placement report essay

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• My placement experience: highlights and reflections

13 October 2021 by Kimberley

I have now completed my 12-month placement experience as part of the uplands research team at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. In that time, I have worked with some amazing people, had lots of practical fieldwork experience and spent a year living in what must be one of the most beautiful areas of the country (around Barnard Castle, Northumberland). As I start my final year at university, I am only beginning to appreciate how much I have gained from the past year.

Hands on placement experience

Undoubtedly one of the most valuable aspects of the placement has been the practical experience. I have done everything from fieldwork to GIS mapping, these are skills I will take with me into final year and beyond. The responsibility I have for my own project taught me so much about time management and the research process. I began by writing a project proposal and finishing with a presentation of my results to staff at the GWCT. Doing this, I realised how much I enjoy science and has made me keen to explore a career in research.

Work through the seasons

As a field-based position, my work was very seasonal. I had not realised how much of a difference it would make to my enjoyment of the placement. At the start of my placement until November, I was in the lab or the office. Most of this time was spent on a single GIS mapping task that was quite repetitive. I struggled with this to begin with, especially with having confidence in my work and decision making. However, by persevering and eventually getting all the data, I was able to discover different and better ways to approach such tasks.

Spring and summer brought their own challenges, with lots of fieldwork occurring at the same time. The work means coordination is key, to ensure everyone can access the vehicles they needed. With every month came new challenges and opportunities to learn and making the most of these. This is what really enhances the placement experience.

Part of the team

Working in the research team was a fantastic experience. I enjoyed discussing my ideas with research staff and it really boosted my confidence. Especially when I was asked for my opinion or a suggestion of mine was used in their work. I am really proud of how I have become more comfortable with asking questions or suggesting things. Team meetings became something to look forward. An opportunity to discuss ideas and learn about the other work, rather than a stressful situation. Working with people with a range of knowledge and experiences was also really interesting. They gave me a lot of information and advice. This is helpful for gaining a deeper understanding of the work and thinking about potential career paths.

There were issues surrounding staff reductions due to COVID-19 and organisational politics impacted some aspects of the work. As a student I was unaffected and able to gain an insight into some of the nuances of working for an organisation like the GWCT.

Final reflections on my placement experience

Three years ago, I set myself the goal of doing a year in industry at the beginning of university. I am proud to say I have completed my placement. I have achieved what I set out to – increasing my confidence and gaining experience within a conservation organisation. However, the whole experience has been so much more than I expected. I have designed and carried out my own project and have contributed to ongoing, long-term research. I have also been able to spend time exploring and volunteering in an amazing part of the country. Doing a year in industry has been the highlight of my time at university so far, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.

Read more blogs about why our students chose York .

About Kimberley

I am a third year biology student and am currently on placement with The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. Within biology, I am most interested in conservation, ecology and evolution whilst outside of biology I spend my time playing hockey and volunteering for various organisations and events.

Reader Interactions

3 November 2021 at 9.23 am

Your experience has provided me with a lot insight into the highs and lows experienced during placement. Thank you for sharing your story Kimberly.

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About this blog

These blogs represent students’ views and reflections, at the time of publish. For course details and the official information please always refer to the University of York website .

To get in contact with us about anything on this blog you can email us .

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Placement Reflective Report

My Placement journey has been one of many mixed emotions. I have found myself at times feeling very frustrated and despondent but on the upside I have been given opportunity to meet and learn from some very skilled and professional youth workers. My Placement began at my current workplace and I had completed 100 hours, but I was finding it hard to separate myself from my worker role to my student role also at times some minor conflict was present between my placement supervisor who was also my work peer when I was there on my normal employment days.

At first the dual roles worked fine but soon issues started to arise as I felt when I was in my student role and attending groups my supervisor would undermine me in front of service users who in some instances were my clients. By undertaking my placement in my place of employment often staff and management were confused about the different roles and the boundaries associated with each role.

Although I was a student I was also a paid staff member and I often felt some staff expected me to show unreasonable flexibility in work/ student activities.

I don’t feel I achived any considerable learning from the 100 hours as it was assumed I already knew how things operated. I also admit as I already knew the requirements I just got on and did what needed to be done and forgot to stand back and observe the different family support workers practice methods.

Proficient in: Attachment Theory

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

As I entered the placement with pre-conceived notions of “ I knew what was expected of me” I did not set any proper learning objectives or tasks, this compromised my learning greatly.

My Placement was terminated and I was back at the beginning of trying to find something new. As I am a single parent and financially could not afford to work less than three days I requested to undertake my placement on weekends. Eventually a placement was secured for me at Uniting Care within the residential out of home care division. The aim of the service is to provide accommodation for young people between the ages of 12 to 17. This accommodation can be either long term or emergency short term.

The young people who utilise the service are mostly children who have been removed from their homes because of child safety concerns, either as a result of serious parent-child conflict, or threat due to serious physical or behavioural health conditions which cannot be addressed within the family, these young people are all on child protection orders and have a Child Safety Officer who is responsible for the decisions regarding their care.

The service delivery methods within the houses include working with the young people in the placement and in some cases with their birth families. It includes assessing strengths and needs, developing case plans, implementing and monitoring case plan activities, and liaising with stakeholders such as Child Safety and schools. At first I was a little apprehensive about this placement as I had previously worked in residential care for eighteen months and upon leaving promised I would never return to this type of work.

When I was employed as a residential care worker in another organisation I felt over worker as sometimes I would be pressured to complete 50 hours shifts moving from house to house, as there was a intended sleep period between the hours of 10:00pm and 7:30am the management were not concerned by this. I would often grudgingly agree as I was afraid if I did not agree I would not be called for further shifts and I could not allow this to happen.

In the end I was assaulted by a young person and I contacted the Police whilst on shift and both I and the relief worker felt it was appropriate; however management did not agree with my decision and refused to support me. Eventually I could not cope anymore and ended up quitting feeling exhausted and burnt out. I went into this placement thinking it was going to be exactly the same service delivery but steeled myself with thinking it was not long term only 270 hours and I did have a place of employment I could return to.

However my first shift was at the emergency house went better than I had anticipated. I was pleasantly surprised at the differences between the organisations. Uniting Care operates on a two worker model and all the staff have formal qualifications relevant to the work they are undertaking. They are well trained and educated when incidents present they know how to professionally handle the situation. This is very different from my previous experience with residential care. I undertook my placement across three houses and the main office and attended student information session at the head office.

