I had an observation with my student yesterday which was her representing the child and carers at a meeting. On the observation form it asks 'does the activity relate to direct work with the SU'
As she was part of a meeting, is this direct work? It has come out of direct work in that she is an advocate and support for the SU but she was part of a wider group. She feels it is direct work but I need to clarify it.
Its a continuation of, or a result of the direct work, but probably isn't in itself 'direct work'.
Does it really matter? If you think it does constitute direct work, put yes and argue with the uni if need be.
Key roles wise, I would say this meets advocacy, multi-disciplinary working possibly (if she was representing the SU in front of other professionals), group work and possibly improving opportunities for the SU. Unless the service user was at the meeting (e.g. CP Conference, LAC review), I wouldn't define this as direct work with a service user.
I'm a student myself and know how difficult and frustrating it is to try and stretch observations to meet all key roles. Perhaps another practice assessor might be able to suggest a "creative" way to make this a direct work situation so your student can have that box ticked in her portfolio.
yes the child and carers were at the meeting, i suppose ive answered my own query really! its my first proper student and i want to get it right, i work on my own so wasnt able to check with anyone neutral
I would have thought direct work is exactly what it says. I don't see how your scenario demonstrates how the student interacts with the SU on a 121 basis.
well because she was working directly with the child and their carers alongside other professionals at the meeting
im confused again
Not sure, but I know my practice assessor has been pretty literal about the direct observations and has had me schedule specific meetings with service user/s to observe direct 1-1 work and direct group work (hope more than one person turns up :) ). For the third observation, we used a multi disciplinary meeting with SU present.
If the student is doing direct work, which is how it sounds from the OP, can you not arrange to observe it?
yes, we've had direct work observations, one was an activity with a group of carers, the next was a meeting with a young person and the next was an assessment session with a carer and now this one is a multi disciplinary meeting with the SU presnet, but one of the questions that i have to complete is 'does this activity relate to direct work with the client' - i know what units she has met, im just struggling to decide the definition of this. she thinks that it is direct work, the observation does not have been direct work, i just want to know what to put!
i would consider it direct work, i would take a meeting without a service user present or a communication of sorts with another professional as something that is not direct work. CB may know she is an accomplished practice teacher.
Were the Child and Carers also at the meeting? If so, did they also have any input? Did the student assist them with any such input? - if so that would be direct work.
As a side issue how can the student represent both Child and Carers - conflict of interests springs to mind?
because she was in the role of the SSW, her job is to support the carers in meeting the needs of the child and to ensure that any behavioural and educational needs cited by the child and carers in her work with them, is advocated at the meeting.
yes they were there and she interacted with them in their interests
Personally, and this is just my opinion, I don't consider it 'direct work' unless it is just me and the child. I guess if I were doing a session with a parent that had a specific pupose then I would probably call that 'direct work'. But if the context is a meeting then I wouldn't say that was direct work because I'm not working 'directly' with the parent / carer or child. However I don't know if this chimes with any official definition or even if there is such a thing.
Direct work is the ability to spend most of the week (80%) inputting data on a computer.
From what you say then it is clearly direct work. She was working WITH them to ensure that there interests were represented.
I suppose this reply is obvious but get a definition of the uni what they mean by direct work and then you cant go wrong -tho if your after an easy life (and I seriously dont mean that as a criticism - most people wouldnt even have blinked at the confusion let alone posted on CC) go for it as theres clearly confusipn and I doubt there will be much scrutiny from the unis
For the record to me workin with only service users is direct work (parent child etc etc ) tho Ive had practice teachers that have successfully disagreed
The direct work was with the chair of the meeting. The work with the SU was indirect. It is splitting hairs and will probably get through but is another grey area.
Shirack: The direct work was with the chair of the meeting. The work with the SU was indirect. It is splitting hairs and will probably get through but is another grey area.
I agree- the direct work involved in this meeting would have occurred previously when she was preparing the carer & child for the meeting, not at the meeting. In the meeting her focus was not on the child/ carer solely, and you were observing her practice skills in multi-professional working not direct practice sills with a service user.
How many observations do you have to complete for this student? It sounds like you've all ready done at least 3, and for my final placement 3 was the number that had to be submitted (first placement was only 2).
Given what you have just posted here then this is direct work. If you still doubt this perhaps verify this with the students tutor / your contact from the university.
I would have agreed with this except that the OP stated that the student interacted with the carer AND the SU in their best interest in the role of advocating for them. This is working directly with them and is thus direct work.
Others have posted here that to them direct work is work done [on a 1 2 1 basis] with the service user. I take a more literal interpretation. For me, any work that is done directly with the service user is direct work so for example group work is direct work despite there being more that the student and SU involved. Advocating could be either direct or indirect work depending on the involvement of the SU.
For me the key is that there was some interaction with the SU in acting as advocate / representing the SU. I think that the difficulty lies in that there was both direct and indirect work in which the student was involved.
I would consider direct work to be any contact with the client - one to one, on the phone, by letter/email or in meetings.
I do not think this was an observation of direct work, but I think it does relate to direct work if the Social Worker makes reference in their report and verbal account of any sessions undertaken with the child. I class as observations of direct work any session where the primary activity was the 1:1 interaction between Social Worker and the young person (or carer, parent, depending on circumstances) or the interaction with a group of service users (not multi-agency meetings). So this would include statutory visits of whatever type, any type of interview, play session, home visit, parenting session, Core Assessment session etc. This is because I expect to observe use of specific techniques, use of language or silence, use of self, reflecting of emotions etc. You can't get that in a formal meeting.