Index: L1 / School Social Work/ Children and Young People / Mid-placement Self-evaluation / 70144153
Keywords: Inter-professional collaboration / time management / use of social work theories / reflective learning
Mid-placement Self-evaluation
Abstract: This is a mid-placement self-evaluation report written by the placement student. The main areas that the student has reviewed include knowledge of young people in the school, the use of group work with adolescent clients, inter-professional collaboration and the use of social work theories.
Mid-evaluation
In this placement, I wanted to understand some aspects of youth and what to do as a school social worker (our role and duty). During the process, I hope to find out the special needs, behaviour, personality and characteristics of the youth. I had tried to apply social work theories and methods to handle the cases, group and mass programme. Through the process, I expect to learn and gain experience on planning, implementation, evaluation, and termination. Furthermore, learning to engage in inter-professional collaboration is also my expectation in this school setting.
I tried to focus
on the senior form students in organizing a group. First of all, I was afraid
of the attendance in the group. It was because some teachers told me that
it was difficult to recruit senior form students for the group. They had many
extra curricular activities after school and would leave the school after
class. When I reviewed some past proposals, I found that there was rarely
a group organized for the senior form students. I felt pressure on planning
a group. Then I found sound some senior students to talk about their worry
and difficulty. They helped me to know more about their needs. They also provided
encouragement for me through their participation in the group, 
.
I thought that clients were also our resource in my job because they
had clear knowledge of what they wanted.
In addition, inter-professional collaboration was also important in my job. It was because the teachers could provide more background information about client. I remembered that I had talk less with teachers in the first week of placement. I could not find the topics to talk with them. After the second week, I began to contact some teachers. I approached some teachers to do a questionnaire on the performance of the students. It provided a chance for me to discuss with the teachers. Now, I will always contact some teachers to discuss the condition of clients. It was because I wanted to know their performance in class, such as attention, emotion and behavior. I also could cooperate with the teachers to give emotional support to the clients. It not only could encourage the clients’ positive behavior, but also let the clients know that the teachers were concerned about them.
Due to the above point, I used much time to make appointment with the teachers. During the lesson, I needed to invite some teachers to discuss about the clients. Since I wanted to collect more information about different teachers who taught the clients. It was a time consuming method to get information about the clients. I needed to use time to meet the clients during their lessons. I also needed to prepare my group content at the same time. Sometimes, I found I did not have enough time to do all the things. I also used a lot of time to do my homework at home. Therefore I thought I should effectively use my time in the placement setting. I tried to use lunchtime to do my homework. I made a note after each counseling and group session. It could help me to be more efficient in writing my recordings.
I could try my best to understand my clients because I wanted to feel their inner world and underlying meaning. It meant that the clients’ behavior could reflect their views. Therefore I tried to stand on their side to feel what was their point of view and know more about their thoughts. I thought it was the strength as a social worker. The clients talked to me because they wanted me to understand them. Through their trust in me, they would self-disclose more to me. Then, I could further build up a good relationship with them. Although the clients knew I was a student school social worker, they would still tell me about their secret. I was glad to gain their trust.
On the other hand, I thought my weakness was in the use of social work theories that I had learnt from the university. Although some social work theories and approaches would be used in the counseling, it was difficult to link it in my reflection. It was because I would think only slightly about the counseling content in professional approach. However, through supervision, it led me to understand the importance of integration of social work theories. It was because I should make sure about the difference between professional and non-professional counseling. I also reminded myself to think more about the clients in social work approach.
I was happy as a school social worker in this secondary setting. My partner and I had many chances to give suggestion and feedback to each other. We also discussed about the counseling cases and are more ideas with each other. This placement provided many opportunities to collaborate with teachers. However, I knew the teachers were different from the school social workers in looking at the students’ problems. Sometimes, I would disagree with the teachers’ way in dealing with the students’ problems.
Overall, I felt this school setting provided free learning opportunities for me to freely select what to do in placement. Since this school focused on helping students to enrich their school life, it organized many extra-curricular activities for the students. It led us to hold groups and explore the learning outside the classroom. It also provided many chances for me to cooperate with the teachers, especially the agency’s supervisor. She gave me useful guideline and suggestion in organizing a group and conducting individual counseling. It led me to gain the experience of working with the school. Therefore I recommend this school as a highly suitable setting for placement.
Written and revised by: 70144153(student)
Instructor: W M Kwong
Copy Edited by: Phyllis Chee
Commented by: W M Kwong & Phyllis Chee
Copyright 
2001 by City University of Hong Kong. All rights reserved.
| Background Study | Learning Contract | Elaborated Proposal | Recording (Case) | Recording (Group) |
| Evaluative Study | Reflection | Mid-placement Self-evaluation | Final-placement Self-evaluation |