My role was to shadow shift the permanent youth worker and if needed offer assistance where needed. Other tasks I was required to completed included •Assisting to maintain high standard of cleanliness, tidiness, comfort, safety, homeliness •Creating a dinner routine with nutritious meals •Provide transportation •Assist with homework •Supporting young people to engage in suitable activities in the school holidays and after school •Assisting the Education Officer to support the young people to learn life skills in a planned and supported way •Maintain a safe environment As part of a team, identify areas where young people’s needs could be better met •Implement new filing system for all three houses •Develop holiday programs and education plans and assist in implementing these at the emergency house and evaluating if the programs were successful or not. During the beginning of my placement I was attending my paid employment on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and placement on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday 9am to 7pm. I continued these hours for three weeks but I soon found myself becoming very tired and run down.

I then applied part annual leave and part leave without pay and completed my placement on Monday- Friday which left my weekends free with my family. In regards to my placement experience I feel if I was not restricted by time restraints to return to work and if I didn’t have so many other commitment I may have enjoyed the experience more. I was at times frustrated and eager to just complete the placement as now with placement I had extra travel requirements and not a full income to fall back on and at the time had some very large unexpected bills arise and usually I would manage by trying to do overtime at work to earn extra money.

Also I had been advised that my workplace had needed to give two of my days to another worker as they were not managing with the case loads. I think this influenced my experienced as I was more intent on completing what was required and returning to work as soon as possible. However as majority of the young people are engaged with education or employment during the day, I worked mostly with the office day staff who taught me how to archive files so they could be stored legally. I also attended appointments with medical professionals such as doctors, ounsellors and allied health. On one occasion I arrived and was informed I would be required to accompany the day worker to a meeting with the principal of the Murri School. A young person in our care had recently commenced at the school and as a condition of his enrolment he was to repeat year 8 despite being 15 years of age. When we attended the first day there had been a clerical mistake and he has been placed in year 10. The young person had attended for 5 weeks in the year 10 grade before it was noticed.

In this time he had established friendships and settled in. The school was now adamant to remove him from year 10 and place him in the original year 8 class due to his low academic results. I was not made fully aware of the full details until a few days later, and went to the meeting knowing only they wanted to change his grade and remove him from his friends. I felt this was unjust and very unfair. I quickly researched the long term negative impacts of children repeating grades and learned there were no benefits of making the young person repeat.

Upon arrival I was adamant I would do my upmost best to keep this young person with his friends. I walked into the meeting and after hearing the schools perspective, I listed all the negative impacts socially, emotionally and the possibility of the young person losing all interest in attending school. I offered suggestions in which both the young person and staff at the house to do in order to help the young person reach the necessary academic levels.

In the end I had persuaded the school to allow him to stay in his current grade. At the time I felt I had advocate for the client but upon reflection. I was able to see it was a combination of negotiation and advocating. In this situation and also when engaging with the young people I feel I was also able to draw upon “the use of self”. I believe the greatest skill/ attribute is my personality I have a friendly relaxed personality with a sense of humour which allows people to quickly become at ease with me.

This allows me to quickly build relationships and rapport in a relaxed manner which puts the client at ease. As I grew up in a lower socioeconomic background and have faced many obstacles in my own life before I was in a position where I was able to attend university, I feel I am able to draw upon feelings and situations which I have experienced , this enables me to develop empathy and understanding for clients and the situations they find themselves in.

I consider myself to be a genuine and transparent and I will reflect my “real self” at all times. “Although fundamental to social work practice, the social worker’s theoretical orientation and mastery of skills appear to have the least impact on client satisfaction when compared to the social worker’s authenticity and how they use personality traits as a therapeutic tool (Edwards & Bess, 1998; Baldwin, 2000). During this placement I was able to begin to understand how theories actually work in practice.

Finally now I could begin to see the importance of human service values and how these values inform my thinking and practice. From my prior experiences with working in residential care, I already had some understanding and knowledge of some theories which are commonly used in residential care, and was able to reflect how I had previously applied these in practice. Two theories which have largely influenced my practice before entering and whist undergoing placement were trauma theory and attachment theory.

As many children in care have experienced some form of trauma and /or disrupted attachment relationship, I feel these two theories provide a very useful framework for understanding behaviours and outcomes in children who have experienced neglect, violence and abuse. By applying Trauma theory in my practice I have been able to develop an understanding of the effects traumatic experiences can have on a young person’s psychological wellbeing. Cairns, 2002) suggests that when humans are exposed to highly stressful and frightening circumstances that overwhelm their ability to cope, certain neurobiological adaptations can take place which compromise normal social, emotional and cognitive functioning. At times during my placement I often found it difficult to understand and comprehend reasoning for some behaviour which was displayed by the young people. But upon critically reflecting and referring back to the theory I was able to begin to understand that in most case an undesirable behaviour is usually a method for an alternative motive they are seeking.

Attachment Theory theorizes that human beings are born with a biological drive to seek proximity to protective adults (Schofield & Beek, 2006). This does not need to be the biological parent of the child but can extend to any primary caregivers that offer the child protection and nurturance. A strong and healthy attachment is the foundation for a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physiological development. Often the young people in care have not developed this secure attachment and as a result this has had impact to their emotional, cognitive-behaviour and social evelopment. However as my placement progressed I was able to observe some of the young people had formed relationships with the workers especially the house coordinators and attachments were forming. I think this a result of the consistency within the houses and to the fact most of the staff were permanent and had been employed for lengthy periods. This has led me to believe that despite facing abuse and neglect, if the needs are met, children develop and a sense of satisfaction and trust can be achieved from a worker the young people are able to develop a sense of attachment.

One aspect I did find particularly interesting was in most cases the young people had the strongest relationships with the house coordinators. They are responsible for buying the food, advocating for the young people, the youth workers are answerable to them regarding their practice (so are perceived as protectors) and the first person they contact when they need assistance. I believe these attachments are the strongest as the young people as they are able to meet the most of their needs.

Whilst observing many other youth workers, I noticed strengths perspective is most commonly drawn upon and frequently used amongst the staff when engaging with the young people. It allows the opportunity for the young person’s strengths, resources, capacities, and abilities to learn and grow to be recognised. By adapting a strength perspective young people can be viewed as taking an active part in advocating their own rights rather than be seen as incomplete adults whose rights can be ignored.

