Practice education placements for undergraduate social work students in the corporate sector of the Western Cape metropole : an exploratory investigation

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Finding practice education placements for undergraduate social work students isbecoming increasingly difficult in the Western Cape Metropolis, because many welfareagencies have either closed down or do not have the capacity to accommodate studentsfor field placement. As a result of this situation, this research was undertaken with the aimto investigate the feasibility of the corporate sector as a field placement for undergraduatesocial work students.By using the corporate sector as a field placement an opportunity can be created wherebythe university and the corporate sector could establish a workable partnership, withmutual benefits for each. The corporate sector can benefit by services offered by thestudents in the form of case-group and community work that can be rendered to theemployees. The university will benefit because a new option for student placements willbecome available to them.The domain of social work in the corporate sector was explored by defining occupationalsocial work; the nature of service rendering on micro, meso and macro levels anddiscussing occupational social work in the 21st century.Field placements of undergraduate students in the corporate sector were examined inorder to establish what the theoretical background for field placements in a corporatesetting ought to be. To this end, the nature and purpose; formats; settings and key roleplayers in field placements were explored. Social work methods in social work per se andoccupational social work in general were investigated.An investigation was also made into the management of the field placement programmefor undergraduate social work students in the corporate sector. The following were facetswere explored: the requirements of the department of social work at the University of theWestern Cape for fourth year students as well as the requirements for field placements inthe corporate sector, in order to establish the suitability of the corporate sector for fieldplacements.Existing literature and empirical findings were used to collect data for this study.Exploratory and descriptive research designs were applied in this study. Data wascollected through questionnaires and interviews and conclusions and recommendationswere based on the findings of the study.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University