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First-year students at tertiary education institutions face multiple problems including under-preparedness, financial problems and adjustment to university. In response, some universities have introduced generic academic development programmes. In contrast, three educators from the Department of Social Work at the University of the Witwatersrand (UWits) engage in a reflective analysis of a discipline-specific academic development programme. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse transcripts of two focus group interviews with students and reflective reports written by two educators on strategies used to design the programme. Findings suggest that this programme meets the unique needs and professional identity development of Social Work students.

Writing Intensive (WI) courses depend on student engagement and continuous responses to student work. The sudden move to online learning in the face of COVID-19 presented profound challenges to this model. This is unsurprising since it is widely accepted that globally the quality of learning, particularly the acquisition of deep literacy, declined significantly throughout the pandemic (OECD, 2021; Garfinkle, 2020). This paper draws on the reflections of three course teams in different disciplines and follows the method pioneered by John Bean and Barbara Walvoord in the evaluation of writing programmes (Bean, et al., 2005). It mines iterative and comparative teacher team reflections but does not seek to provide quantitative data on 'proof of impact'. From the evidence of these three courses, it is suggested that student learning and problem solving can be enhanced through the explicit teaching of the types of reasoning required, in these cases analogic, empathetic, and inferential. The argument is located within wider international arguments on the crisis of deep literacy and the work of The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on developing literacy skills in a digital world (OECD, 2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its historic prominence in group work, there is little empirical research to support our understanding of the professional use of self in group work. This paper reports the results of a SPARC endorsed study, which focused on group workers' experience and struggle with their professional uses of self in groups in responding to diversity. Using focus groups, a semi-structured interview format, and Straussian grounded theory data analysis, two key themes emerged – grappling with professional uses of self and disengagement from professional uses of self. When grappling with professional uses of self, group workers employed intentional self-disclosure, opened space, and supported norms for the expression of diversity, humility, genuineness, and reflexivity. Disengagement occurred in response to fear and often resulted in an overemphasis on group tasks. Our results suggest that the effective professional use of self in the here and now of group dynamics creates a sense of safety for both the group workers and the group members when responding to diversity. The implications of this study highlight the need for a method that supports critical self-reflection in real-time in group and builds capacity for responsibly responding to diversity in groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall student protests accelerated the call for a decolonised higher education space. Much complexity and debate exists around the notion of a decolonised curriculum, how to frame it, describe it and/or enact it. Within this debate, the positionality and identity of individuals who design, implement, and evaluate curricula are important. The purpose of this article is to reflect on how theory-informed pedagogical reflections can assist in our understanding of decolonisation. The four educator reflections include our personal accounts of pedagogical philosophies, methodologies, and practices. A major focus is social work, which aims to enhance the well-being of all persons especially the disadvantaged, the marginalised and the voiceless. Through belonging to a community of practice, we embarked on the process of articulating our voice, positionality, and identity and how this informs our teaching, which is both personal and political within a South African higher education context. We provide our ways of knowing regarding how we (try) to contribute to social justice and equity ideals. We conclude with our consolidated view on an envisioned, decolonised education in the global South context. We recommend an approach that values ongoing, collective reflection, critical questioning, and agitation of how a decolonised curriculum can be envisaged. The contribution that this article makes is in the value of collective reflection, coupled with embracing personal stories/biographies to theorise decolonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has exposed the inequalities and polarisation of South African communities and institutions of higher learning on the continuum of privilege. As nine social work educators, we share our reflections on how we traversed the higher education space during the beginning of the pandemic, using an autoethnography lens, with the pedagogy of discomfort and critical social work theory as the threads in the complex tapestry of our stories. We describe our orientations as social work educators, the successes, challenges, and recommendations on reimagining and reframing learning and teaching in relation to student-institutional relationships, boundaries and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group work education develops student competences for praxis. The Authentic eLearning framework has the potential to strengthen course design, develop critical thinking, multiple perspectives, articulation and reflection. This qualitative study conducted using educational design research explored the pedagogical practices of South African social workers in group work education. Ethics clearance for this study was received and data were analysed using content analysis. Findings identified educator strategies including the use of real-world context, reflection and group collaboration, but the study noted the potential for incorporating technology-enhanced learning. Extrapolating from this study, opportunities for educators