Using a community development approach to reimagine field education during Covid-19

Abstract

This paper reports on an Australian online placement project that was put in place after face-to-face placements were stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. James Cook University ( JCU) social work students were offered the opportunity to participate in an online Community Connectors Project (CCP) based on an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) model to complete their placement. Twenty students participated in the CCP. The values and principles of ABCD guided the project and meant that students were encouraged and supported to lead and design smaller placement projects responding to identified community needs. This article is collaboratively written by students, field education staff and a community partner. Here we specifically report on the collaboration between one group of students and a community partner working together to develop a domestic violence practice guideline for a health setting. The article describes the context of the CCP, ABCD as a framework, the student leadership, the domestic violence project and the collaborative partnership. Our reflections consider students as knowledge brokers, challengers and enablers of collaboration and future research engagement.

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