It is important to be aware that the young people need to be actively involved in negotiating their own futures, lives and outcomes but whilst remaining in the context of specific social, political and economic circumstances and processes A strengths perspective takes into consideration the involvement of young people in decisions affecting their lives and in challenging social structure and practices that impact negatively on their lives.

When I queried the senior youth workers on which theoretical perspectives inform their practice and influence them the most the consensus was Individualistic, liberalist and developmental perspectives as these tend to focus on the individual and their immediate social context or environment (e. g. family, carers, and programs they were engaged in). I also draw upon these perspectives as well as structuralist perspectives as it responds to issues that address broader social and structural issues like race, gender and sexuality.

On the whole the youth workers tended to work from a holistic approach. This is approach has many positive benefits as it addresses the many and varied complex influences within the lives of the young people in care, it also enables the youth workers to recognise ways in which the young people can be active participants within their own lives and participate in decisions regarding their outcomes and futures This placement overall was a wonderful experience for me both personally and professionally.

I feel as though I have learnt so much and have begun to grow into the human service worker that I know I want to eventually be and with the experience I have recently gained I feel this will be in the near future . Working with the young people has been very enjoyable. I have enjoyed meeting them and learning each of their stories and journeys and identifying with them their strength’s and resources they used to get them through the difficult situations they may have experienced. I have developed a level of acceptance and ability to be non-judgemental.

I have also gained a more in-depth leaning and gained a further understanding of resilience. All the young people I had engaged with have faced some form of adversity, hardship or misfortune It amazed me how these young people have been able to not only survive some of the most horrific situations but have effectively learnt to cope and deal with life’s challenges and still be able to set themselves goals and work to achieve these by being committed to education, employment and eventually transition to independent living.

I come to appreciate that resilience is not only about surviving difficult times, but is about being able to thrive despite adversity. “Resilience is not only about overcoming the odds, but being able to not only cope but recover” (Rutter, 1999). Throughout my placement I worked with many different youth workers across the three houses. As I was in a student capacity I was able to stand back and observe each worker’s direct practice and different approach to the way they interact with the young people and each have a different method of dealing with crisis.

By observing these interactions this has offered valuable opportunity for critical reflection, as each young person I interacted with, youth worker, team leader or manager I observed, and crisis or incident I witnessed, these all presented new ways of thinking and learning. This in turn gave me opportunity to develop professionally and further learn about working from the human service values system. I believe the skills and knowledge I have gained will be incredibly useful and I will be able to transfers these across many fields in which I may work in.

One of the main challenges I faced whist on placement was dealing with the amount of legal constraints and bureaucratic requirements. I decided to study Human Services as I enjoy helping people and assisting them to deal with difficult situations, but I often feel I spend more time filling in forms or I am so constrained by risk management I am unable to assist in way which I think would be most beneficial. A example of this was during a shift, a young person began to escalate very quickly.

This young person had a habit of becoming worked up very quickly then begin degrading themselves which would end in them self-harming in front of staff or absconding. As this young person began to get agitated I quickly tried to divert their attention in attempts to calm them down by engaging them in conversation . I soon began telling them about a forest near where I live that has a massive waterfall, rope swing, crystal clear running water and boulders which you can climb to jump into the water from. The young person became calm and very interested to see the forest and creek.

I agreed to take them with another youth worker and as I have taken my own children there regularly and it is visited my many locals, I did not think there would be so many formalities involved. After we had finally finished ringing around coordinators, managers and tracking down CSO’s, conducting risk assessments and completing paperwork, hours had passed and as the next shift was due there was no time left to take the young person. The young person who had been looking so forward to going to the creek was now feeling disappointed and let down. Shortly after they absconded, went to the local shops, stole some glue and a kitchen knife.

They used the glue to sniff to get high and dull the pain while they slashed their wrists. A local lady who had been walking her dog saw the young person and contacted the police and ambulance. The young person ended up hospitised for 16 days as a result of their self-inflicted injuries. I agree I also need to accept responsibility for what happened as both I and the other worker agreed to take the young person on the trip, but I feel if there had not been so much red tape and the young person was able to have experiences as any other child of their age without so many constraints the whole situation may have been avoided.

Although we are regularly made aware that the field of human services is emotionally challenging, it is not something you can fully grasp or begin to understand until you experience it for yourself. The disillusionment, frustration and dissatisfaction I experienced on placement is also experienced in my paid employment. However despite the discontent, I still truly believe social work/human services makes unmeasurable positive differences in the lives of people. I think the key learning for me is to not stop fighting for social justice and equality for all.

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How to Write a Placement Report

A placement report is a report written by students or individuals who have been working for a company for a specific period of time, whether it is a temporary student position or an agreed placement position designed to broaden perspectives and views. Writing an effective and accurate placement report can be difficult as it is not easy to assess oneself and the work environment objectively. It should be detailed and well written, so anyone without prior knowledge of the placement can understand and grasp the ideas presented.

Write an introduction to the placement report. The introduction should focus on the company or organization where the placement will take place and a brief mention of the position the placement covers. An outline of the main responsibilities is also required in the introduction.

Outline the history and development of the company or corporation in which the placement is taking place. This should be the first section after the introduction to teach the reader about the company itself. Information could include the history of the company, its internal organization and structure, and the functions of different departments, if applicable. Include statistics and number of employees if possible.

Write the current mission and goal of the company. Discuss who its target audiences are and describe how the market is looking. Discuss the company's features, such as website, blogs, presentations and community involvement.

Use several paragraphs to outline the student’s role. This should include a basic job description and a brief outline of the expectations and responsibilities of the student. Also include a social perspective of the position, including employee lunches, internal events or company days or events. If possible, document this section with pictures from the experiences outlined in the report.

Write a detailed paragraph outlining the responsibilities of the student. This should include expected daily duties and outline any projects, training or development that the student may be part of.

Outline the student's previous experiences that relate to the particular placement job. Although a similar position may not have been obtained previously, many jobs can teach beneficial skills that can be used in other work situations. Outline skills, abilities, previous employers and achievements.

Write a short paragraph on the basic expectations for a permanent job position that mirrors the placement position. For example, if the placement entailed web design, outline the expectations and requirements for a fully educated individual who would be doing the job full time. If possible, tie in personal experience with the expected experience of a full-time employee.

Compose a log book which outlines duties completed on a daily basis. This is to demonstrate the progress made while at the placement position. The school may use this in part for evaluation. The employer may also use the log book to identify issues or problems that need to be addressed to improve the placement position.

