About six months ago I was asked how I felt about becoming a practice assessor: "A practice what?", I recall saying.

Four months later a student from the local university began a six-month social work placement with our community mental health team.

Meanwhile, I had attended a training course on the changes that have arisen since the move from the DipSW to the new social work degree and it was the change in the supervision, management and assessment of social work students while on placement that had surprised me most.

I must confess to a less than positive experience during my own social work training a number of years ago. Within a couple of months it was clear that the university social work department was not keen to practice what it preached, and I found the academic perspective quite removed from the reality of day-to-day social work practice.

It was an absolute blessing therefore that the two major placements that I completed were outstanding and equipped me well for the challenging professional role that I was to take on. It was because of my mixed experiences that I feel so committed to enabling other social work students to have placements that are demanding, exciting, realistic and challenging.

I have supervised several students in the past few years. I have always found it rewarding. It constantly helps me to reflect on my own practice and development. This has been especially true while working within a multi-disciplinary team with a heavy medical bias.

But the new role of the practice assessor has been a daunting challenge. The role of the old practice teacher (that lovely person who met the student regularly to link theory to practice) has changed. It is now a mixture of a consultancy role and a troubleshooting expert.

Therefore as a practice assessor I have the responsibility for the day-to-day supervision and management of a social work student, but also a new function of ongoing formal assessment ensuring that the student fulfils the General Social Care Council's national occupational standards.

At first this felt like a difficult balance to meet: juggling the supportive, developmental supervisor with the role of assessor. In practice what I have found is that once I understood the structure of the occupational standards, it made for quite simple ongoing assessment, through supervision and other forums.

I was initially worried about the additional workload, and while I appreciate that not everyone will have such an able student as I have had, it would be a shame for anybody to be put off from taking social work students because of a perceived additional assessment role.

Mark Sloman is a social worker, community mental health team, Somerset