in this field during the Covid-19 pandemic are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crimes in the 21st century using technology as a medium are complex and evolving rapidly. One such crime that is difficult to define is cyberbullying, which extorts an emotional impact on the victim. This qualitative, descriptive case study considers the experiences of 10 undergraduate students regarding what they self-disclosed as cyberbullying. Snowball sampling was used, and the data collected using face-to-face interviews were analyzed using content analysis. The research instrument used was a semi-structured interview schedule. Findings revealed that nine of the participants knew the identity of the bully. Some of the social media platforms used for the cyberbullying included Facebook, Mxit, and WhatsApp, whereby the types of bullying included harassment, flaming, and denigration. Some gender differences were evident in the verbalized emotions of the sample and the support systems the female participants used. This study can serve as a catalyst for further research and interventions for the development of strategies and educational programs to manage this type of bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical and psychological workplace violence perpetrated against social workers by clients and their acquaintances is a global reality. However, it is rarely discussed as social workers are trained to be client-centred, meaning that they prioritise the care and well-being of others above all else. In South Africa, the awareness of, and academic interest in, workplace violence and aggression are growing, particularly because employees are experiencing increased psychological distress and frustration. Despite this, there remains a dearth of research that investigates workplace violence perpetrated against social workers by clients. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 15 social workers and 3 key informants regarding workplace violence at a South African State Department in the Limpopo province. The study used interviews guided by a semi-structured interview schedule. Purposive sampling was used, and data were analysed using a thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that the participants understood the concept of workplace violence and had directly and/or indirectly been exposed to physical and more frequently psychological forms of workplace violence. Interventions and prevention mechanisms include increasing security in workplaces, training, counselling and education on workplace violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the teaching of group work field education can be developed through learning communities. The Bachelor of Social Work degree is being revised to include a wider social development focus against the backdrop of increasing socio-economic inequality. Given these changes, educators are encouraged to develop courses that promote active learning to engage students emotionally, cognitively and behaviourally as socially responsible citizens. Socially just pedagogy, informed by a convergent theoretical orientation that is able to hold multiple realities, forms of inequality, and agency, was used to underpin the field education course to achieve learning outcomes of critical thinking, reflection, reflexivity and an acute understanding of difference. In this exploratory qualitative study, the views of eight students and five external field supervisors are considered in relation to the introduction of the Ke Moja (I am fine, without drugs) programme to conduct group work at working class public schools. The focus was to foster greater awareness on substance use implementing a meso-practice group work intervention. Data were from a focus group with students and a semi-structured interviews with external field education supervisors. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings of the study suggest the potential of the programme to strengthen social work students’ awareness of the critical aspects of group work, the values and the ethics relevant to the profession and thoughtful citizenship. They also point to the limitations of the programme to engage with the socio-economic conditions that produce drug dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a uniquely South African (SA) perspective on a blended learning course at a contact institution. In bringing together authentic learning (AL), social justice pedagogies and technology informed by student experiences, this paper hopes to contribute to the discourse around social justice in higher education (both nationally and internationally) and the inherent tension associated with critical (transformative) pedagogies. The attention is focussed on the experiences of a class of diverse 1 year Social Work students at a Higher Education Institution (HEI), particularly exploring the tensions inherent in the Health and Wellbeing Course. We sought to establish links between theory, practice, social thought and social change and understand the tensions and oppressive ideas and practices that abound in the activity system. The findings suggest that students experienced transformed learning, which in turn, transformed their views on their choice of social work as a career. Our argument is that in social work, the most suitable pedagogy in learning design is a type of critical pedagogy that lays bare the power relations and hegemony and requires robust critical articulation and dialogue that impacts on both the educator and the student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that pedagogies with technology-enhanced learning (TEL) are growing in social work education in Great Britain. It focuses on the effectiveness of using pedagogical designs based upon authentic learning principles in social work education. It mentions that the authentic learning are present in the teaching practices.

The article presents a study which focuses on the blended learning approach in the social work teaching and learning context in South Africa. The study uses the research design method, sample, and research instrumentations such as question written survey and group survey questionnaires. Results show that 94% of the 51 students enjoyed small group discussions, 74% of the 40 students supported PowerPoint slides, and 92% enjoyed the computer-assisted activities in the Social Work course.