Write a section detailing how things learned in the placement position could be used in a future full-time position. This should reflect the things outlined in the report, such as expectations, experiences and skills learned and honed.

Outline specific skills and abilities gained while at the company as an extension of the previous section. Include things such as communication skills, time management and customer service, expectations of different departments, personal developments—such as self confidence, self awareness and decision-making skills—and connect these benefits to potential academic and career plans.

Edit and reread the report. Have someone else judge the report on its objectivity and readability. The person should be unaware of the placement requirements and responsibilities. Address any concerns this person may have with understanding the content.

Create a title page that reflects the placement position. Make sure to include the proper name of the company, along with their logo and student number. Include page numbers, headers and footers where appropriate and images that support the information in the placement report.

• 1 Karen Fraser UK: Placement Module: Applying Geographic Skills in the Workplace
• 2 University of Ulster: Placement Report

About the Author

Based in Toronto, Mary Jane has been writing for online magazines and databases since 2002. Her articles have appeared on the Simon & Schuster website and she received an editor's choice award in 2009. She holds a Master of Arts in psychology of language use from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

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Advice on writing your Work Placement Report

Your placement report should be around 6000 words ( + 10%) in length. It should accurately reflect the work / activities that you have been directly involved with or contributed to. In situations where there is high confidentiality, a more generic review of the area may be necessary, and is acceptable. Always aim to get the report completed in good time; it may need to be vetted by the company before it is “released”. In the majority of placements the company will bear the costs of producing and copying the report (one for you, one for us, and at least one for the company); where this is not possible the Faculty will bear the cost (please contact the placement manager beforehand). Your report will be assessed (by your designated academic supervisor) on a Pass/Fail basis, using a simple assessment form.

The scope and style of reports can vary widely. It depends on three key factors: the report’s intended audience, the report’s purpose and the type of information to be communicated. It is likely however that your placement report will fall into one of two categories, namely (a) a Scientific Report, or (b) a Field Report.

Scientific Reports

Scientific reports (also called laboratory reports) are common in all the Sciences and Social Sciences. These reports use a standard scientific report format describing methods, results and conclusions to report upon an empirical investigation.

There are four major sections to a scientific report, sometimes known as IMRAD, Introduction, Methods, Results, And Discussion. Respectively, these sections structure your report to say “here’s the problem, here’s how I studied it, here’s what I found, and here’s what it means.” There are additional minor sections that precede or follow the major sections including the title, abstract, acknowledgements, references, and appendices. All sections are important, but at different stages to different readers. When flipping through a journal, a reader might read the title first, and if interested further then the abstract, then conclusions, and then if he or she is truly fascinated perhaps the entire paper. You have to convince the reader that what you have done is interesting and important by communicating appeal and content in all sections.

Title : Convey the essential point of the paper. Be precise, concise, and use key words. Avoid padding with phrases like “A study of …”.

Abstract Condense the whole paper into miniature form. A sentence or two summarizing each of the IMRAD sections should suffice. No new information, no supporting material, limited details, just the essential message that explains what you did and found out. Write this section last of all.

Introduction Introduce the problem, moving from the broader issues to your specific problem, finishing the section with the precise aims of the paper (key questions). Craft this section carefully, setting up your argument in logical order. Refer to relevant ideas/theories and related research by other authors. Answer the question “what is the problem and why is it important?”

Methods Explain how you studied the problem, which should follow logically from the aims. Depending on the kind of data, this section may contain subsections on experimental details, materials used, data collection/sources, analytical or statistical techniques employed, study area, etc. Provide enough detail for the reader to reproduce what you did. Include flowcharts, maps or tables if they aid clarity or brevity. Answer the question “what steps did I follow?” but do not include results yet.

Results Explain your actual findings, using subheadings to divide the section into logical parts, with the text addressing the study aims. Link your writing to figures and tables as you present the results. For each, describe and interpret what you see (you do the thinking, do not leave this to the reader). If you have many similar figures, select representative examples for brevity and put the rest in an appendix. Mention any uncertainty in measurement or calculation, and use an appropriate number of decimal places to reflect it. Make comments on the results as they are presented, but save broader generalizations and conclusions for later. Answer the question “what did I find out?”

Discussion Discuss the importance of what you found, in light of the overall study aims. Stand back from the details and synthesise what has (and has not) been learned about the problem, and what it all means. Say what you actually found, not what you hoped to find. Begin with specific comments and expand to more general issues. Recommend any improvements for further study. Answer the question “what is the significance of the research?”

Conclusions Restate the study aims or key questions and summarize your findings using clear, concise statements. Keep this section brief and to the point.

Acknowledgments This is an optional section. Thank people who directly contributed to the paper, by providing data, assisting with some part of the analysis, proofreading, typing, etc. It is not a dedication, so don’t thank Mom and Dad for bringing you into the world, or your roommate for making your coffee.

References Within the text, cite references by author and year, for example “Fry (1999) stated that …” or “several studies have found that x is greater than y (Fry 1999; Smith 1999).” For two authors, list both names, and for three or more use the abbreviation “e t al .”, for example “Fry and Smith (1999)” or “Fry et al . (1999).” Attribute every idea that is not your own to avoid plagiarism. In this reference section list alphabetically only the people and publications that you cited in the report. Provide sufficient detail to enable somebody to actually track down the information. List all authors for the “e t al .” publications. Follow a standard format such as the examples below, and note the distinctions regarding italics, capitalization, volume/page numbers, publisher address, etc. between the various kinds of references. Full information on the “Harvard Style of referencing” can be found at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/training/referencing/harvard.htm

• Personal (unpublished) communications Cited in the text only, e.g., “… x is greater than y (Fry 1999, pers. comm.).”
• Lecture Notes Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood. April 1 lecture, BIOC2120.
• Web Site Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood. Internet: <http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/bioc2120/fry.html>.
• Single Author Journal Paper Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood. Blood 5, 123-132.
• Multiple Author Journal Paper Fry, M., A.K. Smith and C.E. Jacks, 1999: Iron transport in the blood. Blood 5, 123-132.
• Book Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood . Star Publishers, London.
• Government/Technical Report Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood. Report A5002, Institute for HaematologyStudies, University of Leeds.
• Chapter in an Edited Volume Fry, M., 1999: Iron transport in the blood. In Smith, A.K. and Jacks, C.E., eds., Progress in Haematology . Star Publishers, London.

Appendix If necessary, one or more appendices containing raw data, figures not used in the body of the paper, sample calculations, etc. may be included. They are considered as additional material to the report, and may not be examined by the reader at all.

