Placement Induction
Seminar
Placement components
Finding a fieldwork placement
 Getting Garda Clearance
 Negotiating learning objectives, roles and
responsibilities
 Undertaking a minimum of 150 hours
fieldwork experience
 Continuous recording of placement
experiences in log-book/fieldwork diary.
 Submission of fieldwork registration form
 Writing up a fieldwork placement report
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Finding a fieldwork placement
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Choose a location for your fieldwork
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Local area:
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Consider personal contacts
Do research on local organisations and agencies –
online, on the phone or on foot.
Overseas:
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This can be in your local area or abroad.
Do research online before you go – e.g. students on J1
visa could browse organisations online prior to travel
Consider structured placement with volunteer abroad
organisations (e.g. Hope Foundation, i-to-i, EIL).
Choose an area of work in which you are
genuinely interested. Don’t be afraid to
challenge yourself!
Getting Garda Clearance
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The agency may require that you undergo a
Garda Vetting process (see
http://www.garda.ie/FAQ/Default.aspx?FAQCategory=36).
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‘Garda vetting is conducted in respect of personnel
working in a full-time, part-time, and voluntary or
student placement capacity in a position in a registered
organisation, through which they have unsupervised
access to children and/or vulnerable adults.
Garda Vetting is conducted only on behalf of registered
organisations and is not conducted for individual persons
on a personal basis. The agency will need to organise a
form for you to submit to the Garda Vetting Unit.
Within current disclosure policy, details of all convictions
and/or prosecutions, successful or not, pending or
completed, in the State or elsewhere as the case may be
are disclosed to the authorised liaison person in the
registered organisation.
The Garda vetting procedure is as follows
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Personnel who are subject to Garda Vetting will receive a Garda Vetting
Application Form from the registered organisation where they are seeking a
position.
The applicant completes the application form and returns it to the
Organisation. He or she must sign the form, thereby providing authorisation
for the Garda Vetting process.
An authorised liaison person in the registered organisation sends the form on
to the Garda Central Vetting Unit.
Garda Vetting checks on the applicant are carried out following receipt of the
application form at the Garda Central Vetting Unit.
As a result of these checks a Garda Vetting disclosure is issued directly to the
authorised liaison person in the registered organisation.
An individual vetting subject may obtain a copy of their Garda vetting
disclosure from the authorised liaison person in the registered organisation to
whom it was issued.
Garda Vetting will only be conducted, and relevant disclosure will only be
issued to an authorised liaison person within a registered organisation for
Garda Vetting, predicated on the written authorisation of an individual
vetting subject to do so in a Garda Vetting application form.
Contact details:
 Garda Central Vetting Unit/Garda Criminal Records Office
Racecourse Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary
 Tel: Lo-Call 1890 488 488/00353 504 27300
 Office Hours: 9am-5pm Monday – Friday
Garda Vetting Unit Contact details:
 Garda
Central Vetting Unit/Garda
Criminal Records Office
Racecourse Road, Thurles, Co.
Tipperary
 Tel:
Lo-Call 1890 488 488/00353
504 27300
 Office Hours: 9am-5pm Monday –
Friday
Insurance
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The agency may require that you are covered by
insurance other than their own.
As the placement is part of your coursework, you
are insured by UCC.
Insurance forms are available from me. There
are three types – one insurance indemnity covers
students working in HSE agencies, one for
students working with Cork City Council and the
other is a general insurance form. These are
available online.
Negotiating learning objectives
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The formal learning outcomes for this module are
outlined below. In negotiating learning outcomes,
you should seek to identify learning objectives
which meet these criteria.
‘On successful completion of the module students
should be able to:
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Evaluate personal skills such as problem solving,
decision making and engagement skills.
Identify strengths and weaknesses of their work
practice.
Connect academic and practical aspects of social policy.
Assess the impact of relevant social policies in the work
environment’.
Negotiating learning objectives
What do you want from this fieldwork
placement?
 What kind of skills do you wish to
develop?
 What contribution does the
agency/supervisor want from you?
 How can you reconcile both your needs
and the needs of the agency?
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Record of fieldwork placement
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The fieldwork placement must be a minimum of
150 hours, signed off by the supervisor (It is at
the student's discretion whether to complete
more than 150 hours and this will not impact
upon his/her assessment).
You are required to keep a log-book of your
fieldwork over the duration of the placement.
In this log-book you should record practice issues
which emerged for you. Through reflective
practice, you should note particular incidents
which occurred or issues which emerged while on
placement and consider their importance.
N.B. You will be required to submit six log
entries from this log-book with your placement
report, on which you will be assessed.
The role of the fieldwork placement
student
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When on placement, you need to consider your role
in your own personal and professional development.
Your supervisor, in the placement evaluation form,
will be asked to assess you on the basis of:
Attendance
Skills
development
Willingness to
learn
Ability to seek
help
Organisational
skills
Initiative
Team-work
Communication
skills
Verbal and
written
expression
Professionalism
Capacity to work
Overall
with service users contribution
Ethics
The Irish Association of Social Workers
(IASW) offers a useful statement of values
and principles in practice which can be
applied to a range of social science-related
fieldwork settings.
 The student should consider these in
practice and in evaluating their work on
placement in the final report.
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Values and Ethics: Adapted from IASW
Code of Ethics (www.iasw.ie)
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That every person is unique and has an intrinsic worth;
That every person and every group in society, with due regard
to the rights of others, is entitled to their own beliefs, to
freedom of expression and action irrespective of nationality,
ethnic background, social and economic status, ability, health,
gender, sexual orientation, age, or contribution to society;
That truly valued, fully human life is generally realised by
individuals living and acting interdependently in communities;
That society has an obligation to pursue justice, in all its forms,
on behalf of every person including the assertion and
protection of their human rights.
Constraints such as poverty, inequality or discrimination may
constrain service user’s ability to fulfil their needs. These
constraints cannot always be resolved at the level of the
individual.
Ethics and Confidentiality
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A key obligation of social services staff is to respect the
privacy of service users, to protect their dignity and to
protect them from harm.
Service users have a right to confidentiality.
Service users’ personal lives should never be discussed by
a student outside of the professional concerns of the
agency.
However, in the workplace, some information may need to
be disclosed to other colleagues on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.
The disclosure of information against a service user’s
wishes will occur in clearly defined circumstances such as
those required by law, or for the protection of a service
user or for the protection of a third party.
You must always seek supervisor support with regard to
issues of confidentiality and perceived danger, risk or harm.
Queries
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Please direct any queries to me via email
at [email protected]. If you wish to speak
with me on the phone please email with
your phone contact details.