DECLARATION

I, Moshin Khan Student of Master of Social Work (Prev.) of Bhoj Open

University Hereby declare that the major research project entitled Strengthening
Field Work Practicum in Social Work Education is the outcome of my own
work and the same has not been submitted to any University/Institute for the
reward of any degree or any Professional Diploma.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Introduction
Field work in social work education refers to training and education. The training
is repetitive and skill-oriented and education is imparted with broad perspectives. It
is a dynamic process of observing, amassing and implementing creative and
innovative ideas. Field work is considered to be learning through doing. Field work
programme provides an opportunity to students to apply their theoretical
knowledge taught in the classroom appropriately in different practical situations. It
is a way to transform knowledge through certain skills and techniques into action.
Annette Garrette writes, an extension well planned fieldwork programme is
inevitable. It is evident that field work varies in quality and quantity. It is
imparted under supervision and guidance of trained and experienced person(s) in
social work. It can be said that theory without practice is empty and practice
without theory is meaningless. The field work programme of schools of social
work education is the most important and integral part of social work education.
Although field work is the most important element in social work education but
some schools of social work have failed to develop field work programmers well.
While classroom teaching has developed well, we have unconsciously created a
greater gulf between theory and field work instruction, by failing to develop the
latter also to a corresponding level. So many questions may arise in the mind of the
learners such as: What is field work training? Who is a field worker? What are its
objectives and contents? What is the place of field work training in social work
education? What is the role of the Supervisor, agency and the school concerned in
the organization of fieldwork? All these questions are to be answered in an
appropriate manner if we are to integrate and strengthen the field work
programmes in schools of social work at all levels. The Education in Emergencies

and Post-Crisis Transition (EEPCT) programme at UNICEF is in the final year of a

five-year partnership with the Government of the Netherlands, with additional
support from the European Commission. The EEPCT programme aims to put
education in emergency and post-crisis transition countries on a viable path of
sustainable progress toward quality basic education for all.1 Partnership activities
currently focus on evidence-building and programme consolidation to develop a
more systematic approach to managing future innovation and learning, and to
evaluate the impacts of those interventions. Among these evidence-building
initiatives is the production of a series of case studies looking at hallmark
interventions supported by the EEPCT programme. The case studies actively
investigate and document the perspectives of stakeholders on the promising and
innovative practices, weaknesses and lessons learned from the individual education
projects.
A Study of Adolescent and Youth Perspectives on Education Quality in the Central
and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States Region,
commissioned by the UNICEF Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS)2, has been selected as one of
the case studies to be documented and reviewed. The UNICEF regional office and
four country offices conducted this innovative research study focusing on and
promoting the direct participation of adolescents and youth in research, advocacy
and programming. Youth were engaged at many levels, including planning and
research, media and communications efforts to strengthen youth influence on
decision makers and policies, and follow-up activities to the study. The youth
programme focused specifically on Chechnya (Russian Federation), Georgia,
Kosovo and Tajikistan. In the scholarly world Social Work is viewed as a practiceoriented discipline. Students of Social Work are expected to apply the theories and
concepts of the discipline while addressing problems at the individual, group and

community levels in the field. Accordingly, the Social Work curriculum and
pedagogy includes the fieldwork practicum as an essential component. Many
educators and students emphasised fieldwork training as a unique feature that
distinguishes Social Work from other social sciences. A pamphlet published as
early as in 1957, by the Delhi School of Social Work, titled Fieldwork
supervision: in an Indian school of social work, highlighted the importance of
practice in Social Work. While classroom teaching has developed well, we have
unconsciously created a greater gulf between theory and field work instruction, by
failing to develop the latter also to a corresponding level. So many questions may
arise in the mind of the learners such as: What is field work training? Who is a
field worker? What are its objectives and contents? What is the place of field work
training in social work education? What is the role of the Supervisor, agency and
the school concerned in the organization of fieldwork? All these questions are to be
answered in an appropriate manner if we are to integrate and strengthen the field
work programmes in schools of social work at all levels.
The Master of Social Work program at California State University, Dominguez
Hills is strategically located to focus on the diverse social service needs and
problems particular to the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, a large
metropolitan area, which includes a socially and culturally diverse population.
Because of this diversity the program will prepare social work students for
contextually competent social work practice, inclusive of the issues of culture,
race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, class, gender differences, sexual orientation,
religion and the effects of bias, prejudice and institutionalized racism. These issues
and concerns may obscure helping efforts if they are not appropriately recognized
and dealt with in practice and in social policy development and implementation.
Thus, the program aims at increasing students understanding of the underlying
causes and resulting effects of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping from a

