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There are more international students in UK universities than at any time in the past, and this trend seems likely to continue, at least in the foreseeable future. This paper is motivated by my experiences as a white, middle-class, middle-aged woman supervising a number of international PhD students at a UK university. The title of the paper reflects a statement made by one international student, recently arrived to undertake a PhD in social work. His request resonated with views expressed to me by other international students and encouraged me to reconsider the nature of PhD supervision and my role within it. The paper argues that institutional guidelines, while helpful, do not address adequately the importance of the need to both support and affirm international postgraduate students who have made considerable sacrifices, personal, professional and financial, to come to study at a university overseas. The paper proposes that PhD supervisors should look to alternative frameworks for understanding so that we can create supervision practice which is respectful and useful to all doctoral students in social work, whether studying as overseas or home students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews findings from a longitudinal study of students making the transition from FE to an ancient university. This paper compares the younger and older students' reasons for higher education study. Our analysis of the quantitative data suggests that the older students had different reasons for entering university. We use the qualitative data to investigate the meanings participants attributed to higher education study in order to make sense of the patterns in the quantitative data, drawing on Wenger's perspectives on identity development as encompassing participants' trajectories in relation to communities of practice. The findings show a positive picture of the motivations of the whole cohort but the mature students seemed to have a particularly rich understanding of the meaning and relevance of their studies. The study therefore has implications for policy-makers and teachers as they seek to make use of the positive aspects of greater diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings from a practice audit and literature review into Integration of Learning for Practice, conducted in Scotland between November 2003 and February 2004. Findings from the practice audit suggest that although the integration of learning is one of the key aspirations of social work education, and there are many different approaches currently in use which attempt to enhance learning integration, students, practitioners, service users and social work lecturers all agree that more needs to be done in this area. The review of literature indicates some ways in which this might be taken forward. The paper concludes that for integration of learning for practice to succeed, we need a re‐imagining of the traditional boundaries between field and classroom, and practice teacher and social work academic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is always a challenge in social work education to set assessment tasks that will encourage learning. This paper, written collaboratively by a lecturer and team of students, describes one novel approach to assessment developed at the University of Edinburgh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Abel and Campbell on student-centered approaches to student activity and its impact on perceptions of teaching and learning, one by Mansbach and Bachner on social work students' attitudes towards whistle blowing, and another one by Hay and O'Donoghue on international occupational standards and learning outcomes.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue regarding a variety of issues including the role social programs have played in accommodating and addressing issues such as student attitudes and cultural awareness.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including the creativity of social work practice and a survey of the job commitment to the 178 field instructors using investment model.