SWiS for Social Work Students
SWiS locations
Originally, participating schools have been in rural or remote areas of New South Wales. The SWiS program is well established in the Hunter New England Region of NSW. The program has expanded to include schools in the Central West of NSW, Western and South Western Sydney, Wollongong, Northern Rivers, North Coast and Newcastle.
University student supervision
Student supervision in the schools meets university and AASW requirements. When the SWiS program is fully established, the aim is to have qualified social workers to supervise university students. This is slowly occurring, for example the SWiS program is now fully established with some schools employing qualified social workers who can supervise students. If you do not have a qualified social worker onsite, one will be allocated to meet the university requirements of 1.5 per week alongside a school staff member to oversee daily tasks of the student.
You will also be enrolled in the SWiS Moodle site which has many resources and quality sources to assist you during placement.
Three roles of the program
Each school site is unique to the local community demographic it sits within. However, there are three main roles each social work student engages in;
Direct practice - working directly with children in supporting wellbeing needs (e.g visibly distressed, disengaged, class refusal). At times this can be understood as crisis work where a solution-focused approach is appropriate.
Groupwork - planning and facilitating groupwork focused on wellbeing needs (e.g. resilience, social skills, emotion regulation etc). You are likely to develop and facilitate a small group (6-10 school children or young people) or perhaps co-facilitate a group with school staff.
Community engagement – engaging whole school community in raising awareness of wellbeing (e.g. Harmony Day, RUOK Day, Mental Health Month OR building bridges between school and the local community (e.g. relationships with parents, partnerships with Services, developing stronger links across the community). This is often related to early intervention and raising awareness of community issues.
The SWiS program adapts to each school community. What strengths do you bring to field education, look to your transferrable skills and build your social work practice skills.
Benefits from the program
Social Work students have the opportunity to broaden their experience in the ‘outback’ and immerse themselves in the school and local communities. Can you relocate for field education?
One long-term outcome of the SWiS program is to re-establish the Social Work profession back into NSW state schools. We have worked alongside the Education department for their roll-out of Student Support Officers (SSO) where social work is a preferred qualification.
Additionally, the social work profession will be further recognised as being ideally suited to assisting school communities’ reach their full potential and capacity
So far, evidence from project outcomes suggests the SWiS approach assists school children and young people to participate better in their learning. School students and staff have reported positive influences from having of social work students in their schools. Evidence shows that a consistent social work presence in the school is better for school pupils through ongoing support and relationships.
Employment from SWiS placements is around 40%. The NSW Education Department are committed to employing a Student Support Officer in every high school, with social work being the preferred qualification.
