The vision of the Social Work Department at the University of the Witwatersrand is to be the centre of excellence in social work education and training in South Africa, regionally and internationally, and to promote social change, development and the well-being of people, through research, teaching and community service (University of the Witwatersrand, 2012).
This vision aligns with the University’s strategic goal to be a leading research-intensive university, with capabilities that contribute to global and developmental solutions and “produce global citizens who are passionate about intellectual and social engagement” (University of the Witwatersrand, 2015, p. 10). Therefore, the development of individuals and the empowering of communities through teaching, research and service are seen as pivotal in social work. Teaching and learning should, ideally, include collaboration, student- centeredness, professionalism and reflection. In order to achieve these teaching and learning objectives, the Department of Social Work at the University of the Witwatersrand strives to develop a structured teaching and learning environment that fosters student-centred learning and promotes staff development. However, the Department of Social Work at the University of the Witwatersrand, like most HEIs in South Africa, does not require its teaching staff to have a qualification in the field of education. Staff are, therefore, encouraged to improve their teaching practices through self-development, research, contributions to committees and undertaking peer and student evaluations. All new educators are required to attend a Teaching Role workshop at the Centre for Teaching and Learning Development (CLTD) at the University. In addition, educators are expected to attend in-house training on the research supervision of students, as all educators are allocated an average of five postgraduate students per annum.
Worldwide, social work is regarded as a “practising profession” (Teater, 2011) and the theory and field instruction courses for a BSW degree require some adherence to the principles of the theory of social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978; Teater, 2011). This theory posits that students develop and create their own knowledge, based on their experiences within the social environment, so that knowledge is not just shifted from one individual to the next. Sound pedagogical teaching practices are important, and while the Department of Social Work does not have its own teaching and learning policies, there is an alignment with the
39
policies of the University and the requirements of the SACSSP, as well as SAQA standards. All the courses in the undergraduate programme in the BSW degree are aligned with the ELOs and associated assessment criteria which are recorded in the respective course outlines. At a national level, the Department of Social Work of the University complies with the policies stipulated by the SACSSP, SAQA and the Council for Higher Education, which accredits the degree.
At the university level there are specific policies for teaching and learning, such as a Teaching and Learning Plan (2010-2014) and the Teaching and Learning Plan (2015-2019), which notes that the University is:
An IT-Savvy University: Wits will position itself as an IT-savvy university that uses technology to enhance all its core processes, including providing new and innovative ways of engaging students and staff in academic activities (University of the Witwatersrand, 2014b, p. 3).
These plans suggest good support for the use of Technology Enhanced Teaching. Moreover, other university documents that concern teaching and learning include: academic aims and values, commitment to scholarship, principles of teaching and learning and the strategic research plan. In addition, the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning has proposed the adoption of a code of conduct that lays down minimum standards of good teaching (University of the Witwatersrand, 2014b). Members of staff in the Social Work Department sit on the Teaching and Learning Committee of the School of Human and Community Development.
Other significant details of the institution are that it is a contact institution predominantly using face-to-face (F2F) lectures and some technology-enhanced learning (TEL). The methods of teaching and learning include: lectures, self-study, research, role-plays, class discussions, collaborative group work, article critiques, guest speakers, videos, PowerPoint presentations and practical work. Students receive study-guides and course outlines showing how learning objectives in each module link with ELOs of the BSW degree. In this PhD study, focus is placed on the meso practice course in the social work programme for second- year students that was redesigned to incorporate the principles of situated learning (Brown et al., 1989) and authentic learning (AL) (Herrington et al., 2010) to develop students’ ability to function in the workplace.
40 2.10 Curriculum Development in Group Work
Curriculum development is the planning and developmental process of deciding on educational goals and how they will be achieved (Roberts, 2015). The following factors play an important role in curriculum design and teaching practices: “educational goals and purposes; the subject matter and discipline; teaching, learning and students; educator identity; institutional context; stakeholder and socio-political context” (Roberts, 2015, p. 542). An important yet simple objective that is discipline-specific to meso practice education is to understand the difference between one-to-one counselling and conducting social work with groups (Clements, 2008). The intervention of meso practice should be understood in relation to three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Therefore, it is vital that there should be synchronicity and / or congruence between thinking, feeling (affect) and responding. A criticism of university education is that often, greater focus is placed on the cognitive domain (Herrington et al., 2010) at the expense of the affective and psychomotor or practical domains. Historically, writers such as Birnbaum, have noted that “discussion is very scarce on the issues of methodology for teaching group work” (1984, p. 50). Birnbaum (1984) has identified the following five objectives, types of learning experience and the role of the educator in group work.
1. Understand the process of group development.
2. Develop skills in observation and diagnosis of the group process.
3. Understand the conditions that contribute to effective group functioning. 4. Develop leadership skills as a group member who promotes effective group functioning.
5. Recognise the tasks a group worker needs to perform in order to manage group processes and enhance group development.
The methods suggested for teaching group work include lectures, experiential groups and group-building activities in the classroom (Shulman, 1986; 1987). Lectures, subscribe to the traditional transmission or didactic way of teaching (termed chalk and talk) are educator- centred, which is not recommended, especially in the teaching of meso practice (Strozier, 1997). A preferred method is the use of experiential groups that offer greater scope for students to experience the process of group development and provide students with an
41
opportunity to practise their skills and leadership styles. In addition, experiential groups allow for personal development, role-play, collaboration, discussion and debate between the students and the educator (Herrington, et.al, 2010; Strozier, 1997). These experiential groups enable students to evaluate both their own behaviour and that of the other group members. Reflection can be encouraged through the completion of a weekly log, so that connections are made between didactic and experiential learning. In the weekly log, students would write about their experiences in the group and their reflections, both on the process and being in the process. In Birnbaum’s course, the log was shared only between the educator and the student. The advantages of using this method, according to Birnbaum (1984), is that the combined experience of classroom and experiential group-learning helps students recognise the role of leadership, enabling students to rehearse what it is like to be a group leader in a safe space. An important person in the teaching and learning process is the educator, whose job it is to organise the teaching and learning context, so that all the students can use higher-order learning (Biggs, 2012), which is considered next.