I’ve just come to the end of my study week – my 5th week, in which we have no lectures, just time to study and prepare for essays. I can’t actually believe I have only been in uni 5 weeks. I feel I have learnt such a ridiculous amount in such a short time.
It’s funny – social policy, although interesting, was probably the module I thought would be hardest to relate directly to social work – when compared to some of the others such as critical theories. In fact, I’ve found the module so helpful, both for getting a better understanding of the news and just a context for the world we live in.
Last night I watched John Humphry’s programme on The Future State of Welfare. I wanted to throw something at the screen for the incredibly biased opinions given about welfare recipients, but the one aspect I did enjoy, was feeling so much more familiar and so much more empowered to disagree with what was being said, since having learnt about many of the key aspects. Before my module I admit I hadn’t even heard of Beveridge and the terms ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving poor’ meant little to me. Now I am beginning to have a much greater appreciation of policy decisions and as my essay title was about whether women are treated as secondary citizens within the welfare system, could particularly relate to the way lone mothers were portrayed on the show. I have just submitted my complaint to the BBC. Check out this blog for more info and help complaining, http://otonwheels.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/complaint-to-the-bbc-re-humphries-tfsowwjh/
The course really is such an educational experience and I really am enjoying it. I can’t pretend that I’m not finding it pretty stressful – getting back into essay writing and preparing for two 4000 words essays is tough going but the breadth is incredible. My second essay which I have not yet started writing, asks me to look at three critical theories, and assess how useful they are to social work practice. Initial reading has proved really interesting and although I realise that in practice, it would never be quite as mechanical as to stop and think about theories, I believe the more I can understand about them, perhaps the easier they’ll be to use naturally.
I’ve also started having experience interviewing other members of the group – so far I’ve only been an interviewee, but next week I play the social worker – learning how to listen, to encourage, to show empathy – but not to advise – before we then go on to interview service users. I will also soon be doing three days of shadowing a social worker, as well as spending 6x1 hour sessions observing and reporting on a child under the age of 5 as part of the life span development module. This begins next month.
Am also looking forward to our law module which begins next week, even if it’s a four hour lecture each week as the last tutor resigned at the end of the last term and so while replacing them, they changed our 2hr lectures to start later in the term and become 4hrs. Lucky us!
Anyway, in all, it’s great – it’s a rare opportunity to learn so much, so fast.
Admittedly the thought of starting placement in January, having seen the amount of work that needs to be completed next term, with no holiday until August is a tad daunting. But as I immerse myself more in the course, I certainly feel excited about what’s to come. Possibly more excited now I’ve written one essay!
Friday, 28 October 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
A month into the MA
So, I haven't really been posting recently but i've now done about a month of the MA course.
I've learnt so much in such a short space of time. My course is very full on, we're in uni four days a week - in total about 16 hours a week, with everyone living in the library between lectures. I've just handed in my practice social policy essay and just been given the first of my two 4000 word assignments in for after Xmas, and also working on my reflective diary. Having heard about other courses, it seems that they're not all consistent and this one may be a higher workload than some - shame i didn't know that before, haha!
One of the things i am enjoying about the course is the reflective element - not just the explicit stuff i.e write a reflective diary but a lot of the other modules, particularly the psychology aspects of our critical theories model often lead me to think of ways i have behaved, or certain ways i have communicated and how i might have done it better. We've also had debates about our culture and ethnicity and how it affects the way we are today, where our values come from and a range of broad questions that you tend to take for granted but I've found very interesting to probe into a bit.
The breadth of the course is mad, covering social policy, psychology, life span development, research methods (possibly my least favourite),the more practical side of social work, and in two weeks time, my 4 hour law lectures begin! But I'm loving learning so much and for me, pretty much every single class is totally new information. The majority of the class have studied psychology or sociology which means they seem to know a lot - so i do feel i'm working hard to play catch up but it also means i find everything new and interesting.
One of the things i really enjoy is that we get set two totally random articles to read for one of our modules each week and then discuss in class. This week the theme is human rights, so one article is about human rights and whether the social work code of ethics in different countries overlap enough with the human rights act, and the other was specifically about the gypsy traveller communities and the application of human rights. Last week it was about systems of management within the workplace and another on ecological theory and how you can apply lessons from the environment to groups around us...very broad!
I also enjoy how topical it is, and the fact it's helped me interpret the news a bit better - i.e today's class was on globalisation - something that pervades most news stories.
Next month i'll also be doing 3 days shadowing a social worker, and start my child observation - 6 x one hour sessions observing a child under 5, which should be really interesting.
It's certainly exhausting, but as i know i'm lame at working in evenings, i'm making sure i still go out and have fun then - i find it great way to switch off from the essays in hand/ my form of self - care (!) and i'm at my most productive in the days anyway, even if it means weekend working!
Anyway...basic summary of a boring post is that it's all going well so far! Just slightly scared about essay writing!
I've learnt so much in such a short space of time. My course is very full on, we're in uni four days a week - in total about 16 hours a week, with everyone living in the library between lectures. I've just handed in my practice social policy essay and just been given the first of my two 4000 word assignments in for after Xmas, and also working on my reflective diary. Having heard about other courses, it seems that they're not all consistent and this one may be a higher workload than some - shame i didn't know that before, haha!
One of the things i am enjoying about the course is the reflective element - not just the explicit stuff i.e write a reflective diary but a lot of the other modules, particularly the psychology aspects of our critical theories model often lead me to think of ways i have behaved, or certain ways i have communicated and how i might have done it better. We've also had debates about our culture and ethnicity and how it affects the way we are today, where our values come from and a range of broad questions that you tend to take for granted but I've found very interesting to probe into a bit.
The breadth of the course is mad, covering social policy, psychology, life span development, research methods (possibly my least favourite),the more practical side of social work, and in two weeks time, my 4 hour law lectures begin! But I'm loving learning so much and for me, pretty much every single class is totally new information. The majority of the class have studied psychology or sociology which means they seem to know a lot - so i do feel i'm working hard to play catch up but it also means i find everything new and interesting.
One of the things i really enjoy is that we get set two totally random articles to read for one of our modules each week and then discuss in class. This week the theme is human rights, so one article is about human rights and whether the social work code of ethics in different countries overlap enough with the human rights act, and the other was specifically about the gypsy traveller communities and the application of human rights. Last week it was about systems of management within the workplace and another on ecological theory and how you can apply lessons from the environment to groups around us...very broad!
I also enjoy how topical it is, and the fact it's helped me interpret the news a bit better - i.e today's class was on globalisation - something that pervades most news stories.
Next month i'll also be doing 3 days shadowing a social worker, and start my child observation - 6 x one hour sessions observing a child under 5, which should be really interesting.
It's certainly exhausting, but as i know i'm lame at working in evenings, i'm making sure i still go out and have fun then - i find it great way to switch off from the essays in hand/ my form of self - care (!) and i'm at my most productive in the days anyway, even if it means weekend working!
Anyway...basic summary of a boring post is that it's all going well so far! Just slightly scared about essay writing!
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