ABSTRACT

While there is growing evidence about the financial burden of completing long, compulsory (mostly unpaid) placements for social work students, this Australian study contemporizes existing research by exploring this issue in the current context (2020–2022), during which time we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, the related economic problems, and modified ASWEAS standards. The data is drawn from 372 undergraduate and Masters (qualifying) students across four universities in different states and explores their experiences of financial stress associated with current placement arrangements; their sources of income and employment arrangements; and how they navigated balancing paid work around placement, or how they supported themselves if they did not work alongside placement. The study evidences no improvement in the situation facing social work students in Australia despite modest ASWEAS modifications that offered limited flexibility around placement requirements during 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings contribute to an expanding body of research that indicates the current model of field education is unsustainable for both social work students and the profession and confirms that urgent changes are required for the social work profession to consider our student population in its social justice mandate.

摘要

虽然越来越多的证据表明社会工作学生完成长期、强制性（大部分是无偿）安置的经济负担，但这项澳大利亚研究通过在当前背景下（2020 年至 2022 年）探索这个问题，对现有研究进行了当代化，在此期间我们经历了COVID-19 大流行、相关经济问题和修改后的 ASWEAS 标准。这些数据来自不同州四所大学的 372 名本科生和硕士（合格）学生，并探讨了他们与当前安置安排相关的财务压力经历；他们的收入来源和就业安排；以及他们如何围绕安置平衡有偿工作，或者如果他们不与安置一起工作，他们如何养活自己。该研究表明，尽管 ASWEAS 进行了适度的修改，但由于 COVID-19 大流行，澳大利亚社会工作专业学生在 2020 年和 2021 年期间对安置要求的灵活性有限，因此其面临的情况没有改善。这些发现有助于扩大研究范围，表明当前的实地教育模式对社会工作专业的学生和专业来说都是不可持续的，并证实社会工作专业需要紧急变革，以在其社会正义任务中考虑我们的学生群体。