Fieldwork supervision: Unleashing student greatness

Oftentimes, social work students manifest anxiety, nay actual fear when they are confronted with a practicum - real life practice, with real service users, in a new environment, and in a hitherto unknown placement agency. Rapp and Goscha (2012) contend that people are scared or anxious when confronting a new task or situation, and that fear and lack of confidence can be acute and immobilizing. To reduce fieldwork anxiety and taking the view that every student has the seed of greatness, the speaker uses strengths perspective in her fieldwork supervision. As Deegan (2012) in Rapp & Goscha (20120 reminds us, a remarkable thing happens when we focus on a person’s strengths – a radiating effect. It is as if by focusing on a single strength, the strong part of the self begins to radiate outward, building a new life of meaning and purpose. The strengths perspective approach to fieldwork supervision has been validated, inter alia, by the favourable reports received from service users and host agencies, and the Discovery-enriched Curriculum awards students have obtained.