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!
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