Field Reports

Field reports are common in disciplines such as Psychology, Nursing and Education, and might be applicable to placements in a “field setting”. For example, an SES student in a school sports setting, or a biology student in a conservation project. These types of reports require the student to analyse his or her observations of phenomena or events in the real world in light of theories studied in the course.

Since field reports are used to combine theory and practice, they involve both description and analysis. It is important to be aware of and avoid the most common student error when writing field reports of presenting description without any analysis of what has been described or observed.

Field reports usually consist of the following elements:

• Description – what you have seen or observed
• Analysis – strengths and weaknesses, reflection or evaluation of observations in light of theory and key concepts of your course or the broader context of your discipline.
• Appendix – information that supports your analysis but is not essential to its explanation i.e. full transcripts of observations, maps, logs, etc.

Field reports usually do not have a specific format; you may choose to have separate sections for the description and analysis parts of your report or to have paragraphs that combine these two types of writing , i.e. an event is described and then its theoretical significance is analysed.

While standard academic writing tends to be objective and impersonal, the language used in field reports can be simpler, more direct and personal. Personal pronouns such as I and we can be used. It may also be appropriate, depending on your task, to record your subjective impressions and feelings.

The function of field reports is to describe an observed person, place or event and to analyse that observation.

We all observe people, interactions and events in everyday life; however, your job when writing a field report is more structured. When writing a field report you need to:

• systematically observe and accurately record in detail the varying aspects of a situation;
• constantly analyse your observation for meaning (i.e. what’s going on here?, what does this mean?, what else does this relate to?);
• keep the report’s aims in mind while you are observing;
• consciously observe, record and analyse what you hear and see in the context of a theoretical framework.

Description Your audience has not witnessed the situation, people or event you are discussing; thus, their only knowledge of it will come from your description. Give them enough information to place the analysis that will follow into a context.

Analysis You have provided the reader with a description of the situation, people or events you observed. You also need to provide an evaluation what you have observed and let the reader know how these events and observations relate to theory, key concepts of your course or the broader context of your discipline.You should have kept in mind the theories and issues you encountered in your course when making your observations. Part of your task in analysis is to determine which observations are worthy of comment and evaluation, and which observations are more general in nature. It is your theoretical framework that allows you to make these decisions. You need to show that you are looking at the situation through the eyes of an informed viewer, not a lay person.

Be careful to base any evaluations or conclusions you make in your analysis on what you have observed. Do not manipulate what you have observed to fit into a predetermined theoretical framework. Consider questions such as:

• What is the meaning of what you have observed?
• Why do you think what you observed happened? What evidence do you have for your reasoning?
• What events or behaviours were typical or widespread? How were they distributed among categories of people?
• Do you see any connections or patterns in what you observed?
• Why did the people you observed do it that way? What are the implications of this? Do you agree with this method?
• Did the stated or implicit objectives of what you were observing match what was achieved?
• What were the relative merits of the behaviours you observed?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches you observed?
• Do you see connections between what you observed and the key concepts in your course and what you have read?
• How do your observations fit into the big picture of this topic area such as the whole education or justice system?
• Have you learnt anything from this?
• What education, research or professional value did you get from this field work?
• Did the allocation of resources impact on what you observed? e.g. were there too many children in the class, was the court list overcrowded?
• How have your observations changed your perceptions of the field and professional practice?

General Comments on Style

• After a full stop, a new sentence should be separated from the stop by two spaces. Word processors tacitly acknowledge this – if you put two spaces at the end of a line where one character would normally wrap, they “know” not to put a space at the beginning of the next line, and in any case your text looks much better.
• Punctuation marks such as commas, full stops, semi-colons etc should follow the preceding word without a space.
• There should be no spaces between brackets and the words they surround.
• Do not join grammatically unrelated ideas together with commas. It is preferable to use short sentences but if you write longer ones, join them together with conjunctions or make some clauses relative; semicolons are also useful.
• Start a new paragraph at the beginning of the line (do not tab or indent).Leave a blank line between paragraphs. Do not start a new line for a new sentence unless the break is natural (that is, the previous sentence finishes at the end of the previous line).Only press the return key when you want to start a new paragraph.
• Be aware of ‘non-breaking’ spaces or hyphens. They should be used when you want to prevent breaks round a line, for example in references, as above, or for initials and names. Press Ctrl-shift and the space bar or hyphen to achieve this in Word.
• Use the metric system of measurements. Abbreviations of units are used without a following period.
• Numbers should be written as numerals when they are greater than ten or when they are associated with measurements; for example, 6 mm or 2 g but two explanations of six factors. When one list includes numbers over and under ten, all numbers in the list may be expressed as numerals; for example, 17 sunfish, 13 bass, and 2 trout. Never start a sentence with numerals. Spell all numbers beginning sentences.
• Avoid using the first person, I or we, in writing. Keep your writing impersonal, in the third person. Instead of saying, “We weighed the frogs and put them in a glass jar,” write, “The frogs were weighed and put in a glass jar.” An exception to this can be made in some field reports.
• Avoid the use of slang and the overuse of contractions.
• Be consistent in the use of tense throughout a paragraph, do not switch between past and present. It is best to use past tense.

Some common errors of English usage

• Take care with “it’s” and “its”. Do not use an apostrophe when the meaning is “of it”, as in “Morphine is an opiate. Its main effects are….”. “It’s” is an abbreviation of “it is” as in “It’s incorrect to use abbreviations in formal text”.
• A related error is to introduce an apostrophe into plurals, or “plural’s” as some would say.
• Drug names do not begin with a capital letter unless they are trade names, e.g. aspirin and Panadol.
• The word “data” is a plural; hence “data are….” rather than “data is….”.Other plural words are: bacteria, media, criteria, phenomena.
• “Dependent” is an adjective, “dependant” is a noun.So responses are “concentration-dependent”, not “dependant”. A dependant is someone who depends on someone else, as young children are their parents’ dependants.
• “Lead” as a noun is the element (Pb), or possibly the strip of leather used to stop your dog escaping. The former is the only use in which this spelling is pronounced so as to rhyme with “red”. Errors are often seen in the use of this word as a verb. “Lead” is the present tense. The past tense is “led”; ie this word does not follow the same rule as “read”.
• Latin words or phrases such as “ in vivo, in vitro, in situ, et al , etc” should be in italics. Names of species should be in italics. The first word should have a capital letter but the second should not, and you may abbreviate the first letter after the first inclusion. For example: Homo sapiens , which can thereafter be written as H.sapiens ; Mycobacterium leprae , later written as M. leprae .
• Some words are frequently misspelled: occurred, protein, receive, noradrenaline, albumin, penicillin, parallel are examples.
• All sentences must have a verb.