variety of perspectives and teaches ways of identifying strategies and interventions

for addressing these concerns and problems in social work practice.
The Department of Social Work has developed a psychosocial, ecological and
cross-cultural orientation to social work practice and is designed to educate
contextually competent social work practitioners. The curriculum is developed and
organized as a coherent and integrated whole consistent with program goals and
objectives. Social work education is grounded in the liberal arts and contains a
coherent, integrated professional foundation in social work practice from which an
advanced practice curriculum is built at the graduate level.

CHAPTER 2
Objectives of Fieldwork

Objectives of fieldwork
Social Work, like other human services profession, is a practice profession. It may
be research- practice based. The profession aims at helping students to acquire a
deep knowledge of theory and techniques, of achieving social work objectives and
goals. The Social Review Committee (1975) on social work education in India has
evolved specific objectives of field work training in social work education. The
major objectives of field work are as under:
To develop professional skills through practical learning, apply acquired
knowledge for the study of relevant facts, analysis of the problem and
selection of appropriate means of solution towards the problems.
To develop the skills for solving the problems in work at the micro
level(individual), family, groups and communities and the change at macro
level in social institutions and processes( types of skills vary with the level
of training).
To develop the skills required for professional practice at a particular level
of training.
To provide concurrent opportunity for the integration of classroom learning
in field practice and vice-versa (feed-back mechanism for both field and
class).
The formulation of field work objectives is the first and most important task that
has to be done by the schools of social work. But some schools of social work in
India have failed in formulating the objectives of field work. The 2nd Review
Committee of the University Grand Commission (1980) has prescribed a facultystudents ratio by giving central place to Strengthening Field Work Practicum in
Social Work Education field work in the undergraduate and post-graduate
curricula. The report of the committee mentions that there should be a

simultaneous emphasis on class and field learning (field practicum) followed by

feedback for discussion and problem-solving in the class-room. The field
practicum in social work education (concurrent and block field works). It was also
found that field work training has been neglected by many schools of social work
is the content of fieldwork training programme. Quite a few schools have worked
out the contents of field work training in somewhat detailed manner, though they
have followed somewhat different approaches. For example, few schools have
covered the basic social work methods in the content of field work in the M.S.W
course, whereas some other schools have covered the different areas of social
welfare in their content. It was also found that in the new pattern of semester
system, case work which is the main method in social work practice has not
included in the first semester. As an evaluator, once I came across field work
reports of an institution which were only initialled without any comment at all! The
number of such supervisors was more than those who had taken the trouble of
making helpful comments. In the same institution, a faculty was reported to have in
an informal group meeting that field work should be taken out of social work
programme. He interprets the above quotation that Even though such a remark
may be causal, it does show a mindset or a split identity. If field work is taken out
of Social Work, it has serious implications in that such a Department then will
become a Department of Social Studies.
Field Practicum in the Curriculum of Social Work
The curriculum structure and the number of courses offered at an institution of
social work may be quite impressive but hardly there is a standard of document on
field work practicum which links theory to practice. According to Prof. R.R. Singh,
A practice is assumed to occur by applying theory (Key-Note Addressed in
National Seminar or Field Work Practicum: Challenges and Opportunities of Social
Work, Jain Vishva Bharati University, Ladnun, Rajasthan). In reflection, it hardly

