Assessment in Professional Training in Higher Education

Educational assessment in social work practicum involves political, pedagogical and practical issues that pertain to the power interplay between the intensive one-to-one supervisor and student relationship, the concern about what constitutes valid knowledge and practical competence in professional social work practice, and the practicality of deriving valid and appropriate assessment criteria to evaluate the students’ practical competence. This book reports a study that served to identify a host of ‘desirable’ and ‘feasible’ evaluation criteria for assessing students’ practicum performance. There were discrepant views between the assessors (supervisors) and the assessed (students) in assessing the desirability and feasibility of the evaluation criteria. Such discrepancy stemmed from their differences in views, values and power positions in the field practicum context. This book should inspire social work educators and students alike on the processes of teaching and learning, professional development and practice in social work.