Search

Reflection can open up spaces to think at many levels about issues of power. It offers up opportunities for re-reading of organisational and societal scripts. It provides pace to think through changes and identify positives and negatives. It offers opportunities for the development of a collective counter space to consider and reframe - or reclaim -professional identity.

For many years now literature has drawn attention to the close relationship between assessment processes and student learning. Increasing attention is currently being paid to exploring some of the inherent complexities in this relationship and how assessment can both promote and inhibit student learning. The role of peer assessment is currently being explored within this framework. This paper reflects on the beginnings of an evaluation into a peer assessment exercise introduced with the aim of enabling students to work actively with the assessment criteria whilst feeding back to each other on their formative work prior to summative submission. Current findings highlight the importance of engaging in an assessment dialogue with students as key issues may impact on student learning but remain invisible to the tutor. The emotional as well as cognitive aspects of peer learning are highlighted alongside the need for learning pedagogies to be incorporated at programme, as well as module, level for peer assessment to be most effective.

Foucault referred to the authoritative ‘gaze’ that can objectify the users of public services and which continues to promote heroic narratives in many areas of professional practice by casting them in a passive role. In the UK, there has been a distinctive and growing discourse about the use and abuse of embedded ‘welfare’ system and within key professions there has been a number of ethical dilemmas and barriers in the quest for community engagement. Working within austerity and tight eligibility criteria has to some extent reinforced individualised pathologies about the causes of social problems and their potential solutions. Generating and exploring counterdiscourses which promote alternative and more challenging perspectives at an early stage in professional education is crucial to encourage students to think more actively about forging partnerships and co-production. \ud This paper shares our experiences of using filmmaking with first year students on the BA (Hons) Social Work where the process of reaching out to communities through a different medium builds in opportunities for students to be more active and open in their search for approaches and interventions which build on the strengths of communities. Students work in small groups to investigate an everyday issue in the community and alongside a range of suggested community project work, generate a short 3-5 minute film which represents different ways of seeing and capturing a range of perspectives on their selected issues. This co-learning approach is also supported by a team of tutors; a service user and graduate student who model the skills required as well as provide peer feedback for students to reflect upon, using double loops of learning experiences. Our presentation will draw on some of the students evaluation which documents the value of such experiential learning and some of the achievements and challenges in its first year including demonstration of one of the student group film.

Three brief papers will be presented for discussion. One paper will be from a lecturer's perspective on using peer formative assessment with social work undergraduates and will outline the findings of the subsequent research undertaken here by the presenter. The teaching process will be presented along with the key findings from focus group interview and student questionnaires. The focus will be on what worked well when students gave and received formative feedback and what interesting issues were raised for others to consider in relation to academic and practice learning for social work students. Thoughts for future improvements will also be outlined.\ud \ud The second paper will then be from a student's perspective focusing on how her prior experiences of previous feedback had impacted on her feelings about undertaking the exercise - an agenda often not visible to lecturers. She will then briefly outline what she learned through the process and evaluate the experience in light of her future learning.\ud \ud The third paper will be from a different student's perspective where she will again evaluate how the experience impacted on her learning. She will also highlight the particular relevance she sees peer assessment as having for social work practice and how she has used her learning to develop both her academic and placement work. How students take learning forward in the future is again an area not automatically seen by lecturers.\ud \ud The focus of the presentation overall will be presenting a case study and setting this within the wider context of academic and practice learning for social work students. The three papers will be brief and will highlight key issues. At least half the session will be devoted to engaging participants in a discussion about the relevance of the experiences outlined to their own particular contexts and to social work education more broadly.