• Help & FAQ

Writing case notes on placement

• Social Work
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Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Other

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T1 - Writing case notes on placement

AU - Lanyon, Anna

AU - Petrakis, Melissa

AU - Ross, Bella

PY - 2021/2/26

Y1 - 2021/2/26

N2 - This book will equip Social Work students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to produce first-rate written assignments. Part One focuses on the foundational skills needed to produce excellent written work. Students are taken through the core stages of working on an assignment, from planning the task and reading and note-making through to finding and evaluating sources, drafting a text, and editing and proofreading. Part Two hones in on the key types of assignment students will encounter on their degree. It contains dedicated chapters on writing an essay, a reflective text, a case study analysis, a literature review, a placement report, and case notes on placement. Each chapter contains examples and activities which will help students to test their knowledge and understanding.This is an essential companion for all Social Work students.

AB - This book will equip Social Work students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to produce first-rate written assignments. Part One focuses on the foundational skills needed to produce excellent written work. Students are taken through the core stages of working on an assignment, from planning the task and reading and note-making through to finding and evaluating sources, drafting a text, and editing and proofreading. Part Two hones in on the key types of assignment students will encounter on their degree. It contains dedicated chapters on writing an essay, a reflective text, a case study analysis, a literature review, a placement report, and case notes on placement. Each chapter contains examples and activities which will help students to test their knowledge and understanding.This is an essential companion for all Social Work students.

M3 - Chapter (Book)

SN - 9781352012224

T3 - Macmillan Study Skills

BT - Writing Skills for Social Work Students

A2 - Ross, Bella

PB - Red Globe Press

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Work Placement Report Essay

The final written report is an overview of your experiences within your work placement, which largely assesses the same skills as the learning logs you have been completing. It does however require more thinking about structure and a more holistic view of your experiences and the organization you have been working for.Work Placement Report Essay

You can write this either in a traditional essay format or as a more formal report with headings.

MY CHOSEN WORK PLACEMENT

I used to work in a primary school and worked as a family support worker. it  mainly involved helping parents who are struggling, working alongside social services and dealing with issues that put children at risk whether at school or at home.

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Be creative and create your own scenarios from the above to fulfill the required information

Some considerations are offered below regarding how to approach your report, and what to include. However, how you apply this will vary according to the nature of the organization you have been working for, and your role within it.

Everyone will have had a different and individual set of experiences. The crucial factors to include are critical reflection on your experiences, and tying your experiences in with relevant criminological theory and literature.Work Placement Report Essay

• Give some context to your work placement. What the placement was / is. Why you chose it. What was your previous experience of this work / organization? What are the criminological links (if they are not explicit)
• What did you hope to achieve from the work placement and the academic module, e.g. work experience, knowledge of a specific organization, knowledge of a specific offender group, research skills, critical thinking about work experience. If you are already working within the organization, think about what you hoped to gain and achieve from combining your academic studies and work through this module.
• Give some context to the organization you are working for. What are the organizations overall aims? What is its structure? What are the challenges? Bring in some academic literature or other data here.
• Discuss the client base of the organization? What are the challenges? What problems do these individuals face and does your organization adequately support them or exacerbate their circumstances? Use examples. Bring in academic literature here if possible.
• Describe your local workplace in terms of the specific location, characteristics of the local client group, the people you work with and who you are accountable to.
• Describe your specific duties. How clear were /are these? How connected are the local issues, and local activities, to the broader structural goals Work Placement Report Essay
• Describe your initial experiences – or initial reflections after starting the academic module. What were the key challenges for you in terms of developing skills and knowledge? How did you attend to address these?
• How did you adapt to the challenges and address any shortcoming in terms of knowledge and skills. Give further examples and tie in with literature if applicable.
• How did you/do you evaluate your performance and your activities? Don’t just think about achieving organizational targets, but also think about other measures. For example, feedback from service users and self-assessment.
• What are the main conclusions you have drawn from your experiences? About yourself, about the organization or about the experiences of user groups.

My job placement was at a primary school where I worked as a Family support worker. As a family support worker, most of my duties involved liaising with parents of students who were at risk in terms of their behaviour in school and/or at home. As a criminologist, I believe that prevention is a better strategy towards reducing criminal behaviour than punitive/reactive measures once the criminality has manifested. Most criminology academic studies believe that interventions done in earlier childhood have the potential of averting criminal behaviour further in life (Hahn et al., 2007).

One of the biggest contributing factors to criminal behaviour is poverty (Hooghe et al., 2011) and lack of adequate parenting (Unnever et al., 2006). The reason I chose to work with children in their formative years was that it would work towards preventing future criminal acts. By working with children, and their parents, I would be able to encourage them to stay in school which would improve their future job prospects and help them avoid poverty. Similarly, I believed that I could have a positive impact in the parenting skills of the parents I interacted with, which would work towards improving the standard of upbringing that the students in my school were having at home.Work Placement Report Essay

I did not have any past experience with working in school setting, although I had in the past worked as a volunteer counsellor for after-school child programs. I believe that this past experience, despite being on a semi-professional volunteer basis, had a big influence towards directing me to work in a setting that would put me in contact with at risk children.

Personal achievement goals for the work placement

As an important component of my learning experience, I had numerous personal goals in terms of what I wanted to achieve from my work placement. These objectives can be broadly divided into two categories: academic and work achievement goals. The academic achievement goals were more straightforward; firstly, the work placement was a qualification requirement for my academic qualification. This was a motivating factor for me, academically, as I always strive to do all that it takes to ensure that I succeed in all my educational requirements. Similarly, prior to the work placement, I had learnt a lot of theoretical concepts that should equip me in my future career. The work placement was a perfect opportunity to apply all that I had learnt in a ‘real-life’ setting which would aid in the learning process and further prepare and equip me for my future career.

Despite the academic requirements for the work placement, I was also conscious of my professional duties during my work placement. Especially conscious of the fact that I was working with children, I had to ensure that I had a positive impact in the lives of the students that I came into contact with professionally. I strove to act professionally, and to refer to my more experienced colleagues for guidance in instances where I was not sure of the strategies to apply. The most important thing was the welfare of the families that I came into contact with, and as such I was not afraid to consult the more experienced colleagues.

