Queensland University of Technology Learning to appreciate and critically analyse the multi-faceted nature of the practice environment and our own positioning within it can be challenging. The Practice Domain Framework is an empirically-based conceptual aid designed to assist social work and other social care practitioners with this process. The framework provides a map of the potential complexity of the practice environment and organises the influences on practice into eight domains: Societal, Structural, Organisational, Practice Field, Professional Practice, Accountable Practice, Community of Place, and Personal. The framework is underpinned by a social constructivist approach to understanding the nature of influence. It assists the user to identify direct and indirect influences on practice and consider the various narratives that are held regarding what should influence practice, the power dynamics between these narratives, and how their personal perspectives are situated amongst these. This presentation will provide an overview of the Practice Domain Framework and its uses in fostering critical thinking. Particular attention will be paid to the framework’s application as a tool to assist Field Educators in supporting social work and human service students develop skills in critical analysis and reflection, drawing on recent work with Field Educators in Queensland. 55 | Developing Resilient Social Workers: Messages from the Field Author/s: Erica Russ University of New England A common discourse used when educating social work professionals is the need to understand and develop strategies for self-care. This is prompted to counter the potential risk to students and professionals who experience stress, vicarious trauma and burnout through practice experiences. Despite a significant body of research which goes to these risks, it nonetheless indicates the majority of social workers do not succumb to these impacts but instead experience high job satisfaction. Self-care is important as social workers are exposed to complex and difficult circumstances and human distress when working. Yet, there is value in moving the discourse from an individualised, deficit-oriented focus on self-care to reduce risk, to one of developing a broader concept of resilience that is embedded within the organisational culture and which allows students and professionals to work through and overcome the adversity faced in practice. A recent study of child protection workers provides some key messages to inform the development of resilience from the early stages of practice, including field education, through to advanced practice situations.
112 | Placing Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Knowledge within an International Social Work Programme Author/s Margaret McKenzie-Davidson Polytechnic This paper discusses the contribution Aotearoa New Zealand based social work discourses of participatory child and family social work practices and the teaching of these can make to international social work programmes. It arises from my experiences as part of a small group of social work educators from ANZ, Australia and Norway teaching on an International Masters of Family Social Work at the University of Stavanger, Norway under the auspices of the Erasmus Mundus programme. This programme is a cooperation programme in higher education that aims to enhance the quality of European higher education and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through mobility and academic cooperation. I explore the contribution of Aotearoa New Zealand social work knowledge of participatory child and family social work practices to child welfare and the styles of teaching these concepts we use with regard to how these challenge the dominant discourses of child protection social work practices and teaching internationally. Includes discussion of the groups identification of key elements and practices for participatory co-constructed social work in child welfare-social welfare from an ANZ perspective and how these can be used and applied for effective family social work in other national contexts. 113 | Success for Pasifika Students at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Author/s: Jay Ikiua Te Wananga o Aotearoa The purpose of this paper is to explore the achievement of Pasifika success to date at Te Wānanga of Aotearoa (TWoA). This paper therefore examines Ngā Ūara - Values and Ngā takepū – Principles of TWoA, including its bicultural framework on the educational delivery of the Bachelor of Bicultural Social Work degree (BBSW) to Pasifika students. In particular, it asks “how are Pasifika methods of inquiry sustained in a Māori organisation such as TWoA?” The innovative practices of TWoA away from and as the ANZSWWER conference theme suggests, ‘dominant discourse.’ The dominant discourse at TWoA is Kaupapa Māori (rightfully so). However, many of the seats are occupied by Pasifika students.