Using Projective Identification to Explore Practice Educators' Experience of Failing Social Work Students in Practice Learning Settings

This paper addresses a number of conference themes: research on social work and social justice; evaluation of social work practice and, in particular; decision making and social work education and pedagogy. The paper has a... [ view full abstract ]

This paper addresses a number of conference themes: research on social work and social justice; evaluation of social work practice and, in particular; decision making and social work education and pedagogy. The paper has a focus on practice learning (an essential part of social work education across the world), which does not often receive the academic attention it deserves.
Internationally in professions with practice learning requirements a number of concerns have arisen. These include: the quantity and quality of placements; the perceived low failure rate; practice educators (field supervisors) reluctance to fail students when required, and linked to this; emotional turbulence caused by working with a failing student (Finch and Taylor, 2012), which in some cases, may lead to students being passed inappropriately (Finch et al, 2014).
The paper uses findings from two empirical qualitative studies (Finch 2010; Schaub & Dalrymple 2011) that explored the emotive experiences of practice educators in England working with failing students. It builds further on a previous re-analysis and theorisation of the data (Finch et al, 2014) using a key psychodynamic concept, projective identification, to make sense of the difficult dynamics and reluctance to fail students.

We explore in this presentation wider sources of these defensive anxieties that impact on social work in the UK and by default, invade practice learning. We consider how practice educators may recognise, resist and work with anxiety. We conclude that such an analysis is important for three reasons: firstly, to theorise further a phenomenon that has received scant academic attention to date; secondly, to ensure the practice educators gate keeping is of the highest quality; thirdly, and most importantly, to ensure users of social work services are protected from incompetent or dangerous practitioners. The paper, therefore, has implications for decision-making in social work and social work education across Europe.