Despite it being a cliché, I do honestly believe that there are some aspects of every profession that cannot be learnt in a classroom setting (Knouse and Fontenot, 2008). A key learning objective that I had going into the work placement was to improve on this aspect. I believe that I now have better instincts in terms of learning how to deal with clients, particularly children, who generally pose a greater challenge in terms of communicating. I am able to gain the trust of those that I deal with in the field much faster, and my judgement in terms of selecting communication strategies in real time has significantly improved.Work Placement Report Essay

Organizational Profile

The organization that I worked for was a public primary school. The school had one main aim, to ensure that the enrolled students were adequately educated in order to succeed in future academic and professional endeavours. The primary function of the school was therefore to ensure that it has adequate resources, and qualified teaching personnel, to meet its educational obligations to the enrolled students. However, the school was conscious of the fact that other factors, not directly linked to the teaching/learning experience had an impact on their ability to meet their primary objective of imparting education to the enrolled students.

The most significant of these factors is the social welfare and living conditions that the students were faced with. As a school located in a largely impoverished location within an urban setting, most students were faced with difficult living conditions at home, which had an effect on their overall mental well being. It was therefore an organizational aim to identify students (and by extension, families) who may be at risk and try to effectively intervene. This was the role that I played as a family support worker attached to the school. The school’s organizational structure was fairly straightforward; the administration consisting of the head teacher and governing committee was in charge of making the final decisions concerning all aspects of the school’s running. The three main departments under the administrative leadership were the teaching staff, the social welfare section (where my role fell under) and the support staff.

The two main challenges that the organization had, within the context of my role, included:

• Ensuring cooperation between the social welfare and teaching departments

By design, within the school setting, the teaching staff is going to come into more direct contact with the students.Work Placement Report Essay The staff members dealing with the social welfare aspect of school life including those in my role and others taking ‘guidance and counseling’ roles depended on the teaching staff to recommend students whom they have observed to exhibit signs of being at risk for follow-up. A significant portion of the teaching staff was unenthusiastic in playing this role, and therefore we had difficulty in detecting at-risk students without the full cooperation of the teaching staff.

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• Adequate funding

Most of the funding received by any school will be primarily spent on activities directly linked to improving the teaching/learning process. Even funding from philanthropic individuals/organization was already earmarked to specific areas such as purchasing library books or hiring more teachers. The departments concerned with the social welfare of the students were significantly underfunded. Despite my presence being part of my learning experience, I was an integral part of the team due to the existing under staffing problem facing the school. This is a problem that affects most schools in the UK, particularly those in poorer neighbourhoods (Saltman, 2015).

Client Base Profile

While the primary client base that I was dealing with considered of students who had been determined to be ‘at risk’, there were different causes of the risk factor. In some cases, the risk factor concerned the student, in some cases the risk factor lay with the family and in some the risk factor concerned both the student and their family. Similarly, most of the cases were not easily categorized within one ‘risk factor’; there was a lot of overlapping in terms of the risk factor. The following categorization tries to simplify the profile of the clients that I came into contact with during my work placement as a family support worker.Work Placement Report Essay

• Students exhibiting aggressive anti-social behaviour

These were the most easily identifiable group as aggression in students was reported to the administration by the teaching staff and fellow members of the student body. My role, in such instances, was to determine the cause of the aggression and to determine how I, and my colleagues, could cooperate with the students’ families in order to curb these violent tendencies before they manifested later in life as criminal behaviour that could hurt someone.

• Students facing neglect at home

There were numerous causes of inadequate parental attention at home leading to neglect. In some instances, it was not the parent’s fault, especially for students who were being raised in single parent households where the sole parent had to work full time. In some cases, the parents were culpable to some extent especially in cases involving wilful neglect as well as alcohol and substance abuse.

• Mental health problems

Mental health issues could either affect the students and/or members of their families. This was a particularly hard client profile to deal with as most mental health problems are not easily reversed, and therefore our intervention strategies involved enabling those concerned on coping mechanisms (Wissow et al., 2008). It was particularly difficult to deal with students whose parents had mental health problems as at time it necessitated relocating them to foster homes and separating them from their parents.Work Placement Report Essay

• Substance Abuse

As with the mental health issue, substance abuse could involve either the family or the student. On a personal level, it was mostly difficult to be involved with a case where an 11 year old student was a habitual alcohol user due to parental neglect. Most of these categories were intersected; for example, parents who were alcohol or drug abusers generally neglected their children. Neglect could also be a contributing factor towards violent behaviour. Part of the challenge in this position was to determine the causation when two or more characteristics are identified within a single case.

Workplace Profile

The area which the school was located in can be accurately be defined as being a relatively impoverished urban center. Most of the students who attended the school lived in neighborhoods that could be classified as being ‘low income’. Most of them did not eat healthy meals on a regular basis and some depended on the school’s lunch program for their sustenance as they failed to be provided breakfast in their homes.

Alcohol and substance abuse was also another key element of the areas from which most of the ‘at risk’ students came from. Due to the cycle of poverty, most of the parents and/or older relatives were not gainfully employed, and most of them had succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse. This was a major concern for most of the students who I came into contact with in my professional capacity as most of them had been exposed to alcoholism and illegal drug use at their residences. Some had even begun experimenting with alcohol and other ‘lighter’ drugs such as cigarettes and marijuana.

As a trainee employee, I was assigned a senior mentor to guide me through my learning experience. My mentor was one of the senior family support workers who had a background as a social worker. She was the person that I directly reported to and who was present in all the activities that I undertook during my work placement. I consider myself to be lucky due to the dedication of my workplace supervisor. As an experienced social worker, I got to gain a lot of insight into the social work aspect of the profession that might not be covered adequately in my criminology course.Work Placement Report Essay

Specific Duties

Despite the numerous changes that the social welfare department at the school was facing particularly concerning chronic underfunding, the dedication of the staff was a key strength of the program. Of particular importance to the program was the academic diversity of the staff members. Three of the senior staffers were volunteers who had led successful professional lives before retiring and joining the program as volunteers (two were former lawyers and one worked in finance). The staff members that I trained under were all qualified and passionate about their work. Their vast experience in social work and in other professional endeavours in their past careers was very useful in terms of the organization having very clearly defined roles. Even my inclusion into the program as a trainee undertaking their work placement was anticipated and I was assigned a capable staff member to guide my learning process.

