Ms Brenda Feeney:

Once the placement is secured, the student would be advised and allocated to the placement, but the practice teacher allocates a caseload. There is much work done between visiting tutors, who are qualified social workers from the institution, in terms of what is an appropriate caseload for a student at year one or year two and so on. There is certainly negotiation around that. Students are required in our case to attend an interview with the agency so it can be sure it is happy with the student and feels it will meet the learning needs within the setting. Once the placement is confirmed after the interview, the student will get a start date and begin placement. Within the first couple of weeks, the student will have a visit from the visiting tutor to ensure an induction has taken place, the student is settling well and the learning agreement has begun or been completed. The learning agreement is a contract between the student and practice teacher, with a number of learning objectives being identified that they want to achieve throughout the placement and those learning objectives being in line with CORU standards of proficiency for practice. The visiting tutor would revise and review this to ensure it is all in line with the expectations of CORU. The student then needs to identify a plan with the practice teacher as to how he or she will meet those learning objectives. That is the main piece of paperwork that will guide the student through placement. The practice teacher would identify a caseload appropriate for the student at the stage of learning he or she is at and build on that throughout placement.

Students get two more visits after that, which are a mid-placement meeting and an end-placement meeting from the visiting tutor. This is a review and monitoring process. They are completing quite a substantial placement portfolio while out on placement as well, so they have the opportunity to discuss that with the visiting tutor and get advice on that also.