seen in the weekly fieldwork report which are submitted by the students. It is very
much difficult for an external evaluator to give proper comment on report after
reading. Prof. R.R. Singh again expressed his views in same key note addressed at
national seminar that, As an evaluator, once I came across field work reports of an
institution which were only initialled without any comment at all! The number of
such supervisors was more than those who had taken the trouble of making helpful
comments. In the same institution, a faculty was reported to have in an informal
group meeting that field work should be taken out of social work programme.
He interprets the above quotation that Even though such a remark may be causal, it
does show a mindset or a split identity. If field work is taken out of Social Work, it
has serious implications in that such a Department then will become a Department
of Social Studies. concerned.
The history of fieldwork in social work institutions shows level of dissatisfaction.
Most of the institutions have no concurrent fieldwork module but their students are
practicing fieldwork and many are not following concurrent fieldwork is a
component of social work education and such institutions are practicing only class
room teaching-learning (theory). This is totally violation of UGC report (1980) and
UGC Model Curriculum Guideline 2001. The evaluation of fieldwork is just for
the sake of degree. Prof. R.R. Singh quoted the history of evaluation of fieldwork
in social work institutions a graduation from the satisfactory performance
certificate requirement of the forties and fifties to graded performance of
subsequent years ranging from 200 marks for fieldwork to 400 or above in two
years. But whether the increased weightage has improved the quality of fieldwork
is quite uncertain. Another study could be based on the active profile of the faculty
with special reference to the time devoted for fieldwork along with content and
quality. It is generally claimed that the time spent on class and field in open
community/ slum/ NGOs/ VOs/ Developmental organizations/ welfare institutions

etc. comes to 50:50 or fifteen hours (15) per week or sixteen (16) weeks per
semester. Since a minimum number of theory subjects from different domains
are to be included in social work education curriculum, the hours of fieldwork,
days of field work, weekly and yearly is vary from institution to institution. Neither
institutions/universities nor faculties are bothering about the standardization of
social work education curricula. It observed that many institutions have been
combined within units or finished the essential theory papers such as social case
work, social group work and social work research etc. within a short duration or in
one semester only which is not possible to understand clearly by a student on
social work methods and other theory papers.
1.To educate social work practitioners to engage in autonomous, professionally
competent practice, which includes culturally appropriate interventions tailored to
enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and the successful functioning of
groups, organization.
2. To educate social work practitioners to engage in economic and social justice
work through the practice of culturally and contextually competent interventions at
all levels, including analysis, advocacy, direct interventions and evaluation with
communities in diverse urban environments.
3. To educate social work practitioners to develop a life-long learning philosophy
based on ongoing self-evaluation of practice with individuals, families, groups,
organizations and communities informed by social research.
4. To educate social work practitioners to engage in ethical social work practice
which is consistent with the values of the profession through expectations and
opportunities in work with clients in community practice.

Problems in Field work

In the field work practice, Schools of social work in India face many problems
relating to placement of students and end with the evaluation of their performance.
School-specific
Agency-specific
Student-specific
The concurrent field work continues throughout the academic year, which enables
students to learn a great deal on every field work day. Though students maintain
diaries and journals accordingly, most of them are not aware of the basic purpose
of maintaining them.
Casework Diary
Group Work Diary
Procedure for submission of Diary
Agency based field work utterly lacks in holistic, development, critical and
reflective perspective. Community based field work with commitment and proper
perspective has to be promoted by Department/ Schools of social work in India.
Partnership between voluntary organizations and Departments/Schools of social
work in India has been thoroughly inadequate. Well co-ordinate team work with
interdepartmental cooperation based on integrated approach has also been
miserably lacking in fieldwork. Every Department/ school must adopt a slum
area/village

for

its

integrated

development.

Social

work

educators

in

Department/Schools of School Work in India are required to maintain close links

with politicians and bureaucrats by establishing contacts with them, inviting them
to the Departments/ schools on special occasions, convincing them about the utility
of social work profession by highlighting the specific roles and functions which
social workers can perform with greater competence as compared to other social
scientists and clarify the specific areas of social work intervention. This should
never mean that social work educators should be politically affiliated, instead, they

ought to maintain neutrality in dealing with politicians, irrespective of their

personal ideological commitments.

Field work evaluation

Lack of seriousness about field work evaluation on the part of teachers is another
area of neglect. In some of the schools of social work this is considered just a
formality at the concluding part of the field work programme, where the marks are
allotted to the students. Some of the Strengthening Field Work Practicum in Social
Work Education faculty opined that evaluation of field work performance of the
students was mostly done at the end of the academic year. The major problems
confronting the school today may be clubbed as those:

Related to students
Related to teachers
Related to the Parents
Related to the curriculum, administration and system