This high level of organization meant that all roles and duties were very well defined and supported (within the limits of their resources). Twice a week, on Monday and Thursday mornings, all the senior staffers met to discuss their caseloads and to determine how resources can be allocated (both financial and human resources) appropriately on a case by case basis. Some of the staffers were known to excel at certain cases (for example my mentor was particularly adept at dealing with students that were shy and withdrawn) and were therefore deployed where they would be most effective.

My role was to shadow my assigned mentor and provide her with support in terms of coming up with intervention strategies for the faces that we were assigned. Every day we had a meeting in the morning to discuss our case(s) and it was my primary duty to record the progress of all our cases to facilitate the learning process. The understaffing meant that I got to participate in a wide variety of cases as there wasn’t a sufficiently adequate staff for the staffers to get assigned exclusively to a certain type of case. Regardless of the diversity of cases that everyone worked on, each person had to have their strategy approved before it was implemented. This ensured that all intervention strategies were discussed by the whole group to take advantage of the collective knowledge and experience within the organization.Work Placement Report Essay

Reflection of Initial Experience

To the credit of the senior staffers that I was working with, my integration into the team was handled very professionally. I had previous experience with social work that involved children and young adults, which was one of the advantages that I had in terms of integrating into the team. However, one of the initial problems that I had was working with children and families that were not cooperative with our activities (Smith et al., 2012). In my past work with social services involving children, all the people we were dealing with had come to receive help from the organization that I was working with, with my work placement at the school, some of the cases we dealt with were faced with resistance from the students and/or their families. It took a while, and a lot of effort from my work mentor and her colleagues, for me to learn how to deal with clients that were reluctant (or even openly hostile) to participating in the process.

Another key challenge that I had getting into the work placement was the odd hours that we were involved with. Most of the students who were ‘at risk’ had parents who worked full time, and in some cases, the parent(s) worked more than one job. In terms of scheduling, sometimes we had to make late nigh appointments (sometimes as late as 10pm) in order to have the whole family at home for meetings.Work Placement Report Essay Apart from these two main challenges, my integration in to the team, and my learning experience, was greatly facilitated by the professionals that I came into contact with.

In terms of dealing with the challenges that I faced, the best way was to trust the professionals that I was working with, especially my mentor. The whole point of the work placement was to get the opportunity to learn from more experienced individuals in real-life settings. Generally, I consider myself to be a patient person, which was a vital asset towards learning how to deal with individuals/families that were hostile to participating in the process. Through watching the more experienced professionals, I learnt much concerning how to engage and earn the trust of someone who may be initially apprehensive about dealing with a social worker.

How I adapted to challenges and shortcomings in terms of knowledge and skills

• Trusting my mentors

While most of my academic knowledge involved criminology, the professional setting that I participated in my work placement was a primary school. This meant that most of the activities were more geared towards social world than in criminology. Within this setting, there were a lot of knowledge gaps in terms of my duties and my academic training.Work Placement Report Essay Therefore, the best strategy that I had to adapt to my professional setting was to trust the people that were more experienced that I was (Richard et al., 2009). I was never hesitant to ask questions in areas that I felt I was not well prepared for, and I was patient in terms of observing how they went about in their duties. Initially, I somewhat regretted working within the school setting as I never got to interact with ‘actual’ crime, but in hindsight, I am grateful that I was given the opportunity. As a result of working within young people, I have found greater appreciation of the preventative efforts made by social workers to arrest criminality before it manifests. Similarly, I believe that I am more well-rounded due to the experience that I gained doing social work and dealing with a wide range of clients.

• Reading up on new concepts

To supplement the knowledge that I gained from my mentors, I made sure that I read up on any new practices and concepts that I was introduced to in the course of my work placement. While observation allows you to see how to apply a certain strategy under specific circumstances, reading up on the concept would allow one to understand other settings where such an intervention can be applied. Therefore, through observation and additional research, I was able to bridge the knowledge and experience gap that I had coming into my work placement.

Performance Evaluation

The performance evaluation will be based on three metrics: organizational targets, feedback from users and self-assessment.

• Organizational targets

In terms of organizational targets, I am very confident that most of the cases that I participated in were satisfactorily handled. However, as I was assigned to a mentor, my role was mainly to learn and therefore most of the success of the cases was due to the knowledge and experience of my mentor. As my work placement occurred in a school setting, I was not allowed to make major decisions until my mentor was sure that I was well equipped to. Children are very sensitive and any mistakes could have long term effects on the overall welfare for the concerned child. Therefore, at least initially, my role was mainly observational. With time, I had the opportunity to participate in decision making but the final decision making power was vested in my mentor.Work Placement Report Essay

• Feedback from Users

I would say that generally, the feedback I got from users was positive. Particularly concerning children, I found that I was effective in terms of relating with them and earning their trust. I credit this to my past experience working with child focused social programs as a volunteer. One some of the cases where we interacted with families, I never got any negative feedback and in a few cases I got positive feedback from some of the parents concerning how I handled myself in the field

• Personal Self-Assessment

I believe that I particularly excelled in terms of using the work placement as a learning experience. I genuinely believe, with utmost objectivity, that I have developed professionally from participating in the work placement. Prior to working as a family support worker, I was very apprehensive about relating with clients who were much older than me. I was more comfortable working with children and young adults, but I was particularly intimidated with working with older clients.

However, after my experiences during the work placement, I am now more comfortable about working with older clients. I am able to maintain my professionalism while retaining a respectful demeanour. I am also more capable when handling clients who are not initially cooperative with the process. Based on my personal opinion, as well as the feedback that I got from my mentor and the other senior colleagues, I believe that I performed satisfactorily during my work placement.Work Placement Report Essay

As a learning experience, I believe that my work placement was a very successful exercise. One of the reasons that I chose to work at a school based social program as a family support worker us that I believe that proper interventions for at risk youth are an effective preventive measure to avoid future criminal behaviour. As a family support worker, my job entailed identifying students and/or families that had risk factors that could contribute to future criminal behaviour and implementing effective interventions. As a trainee, I was attached to a more experienced mentor in order to aid my learning process.

The program I was working for was very well run and organized, which significantly facilitated my learning process. Initially I was apprehensive about working in a school setting as most of the duties are based on social work and not criminality, but I believe that I benefited from working outside my comfort zone. I learnt a lot of how to gain the trust of participants that may be initially hostile to participating in the process, which I consider to be the highlight of my work placement experience.

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