Modernising Fieldwork, Part 2: Realising the New Agenda

Abstract

In recent years, many discussions have taken place regarding the need for new and different forms of fieldwork education. Research was undertaken to explore the capacity for and barriers to placement provision in the West Midlands Region (reported in part 1 of this article) and to investigate the views of fieldwork educators about the Role Emerging and the Collaborative (2:1) Models of Fieldwork Education. While these have been reported to be viable approaches, as yet few attempts have been made to implement them in practice and issues of context were found to have an impact on their implementation and the provision of placements. Part 2 of this article examines these two models of fieldwork education in the light of the findings of this study and an innovative approach that emerged from discussions with participants is presented. It is argued here that choice and diversity, in terms of the different models of fieldwork education meeting the needs of different service environments and different students, is valuable; however, the development of an appropriate infrastructure and the provision of adequate resources to support these alternatives are key issues.