Related to Students

Assignment should be given to the students at the time when they do not have
classes at all or have classes of the subjects they understand well. Students at times
use the reason for meeting the social worker as an excuse to bunk classes. This will
only create more difficulty to the student in the future classes of the subject. Group
sessions may be taken up after the class hours too. The problems related to the
students sometimes occurred in the relation between students, the relationship with
teachers, the relationship with family members, the curriculum, socio-economic
situation of the student and the peer pressure. It cannot be said, there is one and
only cause for the occurrence of the problem. Sometimes teachers are not properly
trained to handle them. Also the workloads and the relationship of a student and
teacher developed between them act as hindrance in the helping process. Another
major problem is poor evaluation of students performance makes de-motivate and
creates hinders for their success in future.
Problems in evaluation
In the evaluation process field work marks decided by their concerned
supervisor but not given this number with the presence of overall discussion
of all faculty members. Sometimes it creates partiality or biasness towards
students and it discourages the motivation of some students.
External/Experts observation in the viva also very important role to evaluate
the students performance in field work practice. But sometimes it was found
that number given to students is decided by faculty members.
Misunderstanding, non-cooperation and bad attitude among teach creates
problems in the performance of students and it affects their career.
Sometimes evaluation has not done to see the overall performance sincerity,
punctuality, dressing sense, regularity in class and field work, timely attend
group conference, individual conference, creative ideas and work, interest,
behavior, attitudes, way of talking, presentation, report writing.

Related to teachers
It was seen that problematic teachers as well as strained relationship between
teachers and students adversely affect the development of the student. Ego
conflicts among teachers, frustration, not able to understand the demarcation
between personal life and professional life, problems in their personal life,
emotional problems, and lack of skills in teaching, defective disciplinary
techniques are some of the causes to the problems that arise due to teachers in the
school.
Related to Curriculum Administration and Systems
It is a fact that the curriculum, the style of administration and the system of
education create problems for the students. Wrong policy decisions, outdated or
overloaded curriculum and inconsistent administration are some of the reasons that
generate problems. According to Prof R.R.Singh, in a key notes addressed in a
national seminar on Social Work Field Practicum: Challenges and Opportunities,
he described that The field work manual will thus be an illustrative document
which will cover priorities of need, programmes, process of intervention, peoples
participation and outcome. If there are ten villages selected for field work, one may
think ten chapters with an executive summary in the manual. The faculty will need
to demonstrate how the helping, problem-solving or growth enhancing process was
conceived, planned undertaken and led to positive outcome or resulted in failure
and what should be done next.
Social Work Training

Social Work profession faces problems in training that turns out professionally
qualified social workers. Today, during social work training, social work students
learn about the agencies and develop their Strengthening Field Work Practicum in
Social Work Education skills, etc, but according to social work, training means that
some creative or constructive work should be done to solve problems which
already exist. Regrettably there are schools without practical work or field work. In
order to equip students with practice realities, real life stories and appreciation of
the creative arts should be incorporated into both the coursework and the fieldwork
of social work education. (Ming Sum Tsui & Raymond K.H.Chan, 1999 ).
Supervised Field Work
In a field-oriented profession like social work, supervised concurrent field work is
no less essential and important than the classroom instruction. The objectives of
fieldwork are co-terminus with those set for the curriculum. The specific objectives
of field work relate to applicability of knowledge, especially in the ability to select
it for use in on-going practice situations; the development of skills at the level of
professional job expectation; the ability to manage and utilize professional
relationships in relation to the client, system, professional colleagues, and in the
inter-disciplinary team; and to develop appropriate and expected attitudes and
values.
Field Work and Research
As far as research dissertation is concerned, the research supervisors and
supervisees both are mostly apathetic and non-serious about it. They take it, in
most cases, as unnecessary extra-burden, as they are not been able to properly
appreciate the importance and need of the complete knowledge of research
methodology and its applicable for successful social work practice.
Selection of field work agencies

It is the biggest handicap of most of the social work colleges and departments that
they are not able to explore adequate and appropriate learning opportunities and to
exploit them for the benefit social work students in rural area. Hence they are
deprived of varied field work experiences.
Social Work educators
There are some departments and colleges of social work education where
only 2 to 3 faculty members, most of them from sociology or other social
sciences.
Few schools or the departments are headed by non-professionals. Due to
lack of their academic background and knowledge in field work, they are not
properly involved in policy and planning process. There are other loopholes
are:
Lack of clarity about the very concept of field work, its nature, content, its
objectives, place of supervision in social work training and evaluation.
An absence of clearly defined field work objectives and tasks.
Inability to organize and administer the field work activities of their students
and provide adequate and appropriate learning opportunities to the learners.
An absence of interest infield work supervision by senior faculty members.
There is paucity of literature on field work .So this need to encourage

efforts for producing quality literature on field work practice.

