SWISSPassing or failing a student
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Students are assessed in relation to their achievement of each of the AASW practice standards, underpinned by an assessment of a student’s ability to practice ethically, in their role as an emerging social work practitioner. Agency Supervisors make the assessment and a recommendation as to whether the student has satisfactorily passed their placement. The final assessment is made by the Coordinator Field Education Unit.
Assisting you to make the decision about pass or fail
Fundamental to a successful placement is close monitoring of how the student is progressing throughout placement, which means regular checking in so that there are ‘no surprises’. There are a few ways to do this:
- Through regular supervision, where notes are kept of discussions and outcomes.
- Through regular review of the learning plan and the evidence the student is including in this. We recommend you regularly discuss what the evidence that the student is including is demonstrating, unpacking this with the student to identify their degree of understanding.
- The mid placement report is the time when any significant issues should be formally recorded – it provides an ideal opportunity to check in and review progress against each of the practice standards and learning goals and identifying issues that exist. However, where issues are identified that are cause for concern, these should be discussed with the student and QUT as soon as possible to allow for opportunity to develop strategies to work through these.
- Learning plans should have timeframes for action and review. This allows for assessment of progress and for alterations to be made. By regularly evaluating and reviewing what you want the student to achieve and how they are progressing, goals and strategies can be adjusted and readjusted to best reflect the students learning needs.
- Learning plans also specify the desired outcomes and the method of assessment. Clarification and specification can reduce the potential for misunderstandings and disagreements.
Steps in reviewing the Learning Plan
- Ensure that the student documents their ‘evidence of achievement’ weekly and brings this to supervision to discuss regularly.
- Ascertain the extent to which the student has completed the planned tasks and activities during the specified time period during supervision.
- Determine the extent to which the student has reached the desired practice standard or has shown progress towards these standards by reviewing the evidence and discussing the learnings with the student.
- Adjust the Learning Plan to respond to student learning needs and progress. This will involve extending the student who has achieved the planned objectives and building in additional opportunities to facilitate student learning in the desired areas e.g. a student who has reached the desired standard in conducting individual interviews may be "extended" by being required to conduct family interviews.
- The mid-placement report drafting process should identify the student who is having difficulty meeting the required standard for placement. The University liaison visitor should be contacted as soon as possible to assist both parties through a problem solving process to help identify strategies to address the issues.
A student is "at risk" of their work being assessed as unsatisfactory where their performance is consistently unsatisfactory or problematic in significant areas of professional practice. We are committed to working with all involved through a process of assessment and problem solving, and we strongly recommend that this process commence as early as possible. There are several options we can explore, including:
- withdrawing the student from the placement where absolutely necessary; and
- continuing the placement with more supervised support with a specific learning contract, tasks and assessment criteria.
Levels of achievement for evaluating a placement
First placement
For first placement students (both Social Work and Human Services), there are three levels of achievement to choose, as well as the option of “Unable to Assess”. The following table provides a brief guide around the expectations of each level of achievement:
| Levels of Achievement (First Placement) | |
|---|---|
| Capable (C) | The student has explored the standard in depth and is able to apply critical analysis to the standard and how it is practiced in the organization. |
| Beginning Capability (BC) | The student demonstrates that they have been introduced to the standard and are aware of its meaning and relevance. |
| Not Capable (NC) | The student has been introduced to the standard, but doesn’t demonstrate any understanding around its meaning and relevance. |
| Unable to Assess in Placement Context (UA) | The placement context doesn’t allow opportunity for learning around the practice standard and/or there is no opportunity for the student to be able to demonstrate understanding/awareness of the practice standard. |
Final placement
or final placement students (both Social Work and Human Services), again, there are three levels of achievement to choose, as well as the option of ‘Unable to Assess’. The following table provides a brief guide around the expectations of each level of achievement:
| Levels of Achievement (Final Placement) | |
|---|---|
| Highly Capable (HC) |
The student demonstrates the ability to practice to this standard at new graduate level. The important question to help you make this assessment, is, ‘is the student someone I would employ at a graduate level in terms of their knowledge and skills.’ It is important to recognize and be mindful that new graduates don't know everything, but this is about the depth of understanding demonstrated by the student. |
| Capable (C) | The student has explored the standard in depth, is able to apply critical analysis to the standard and understand how it is practiced in the organization. |
| Not Capable (NC) | The student has been introduced to the standard, but doesn't demonstrate any understanding around its meaning and relevance. |
| Unable to Assess in Placement Context (UA) | The placement context doesn’t allow opportunity for learning around the practice standard and/or there is no opportunity for the student to be able to demonstrate understanding/awareness of the practice standard. |
While these are not recorded in the Mid-Placement Report, progress should be reviewed against the levels to ascertain how the student is progressing. In this report, you will need to identify if the student is ‘on track’ or if the learning plan ‘needs review’.
Importantly, there should be ‘no surprises’ for a student or supervisor, which means regular review of the Learning Plan throughout placement and discussion of progress is critical, leading up to completion of the Mid Placement and Final Placement reports.
If there are concerns around the student‘s learning and progress (i.e. ‘needs review’ [because the student is ‘Not Capable’] comes up multiple times in the mid-placement assessment of learning report), contact your appointed Liaison Visitor as soon as possible, to discuss strategies around support.
A failing student
Where a student is clearly struggling to achieve a satisfactory level of achievement within their placement based on an inability to demonstrate a satisfactory level of understanding and skills in relation to the practice standards, and/or where there are other issues that are significantly impacting on the student’s ability to pass, for example, practicing in unethical ways, we require that the Agency Supervisor contact the QUT Liaison Visitor immediately, or you can contact the Field Education Coordinator immediately.
All students deserve natural justice, and this involves having clear discussions with students about the issues and concerns as they arise and developing an action plan to address these. We recommend that this is developed in consultation with the QUT Liaison Visitor/Coordinator Field Education, with explicit goals and actions, and review dates. The QUT LV/Field Education Coordinator will work with you and the student throughout this process to ensure all parties receive the required level of support.
Where a student continues to not demonstrate the required level of competence and understanding despite the implementation of action plans and support, the Agency Supervisor, in conjunction with the LV/Field Education Coordinator will work together to develop the most appropriate strategy to discuss this with the student. It is always recommended that a student has the opportunity to fulfil the full placement hours, to provide them with the best opportunity to meet the requirements. However, we recognise that this is not always in the best interests of the student, agency or clients of the agency. Therefore, we will work with you to determine the most appropriate and safe course of action for all concerned, which may involve terminating the placement earlier.