Introduction to the Special Issue on Field Education of Students

Two Special Issues of the Clinical Social Work Journal have been dedicated to building on the social work discipline’s tradition and commitment to the supervision of staff and field education of students. The first issue included papers on the supervision of professional social work staff. The focus of this issue is field education of students, the signature pedagogy of social work (CSWE in Educational policy and accreditation standards, CWSE, Alexandria, 2008, 2015a). Attention is given to macro structural issues impinging on the profession’s capacity to provide quality learning experiences, in addition to the integration of concepts into our educational practices, and research studies that provide systematic approaches to training practicing field instructors and providing clinical supervision for students. In this Introduction, we share the salient aspects of the articles published, as they relate to contemporary field education, with implications to guide field instructors as they provide learning experiences for students.