Graduate Readiness to Practice Curriculum mapping and development of a taxonomy

Child protection related Critique of social work education “Child Youth and Family reports that many new graduates they employ lack the required level of knowledge of child protection, youth justice, child development, mental health, addictions and family violence. This means new social workers need to learn these skills on the job.” (Children’s Commissioner, 2015, p.34)

Enhancing the readiness to practise of newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) Funded for three years from 2016 to 2018 Research collaboration between the Open Polytechnic, the University of Auckland, Massey University, the University of Canterbury & the University of Otago.

participating in the study research questionS PHASE 3: What professional capabilities, including cultural capabilities, should we expect of NQSWs and of social workers working at more experienced and expert levels of practice? PHASE 2: How well prepared are NQSWs to enter professional social work practice and how is their learning being supported and enhanced in the workplace? PHASE 1: What is the content of the current Aotearoa New Zealand social work curriculum and how does it relate to the SWRB core competencies? Seventeen TEIs recognised by the SWRB Five Universities Nine Polytechnics Two Wānanga One Private Tertiary Institute Fourteen TEIs (82%) are participating in the study

Phase one: The curriculum The Declared Curriculum Analyse curriculum documents The Taught Curriculum The Learned Curriculum PHASE 1: What is the content of the current Aotearoa New Zealand social work curriculum and how does it relate to the SWRB core competencies? Student focus groups Educator focus group

Over 400 curriculum descriptors Turning documents into data

Code the documents Extract candidate topics

Taxonomy Topic Inclusion Criteria The topic is part of the social work education curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand The topic is significant enough that a social work educator, student or programme quality assessor might want to search the curriculum to discover where that topic is taught The inclusion of the topic is likely to meaningfully increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the taxonomy as an index of core educational content Social work educators want and expect the topic to be included The topic is of medium level granularity, being neither too broad or too narrow in scope

AGREE the topics From over 800 candidates

Build The Taxonomy TISWEANZ.AC.NZ

Create a document database Use taxonomy to tag curriculum documents

Map the curriculum Topics & Competencies The team are currently using the database and maps to: Identify the most common curriculum topics described in curriculum documents across Aotearoa New Zealand Describe the diversity of topics represented in curriculum documents and key points of difference Investigate in which courses, and at which NZQA level, key curriculum topics (e.g. child protection, family violence, mental health and addictions) are described in curriculum documents. Map the curriculum Topics & Competencies

Most frequently used terms in undergraduate compulsory courses

When are terms taught? Human Development

Methodological issues Curriculum mapping limitations Course descriptors vary widely in length, structure and content. Taxonomy is descriptive of terms in use. Identifying that a term is used tells us nothing about depth and detail of discussion. Curriculum mapping captures terms used to describe the declared curriculum. SWRB core competencies are very high level and open to wide interpretation. Curriculum mapping strengths Gives us, for the first time, a way of visualising the social work curriculum. Taxonomy & curriculum database are valuable tools for collaborative curriculum development. Empirical data for phase two when we inquire about perceived capabilities and the contribution of qualifying degree programmes. There is also a risk that we are inadvertently feeding neoliberal aspirations for a national curriculum driven by employer and government objectives. How do we do this kind of work in a way that avoids unintended curriculum rationalisation and standardisation that subjugates the curriculum to employer and governmental imperatives? How do NZ educators collaborate to improve the curriculum in ways that enhancesreadiness to practice but sustains our commitment to core social work values and critical practice?

Visit the project website TO Find out more Visit the project website Enhancer2p.ac.nz