

Field liaison Kimberly Jenkins focuses on field placements in schools, and she relates that there are special challenges to working remotely with young people. “Zoom sessions are very difficult for keeping youth engaged to begin with, and young people in schools were allowed to keep their camera off, which made it even harder to keep them engaged. It was also required that a school staff member be on the Zoom call with them, which introduced scheduling complications,” she says. “Plus, our MSW students often had to communicate with their young clients via email, which young people just don’t use. It has been very challenging.”

Carol Taylor adds that at some placement locations, including some hospitals, using Zoom for remote services introduced confidentiality concerns. “There were times when the MSW students were delivering services remotely, but were still required to do that on-site at the agency. There were many variables that had to be accommodated,”
she says.

“I think a big challenge for many of our students was the isolation. They were in remote classes, and some of them had fully remote placements, and some of them lived alone,” says liaison Catherine Melka. “I could see some of them struggling with the isolation, and it was important for us to be aware of that and to be supportive.”

As the new director of field instruction, Brown has been at JACSW for only a short time, but she is already thinking about priorities and possibilities for the future. “I want to look at the landscape of our community partnerships, and where they are geographically in Chicago. There may be opportunities to expand partnerships to help serve marginalized communities on the South and West Sides. Examining that will be a priority,” she says.

Another of her goals is to encourage students to look at social work through a wider lens. Brown has observed that students often have a narrow focus in their placements, seeing only the one-to-one micro level practice. But she wants to make sure students can see the many other roles that a social worker can play. Reflecting on her own experience as an MSW student, she says she was unaware of the broad possibilities that were available. “For example, I did not realize there would be opportunity for me to write a Social Emotional Learning curriculum, or work with partnerships in schools and at my agency, and to provide services on that larger level,” she says. “In seeing these possibilities, students don’t have to choose what they want to do right now, but they should understand the different roles and possibilities that lie before them in their careers, and the different levels on which they can contribute to social change.”

Brown also understands the lasting impact the pandemic will have on the delivery of services, and therefore on the experience of field education. “I think ultimately these are changes for the better. Even prior to the pandemic, I was intrigued by the prospect of delivering services remotely, looking at how that works, what that looks like,” she says. “The pandemic was sort of a crash course, but we will continue exploring this, investigating and researching practical aspects of implementing remote services, as well as how effective they can be.”

She adds that JACSW has a history of looking at social work within a framework of public health, and thinks that the pandemic has brought even greater collaboration between the two. “There will be  greater opportunities for students to explore that intersection,” she says enthusiastically. “And opportunities to bring greater health and well-being into marginalized communities.”