Lack of understanding of field-situation
Poor establishment of rapport/development of skills
Lack of experience of supervisors in helping and action process
Lack of understanding of individual, group and area
Lack of quality of record in use of supervision etc

Aproach to Strengthening Social

Work Field Practicum
In history of social work profession and education, development of methods led to
identification of individual, social needs and social problem which could be dealt

with by their application. Methods of Social Work were group as primary and
secondary. Social Case Work, Group Work and Community Organisation were
introduced earlier as primary methods and Social Work Research, Social Welfare
Administration and Social Action were latter. Now-a-days, in our contemporary
society and globalization era such classification is problematic because the demand
of situation is more and different than past. So that, we the Social Work educators
and practioners should determine the application of methods as per the demand of
society and accordingly the institutions should be framed and developed the field
work module and provided space/ place for fieldwork/ agency to students for
concurrent and block field work practice. In defining any area for practice, the
following approaches deserves due consideration as per the demand of society.
Both supervisor and students should keep in mind in the areas of conducting
survey in field, mapping and listing the houses in the community/ village/ slum,
conduct small scale qualitative and quantitative research studies, survey, case
studies etc., receive knowledge and use of census, NSS, National Family Health
Survey (NFHS), Annual Health Survey (AHS), District Level Household Survey
(DLHS), Sample Registration System (SRS), media reports, public documents,
reports etc.

Community Focus in Concurrent Field Practicum

Since community ties among the tribes are very strong and decisions on social
matters are taken by the communities or councils, the practice of social work can
be oriented to the Panchseel of Tribal Affairs (1994) which is given below:

1) People should develop the lines of their own genius and we should avoid
imposing anything on them. We should try to encourage in every way their
own traditional arts and culture.
2) Tribal lands and forests should be respected.
3) We should try to train and build up a team of their own people to do the
work of administration and development.
4) We should not over- administer these areas or overwhelm them with a
multiplicity of schemes. We should rather work through, and not in rivalry to
their own social and cultural institutions.
5) We should judge results, not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but
by the quality of human character that is evolved.
Expanding Scope of Field Work
The scope of concurrent fieldwork practicum should be expanded in both rural and
urban setting. A student not only visited house to house or preparing a profile of
the selected villages/ slums, demographic profile only but also he/ she should
practice through implementation of his/ her skills, principles of social group work,
case work, community organization and social action. The department may help
them to prepare the profile of traditional and formal institutions, service provisions
for different age group, functioning of service institutions, womens status, selfhelp group and their composition, nature of leadership, their goals, functions,
outcomes, stagnation and decline in the communities and find out the social and
economic problems in the communities. Similarly, the department may also helps
to prepare a list of implemented schemes, programmes by state government and
center for the benefit of the beneficiaries (people living in rural villages semi urban
villages and slums) and teach to students to practice research methodology, skills
and techniques through conduct small surveys like as; condition of persons with
disabilities and special assistance or services to them, status of elderly, their

vulnerability and special assistance to them, situation of BPL households, their

vulnerability and coping pattern, functioning of Panchayati Raj Institution and
Gram Sabha in each village or group of village, process of allocation of grants for
development works under the different social and economic programmes,
redistribution of resources among villages or Gram Sabha of a Panchayat and the
nature of extent of their utilization, functioning of maternity centers and assistance
to the promote institutional delivery to reduce maternal mortality rate and infant
mortality rate, functioning of Anganwari/ Balwari and extent of malnutrition etc.
The student should be taught about the indicators of gender justice and social
justice, forms of exploitation, violence, and conflict resolution and should be
discussed during Individual Conference (IC) and Group Conference (GC). The
profile, empirical data (available through primary and secondary method, print and
electronic media), list of schemes, programmes will need to be regularly updated
by the department in order to prioritize of local needs and design specific
intervention with the consultation with communities. This will make social work
field practice transparent and accountable and it will also provide the opportunity
for public education and participation. Other part to make of social work filed
practicum transparent and accountable is the faculty supervisors and agency
supervisors should take responsibility and prepare their own report of social work
practice while guiding students in order to provide inputs.

