Assessment 5 – Placement Learning Journal
Demonstrate the capacity for critical reflection on your experiences while on placement in relation to your development as a social worker.
Placement journal (3,000 words) S (Ungraded Pass) or UN (Ungraded Fail)
This assignment has an open format for you to write which you can focus in a number of ways.
The following questions are a guide for your journal but do not be limited by them. You can focus on any one or any number of these items. Feel free to experiment with different ways of writing your reflective in the spirit of this question.
a. Outline a summary of your learning experiences while on placement.
b. What were the challenges you encountered and what did you learn from these?
c. Critically reflect on your placement experiences in the light of your own life experiences, values, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation etc? How have each or any of these influenced your development as a social worker while on placement?
d. You may wish to use Kolb’s Learning cycle or Gibb’s reflective practice cycle to help structure your reflections.
You need to be able to reflect on your experiences and development as social worker on placement, not just describe the activities you were engaged in. Students who only describe the activities they were involved with and do not reflect on their experience and learning will not pass the placement learning journal assignment.
This assignment may contain references if relevant, but these are not essential
GUIDELINES IN OTHER WORDS
· Describing the activities you were involved in is not sufficient. You need to be able to demonstrate reflection on your experiences, learning and development as social worker on placement.
· It may be useful to reflect on the challenges you encountered and what you learnt from these. The best learning often comes from the struggles and difficulties, not just success or things you do already can well.
· Critically reflect on your placement experiences in the light of your own life experiences, values, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation etc? How have each or any of these influenced your development as a social worker while on placement?
· You are encouraged to use Kolb’s Learning cycle (Kolb, 1984) or Gibb’s reflective practice cycle (Gibb, 1988) to help structure your reflections. You may use other frameworks for critical reflection. You need to reference the reflective framework you use.