Anne-Kirstine Mølholt

Problem-Based Learning in Social Work Education: Students’ Experiences in Denmark

ABSTRACT Problem-based learning (PBL) constitutes a promising way of integrating academia and social work practice because PBL fosters engagement with real-life problems and enhances important skills needed in social work practice. However, little attention has been given to social work students’ experiences of PBL. In this article we address this gap by exploring experiences of learning and learning preferences among master’s-level students in a Danish social work education setting where extensive problem-based project work is used. We find a discrepancy between students’ preferred learning and when they experience learning the most. Possible reasons for this discrepancy, and implications for teaching, are discussed.

Keeping You Close at a Distance: Ethical Challenges when following Young People in Vulnerable Life Situations

The integration of ethics into research with young people in vulnerable life situations is an on-going challenge that cannot be solved through predefined guidelines or fixed standards. In this article, we address the ethical predicaments of keeping in contact with young people in vulnerable life situations through a longer duration of time in order to conduct follow-up interviews. Drawing on cases from two separate studies, the context of the interview situation and the young informant’s general life situation are analyzed in terms of how they influence what is ethically acceptable. While the blurriness of what is appropriate could lead to suggestions for more well-defined ethical guidelines, we argue that the best and most ethical way to deal with this ambiguity is to recognize it and actively address it as both a practical and an academic challenge.

Leaving Care in the UK and Scandinavia: Is It All That Different in Contrasting Welfare Regimes?

In both the UK and Scandinavia, young people leaving care have traditionally experienced accelerated and compressed transition pathways, without access to the levels of practical, financial and emotional support that are typically available to their peers in the general population. Heightened awareness that young people leaving care are vulnerable to poor outcomes has led academics and (to varying degrees) the charitable sector and politicians to consider (and, in some cases, implement) changes designed to meet their needs, or promote their rights. The chapter draws on Pinkerton’s (States of care leaving. Towards international exchange as a global resource. In: Stein M, Munro E (eds) Young people’s transitions from care to adulthood: international comparisons and perspectives. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, p 241–257, 2008) model for international comparison, to investigate the dynamics of leaving care policy, and implications for young people leaving out-of-home care in contrasting welfare regimes (Liberal/UK and Social Democratic/Scandinavia).