Supervision
Supervision is another most significant aspect of the field work training
programme. It is closely supervised field work practice in the schools of social
work programme that makes it different from any of the many courses in other
social sciences, and which establishes the professional character of our training. It

is through the continuing supervisory efforts of the supervision, in the many

supervisory sessions, at the school and the agency that the field work training
programme as a whole, plays such as effective and important role in the training of
the student. The agency supervisor, the school supervisor and the student are the
three important persons, equally responsible for the effectiveness and success of
the field work training programme. In the individual and group meetings of the
supervisor with the student the field work programme gets strengthened. The tasks
set by mutual cooperation and sharing between them is very important in the
professional growth of the student and prevents any scope for indiscipline or
neglect of duties by students. The participation of the school supervisors in field
work training is very important. Regular visits to the social agencies for field work
supervision where the students are placed for field work. But visits by the teachers
were not regular in some schools and in few cases some never visited the agencies.
A faculty supervisor should be well known that field work supervision is not an
inspection, but a constant and continuous training process through which both the
student and the supervisor are learning together, much of it in the agency setting. In
other words, it is a partnership process of learning, sharing and interaction in which
the student, the supervisor and the agency benefit.

Field work supervision and methods

Individual Conference
Group Conference
Field work seminar of students
On the spot instruction of the faculty supervisor

Group conference may be the preferred modality for the supervision of social
workers involved in group work. Interactions in group supervision can be used for
illustration and discussion of problems and approaches that might be employed in
working with groups of clients. For group workers, group supervision has the
advantage that the context mirrors the modality in which they are primarily
engaged. Participation in the group becomes the source of learning about group
interaction, group process, group operations, and the supervisees feelings about
group membership. The term group supervision is defined as the use of a group
setting to implement the responsibilities of supervision. In group supervision, the
supervisor has given educational, administrative and supportive responsibility for
the activities of a specific number of workers-meets with the group to discharge
these responsibilities. In group supervision, the agency mandate to the supervisor is
implemented in the group and through the group; most simply, group supervision
has been defined as supervision in a group format. Group supervision provides the
opportunity for supervisees to share their experiences with similar problems
encountered in the job and possible solution that each has formulated in response.
The supervisory conference group is a formed group. It is a structured group with a
task and an agenda. Membership in the group is defined as consequence of being a
supervisee of a particular group leader-supervisor. The size of the group is
determined by the number of supervisees for whom the supervisor has
administrative responsibility (generally four or five). The supervision assigned to
any single supervisor probably has some similarity in education and training and
likely are concerned with similar problems and similar service. As result, the group
is likely to be homogeneous with regard to significant factors that determine group
interests and concerns. Fieldwork evaluation has to be a continuous process which
should at the very beginning of the field work training programme.
It should be periodical.

 At every stage the students should be made aware of their performance,

which would help them to change and develop from the earlier position.
It should never be a sudden or surprise gift or curse to the students for which
the student may totally be unprepared, particularly when the assessment is
unfavorable or ends in failure.
Periodical self-evaluation system, followed by teacher assessment gradually
enables students to grow and develop, and is another method for
strengthening the field work programme.
It is the experience that many of the students did not get admission to this
course of their choice but by option. Sometimes its they do not have other
option or force of friends, parents take admission in this course. This is the
major reason to weaken the field work programme indirectly.
A student who is neither intelligent or interest will be burden of supervisor,
department and this course.
The admission of students should be quality oriented and give them chance
to know their details background and interest.
Due to fill the sanctioned seats or collection of more money from students,
some private universities/institutions allows this type of students and it
creates hurdles in social work practice.

