Hello there,
I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with academic year-long placements that have rotations embedded within? I'm looking at a really interesting proposal from program that is putting forward an idea of 3 mini-placements within a specific scope of practice (in this case, geriatric SW) that includes a short clinical rotation, a short policy/community rotation, and then an additional rotation of the student's choice (could be clinical, could be more generalist, could be more mezzo or macro-oriented).
I'm just wondering if anyone who has had experience with the idea of rotations might be willing to share any specific considerations that came up for you in thinking through this idea. Some things our proposal group have already talked about with regards to this:
- Having one overarching learning agreement/contract with specific tasks for each rotation woven in
- Having site-specific supervisors for each of the rotations from whom students are getting weekly supervision (may or may not be MSW's), and an overarching coordinator (MSW) who would also offer regular supervision to the student to connect the social work dots. If multiple students, this coordinator would also facilitate group supervision with the small cohort on a regular basis.
- An orientation at the beginning of the academic year that includes time at the different sites
What else might we not be thinking about that you've learned from experience? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Many many thanks in advance,
Jean
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Jean Sienkewicz (she/her)
Lecturer/Field Education Coordinator
University of Vermont
Burlington VT
802-656-9657
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