Fran Waugh

Building community in academic settings: the importance of flexibility in a structured mentoring program

Academic mentoring is increasingly being used by many universities as a tool to enhance the quality of research‐led teaching, promote cross‐faculty collaboration and encourage a mentoring culture and community. This article reports on a pilot project established to investigate the benefits of building flexibility into a structured academic mentoring program at the University of Sydney. Twenty‐six academics from the Faculty of Business and Economics and the Faculty of Education and Social Work participated in the program. The mentors ranged in position from lecturer to professor and the mentees from associate lecturer to senior lecturer. Flexible arrangements were shown to be important in a variety of ways, from the pairing of mentor with mentee, to focussing on issues of work survival and life balance, research outcomes and career advancement. The project highlighted the lower number of male academics involved in formal mentoring, which merits further exploration. All participants reported positive outcomes, although refinement of the pairing process was recommended. A variety of unanticipated outcomes was reported by mentees.

Authentic assessment: partners in developing a web-based guide

Abstract Field education in practice settings and its assessment are essential for the education of social work students. Many challenges in providing consistent, transparent and equitable assessment in field education have been identified in the international literature. This paper discusses the findings from an Australian three stage participatory action research project between social work and teacher education which aimed to develop authentic assessment tools. This paper focuses on the social work component of the research. The research process resulted in the development of 10 generic assessment frameworks presented as an online resource (socialworkfieldassessment.net). Each framework links specific learning challenges with relevant practice standards, suggested learning strategies, types of evidence produced by these strategies and ways of making a judgement based on the evidence produced. The frameworks provide guidelines with ideas, suggestions and resources which can be adapted to specific placement contexts. By examining the frameworks utilising Darling-Hammond and Snyder’s four criteria for authentic assessment, it is concluded the frameworks contribute to authentic assessment as well as being a useful resource for assessment in field education both nationally within Australia and internationally.

Qualitative Research Skills for Social Work: Theory and Practice

Witkin’s exploration of autoethnography provides an exciting and at times confronting platform for social workers to engage with clients and research participants. The use of narratives is not new but this text illuminates how human courage overcomes both everyday and complex struggles. He concludes that it is important to connect these narratives with the power of action and change that can result from their telling and that social work needs to capture these stories and be aware of this power. So to return to my own reactions to the text. During my reading I became preoccupied with a struggle about usefulness. How can I use autoethnography with students, with clients, and with research participants? I wanted an answer and at times became frustrated and confused. But as I often say to students “confusion is the beginning point of learning” so taking my own words to heart I allowed myself to be confused. And that was okay. I did not find an answer to that question but at least I had a question! I see Witkin’s book as providing me with permission to question and reflect on my own situation, on the interface of my personal and professional being. In terms of the specific autoethnographies presented in the text, their power was at times staggering. The authors had recounted their personal and professional struggles, the ambiguity of their experience, and their emotions in a way that I had not before encountered in an academic text. I have read academic works from some of these narrators and to hear about their struggles and very private experiences was at times both confronting but also comforting. The final chapter resonated with me personally. The topic of mentoring relationships is one I have encountered over the last five years, with a movement in the relationship with my mentor that has been at times personally troubling. The connection I experienced with this dialogue highlighted for me what Witkin is attempting to achieve as he described the importance of the resonance of the reader with the narrative. Overall I found Narrating Social Work through Autoethnography a powerful dialogue that was well written and engaging, challenging, and at times confronting. As an example of how autoethnography can be used to instil critical reflection in an audience it certainly worked for me. I would like to acknowledge and applaud the authors of the authoethnographies that were included. Their honesty and emotionality was striking, leaving on me, the reader, an indelible impression and a heightened awareness of the content and context of the experiences recounted.