‘Know Your Neighbourhood’: An Innovative Programme in the Fieldwork Practicum of Social Work Education

Abstract

Social Work Practicum enables the learner to develop professional skills through the process ofaction-reflection in a real life situation. As an essential component of fieldwork, RajagiriSchool of Social Work has introduced an innovative practice titled as ‗Know YourNeighbourhood Programme‘ where the students who are admitted to Master of Social Work(MSW) Programme are expected to undergo ten days of self-learning through observation,interviews, discussions about their own locality and its diverse resources, problems andprospects. The objective of the assignment is that students are motivated to acquire adequateinformation regarding various institutions and developmental programmes, in their own homevillage / town. They should also acquire sufficient information about various socio economicproblems of the people of their neighbourhood. This process is envisaged as an opportunity toacquire better insights into the socio cultural realities of one‘s own locality. This kind of selflearningat the beginning of MSW Programme will sensitize the students and facilitate them tobetter learning at subsequent levels of studies. The students may visit various governmental /non-governmental / private institutions and meet the concerned officials to understand thefunctioning as well as various services offered by these institutions. They also have to make atransect walk to understand the geographical features and natural resources of the place and tomeet a few senior citizens to understand the history and traditions of the locality. Based on this
study, a report of about 20 pages is to be submitted to their respective faculty facilitator and theyhave to share their experiences in the introductory sessions. An evaluation of the programme iscarried out to understand its‘ effectiveness. The programme has been found to be successful infacilitating self-learning as well as enhancing the social awareness of the MSW students.