Evaluation of Students performance:

Students performance should be done at four different levels based on the
following contents:

Summary records and other records;

Personal qualities and professional skills
Capability of relating theory to practice:
Student self-evaluation

Specialization
A number of schools of social work offer only two or three specialization
of which personal management/labour welfare/HRM is most common, while
rural development/welfare is rather rare. Medical and psychiatric, family and
child welfare, NGO management, Correctional Administration have also
good scope for students carrier but due to lack of knowledge of this
specialization subject, they are limited in some sector but not take chance in
another field.
It has also seen that in specialization paper old syllabus are continuing.
They are adding new issues or updated news relating to changing society.
Most of the Act and also amended of state as well as center added but
students are not aware about that because of our poor quality syllabus, poor
quality class room teaching methodology and old syllabus.
It also reflects that various courses taught at post-graduate level in the
country shows that major part of the courses have either no relevance, or
only little relevance, to the reality situation, and is not able to cater to the
local needs of the country.

Suggestion and Conclusion

Suggestion and Conclusion

This chapter concludes with the concluding remarks that every planned filed work
action is both a challenge and opportunity for both students and supervisors.
According to Prof. R.R. Singh, every success builds confidence, and strengthens
commitment; failure leads to review of ones approach, renewal and re-orientation
of strategy. A practitioner needs to own the field and be ready to e owned and even
disowned by it. One may experience a throw back and throw out in the field.
So that, the dynamics of field practice thus calls for introspection, retrospection
and prospection. A Manual for Social Work Field Practicum (Field Work in Social
Work) should capture these processes in order to impart rich learning and
meaningful experiences to students.
The Adolescent and Youth Perspectives Research supported by EEPCT
demonstrates the effectiveness and innovation of a youth peer-to-peer
methodology. A youth-led process enables policymakers and agencies to approach
sensitive topics that may otherwise remain too taboo to discuss. Young people are
more willing to share openly with peers of the same background and experience
than with adults. Engaging youth in meaningful ways also empowers young people
with new skills, capacities and experiences they can use beyond the research, to
further their own goals.Young people prefer not to go it alone. They recognize the
need for a synergy between themselves and dedicated adults. They only ask that
adult partners trust and support them. It is highly important to engage the often
hidden local youth NGOs that represent minority
groups and the underprivileged, less experienced or marginalized. Efforts will be
more fruitful and representative with more diversity among the youth involved in
research and programming.

Young people have the capacity to use complex methodologies and processes, as
long as care is taken to train them well and address their ideas, needs and
expectations. The sense of accomplishment, empowerment and hope inspired by
the Adolescent and Youth Perspectives Research is a testament to the hard work
that went into the development and implementation of the groundbreaking
processes and methodologies. A special mention should be made of the vision,
capacity and dedication of numerous individuals who recognized not only that
education quality at the secondary and tertiary level needed special focus, but also
that young people themselves should have an active and leading role in addressing
the challenges they face. The Adolescent and Youth Perspectives Research lead
researcher and the UNICEF regional office education officer and coordinator
deserve special credit for leveraging EEPCT funds to promote the unique processes
and methodologies used to elevate the level of education dialogue and the status of
youth. The countless youth researchers and youth participants deserve the greatest
credit for so boldly and enthusiastically embracing the challenge and opportunity
to express themselves, confronting misconceptions about youth and the education
they receive. Without the youth, we would have not learned such valuable lessons,
identified the most innovative practices or reflected on ways to expand and
improve research processes and education quality.

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS
One of the key messages expressed by the youth researchers and UNICEF staff
was: "Conduct this youth study with as many youth and in as many places as you
can." The designers and implementers of the study should feel a sense of pride and
accomplishment after such praise; however, the youth researchers also challenged
UNICEF to consider ways to strengthen the study's methodology, process and
implementation for future use. If the Adolescent and Youth Perspectives Research
is to be continued, scaled up or replicated, a few recommendations should be
considered.
1.Improve and expand on the youth researcher and supervisor recruitment and
selection process to ensure greater diversity and commitment of potential team
members;
2. Adjust the timing and locations of the research to maximize participation and
minimize hardships to participants;
3. Improve sampling procedures, expand participation processes and consider
focusing on additional and overlapping research themes to capture even more
youth perspectives and address more defined youth concerns;
4. Set clearer logistical and financial management structures and expectations;
ensure adequate UNICEF funding and enlist more human resources in order to
prevent unnecessary constraints on the research implementation;
5. Improve security procedures and ensure timely notification of local and national
authorities to maximize youth researcher support and safety; and
6. Plan for and design more immediate follow-up strategies and activities to
capitalize on the motivation and ideas of youth participants.

References

References
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