Focusing on practice placement programs in the United Kingdom, this useful guide provides the resources needed to support students who are struggling with or failing their placements. Drawing on her own experiences training practice educators, Jo Finch offers advice to social work practitioners, placement supervisors, practice educators, mentors, and university tutors alike. Chapters examine the signs and symptoms of a struggling student, the emotional impact and emotional processes of decision making, and strategies for working effectively with students and academic institutions. Reflection exercises also enable readers to bring these methods to their own work. Together, Finch's ideas and insights will further knowledge and engender confidence for any teachers, assessors, and supervisors working in programs with a practice learning component.

Practical guidance that will further knowledge and engender confidence for any teachers, assessors and supervisors on courses with a practice learning component, based on the authors first-hand experience and international multi-disciplinary research and literature.

Every day, teachers face the challenge of motivating struggling learners. In this must-have book, Barbara R. Blackburn, author of the bestseller Rigor Is Not a Four-Letter Word, shares how you can finally solve this problem and make your classroom a rigorous place where all students want to succeed. You’ll learn practical strategies for... understanding extrinsic and intrinsic motivation; building a trusting relationship with students; using praise and positive feedback effectively; empowering students and helping them own their learning; moving students toward a growth mindset; communicating high expectations for students; engaging all students in your lessons; scaffolding so all students will want to improve; helping students be resilient and not fear failure; and celebrating diverse groups of students. Each chapter is filled with a variety of examples and tools that you can use immediately. Bonus: Many of the tools are also available as free eResources on our website, www.routledge.com/9781138792432, so you can easily download and print them for classroom use.

This brand new book is essential reading for anyone involved in practice educating social work students. Whether you are an on-site or off-site practice educator, or a workplace supervisor, the book will guide you through your role, providing practical and straightforward advice about the process from start to finish. With handy references to the Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) throughout, the book helps first-time practice educators to quell their anxieties and supports both new and experienced practitioners to develop skills to support their students and deepen their own professional expertise. The book provides enlightening and unintimidating guidance on how to: Establish expectations with social work students at the start of a placement Assess and support your students to achieve to the very best of their abilities Ensure the highest quality placement experience is offered in your setting Write clear, constructive and helpful reports at the mid and end points of the placement Tackle difficult conversations and create action plans when things go wrong Guarantee your students fulfil the criteria of the Professional Capabilities Framework and that you achieve the requirements of PEP domains Written by two experienced professionals, the book is packed with practical tips, handy checklists and realistic examples, providing the time-pressed practice educator with at-a-glance "Best Practice" points and "Common Pitfalls" to avoid. "When I read the book, I found it to be helpful and easy to negotiate, offering really practical and straightforward advice in an easy style. I would recommend it to all Practice Educators, whether long in the tooth or fresh in to the profession." Steve Harding, Social Work Tutor, University of Leeds, UK "An increase in expectations and practice standards, in recent years, now requires the Practice Educator role within social work to be enshrined in evidence-based educative practice theory, specialist professional standards, ethics and values. This publication consolidates professional practice standards alongside the PCF within the context of current social work education and would be an invaluable tool for practice educators new and old. It is clear, insightful and above all, comes from an experienced practitioner base. I wish I had had this type of publication when first starting out. I will have no hesitation in recommending this book to my own Trainee Practice Educators within and outside the social work field." Kathryne Thomson, Associate Lecturer, Practice Educator Professional Standards 1 + 2 Mentor and Assessor, Practice Educator + Consultant affiliated to Bucks New University, UK

This practical guide will takes you step by step through your social work placement, guiding you through what you will be expected to do, and helping you to make the most of your placement. You will learn how to apply the theory and skills you′ve learnt in practice, to your own observations as well as to your placement portfolio, and how to gain the feedback you need. The books is packed full of hands-on advice, alongside a variety of learning features: student voices talking about their own placement experiences, chapter checklists, reflective tasks, and potential placement pitfalls and opportunities which demonstrate different ways to approach situations you may encounter on placement.

Middle- and upper-middle-class students continue to outpace those from less privileged backgrounds. Most attempts to redress this inequality focus on the issue of access to financial resources, but as Producing Success makes clear, the problem goes beyond mere economics. In this eye-opening study, Peter Demerath examines a typical suburban American high school to explain how some students get ahead. Demerath undertook four years of research at a Midwestern high school to examine the mercilessly competitive culture that drives students to advance. Producing Success reveals the many ways the community’s ideology of achievement plays out: students hone their work ethics and employ various strategies to succeed, from negotiating with teachers to cheating; parents relentlessly push their children while manipulating school policies to help them get ahead; and administrators aid high performers in myriad ways, even naming over forty students “valedictorians.” Yet, as Demerath shows, this unswerving commitment to individual advancement takes its toll, leading to student stress and fatigue, incivility and vandalism, and the alienation of the less successful. Insightful and candid, Producing Success is an often troubling account of the educationally and morally questionable results of the American culture of success.