The ‘not yet competent’ student

摘要

The Social Work Reform Board emphasises the need for robust assessment processes and qualified practice educators. Following our analysis of ‘failing – or ‘not yet competent’ students’ - we argue that most students ‘failed’ for reasons other than incompetent practice, which we outline. We conclude by arguing for a robust construction of practice education/assessment, which emphasises doing ‘practice’ in the agency; a return to the notion of a portfolio as a vehicle for assessment, as opposed to the portfolio becoming the assessment; and a greater emphasis upon the practice educator to assess ‘practice, as opposed to shifting the assessment decision to portfolio reading or practice assessment panels Our discussion will contribute to preparations for assessing capability within the new social work degree, and poses challenges to Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and all involved in social work education.