Caring as a Female Concern’
Social Work Students’ Choices within the Boundaries of care
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10894735 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Fiona Cowan (Former SW Honours Student, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia), Kim Robinson (0000-0002-9256-2750, Deakin University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 3964-3982 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal of Social Work (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-3102 • E-ISSN: 1468-263X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjsw/bcad133 |
| OpenAlex | W4377157912 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 20 |
Australian social work university cohorts are increasingly made up of female, mature-aged students. The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) mandates a requirement of 1,000 h of unpaid field education across two placements, with full-time attendance as the norm. There is a growing body of research that suggests students experience financial, social, emotional and psychological stress during lengthy unpaid field placements. Yet little is currently known about the impacts specific to female students who have caring responsibilities at the time of their placement. In response, this initial Honours research conducted by a student with this lived experience explored the experiences of fifteen female social work students who had caring responsibilities at the time of their field placements. The analysis was situated in a feminist paradigm and generated five themes from the student responses, and this article focuses on one theme, ‘caring as a female concern’. The findings suggest that mature aged female students who juggle caring responsibilities, unpaid placement and other life responsibilities are particularly disadvantaged at the time of field placement, to the detriment of their own and their families’ financial, social, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. It calls for urgent changes to the AASW accreditation standards
Accreditation · Attendance · Disadvantaged · Medical education · Norm (philosophy) · Pedagogy · Political science · Situated · Sociology · Theme (computing) · Gender Studies · Interprofessional Education and Collaboration · Medicine · Psychology · Research in Social Sciences · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work
Gender differences in unpaid care work and psychological distress in the UK Covid-19 lockdown
From crisis to opportunity? Innovations in Australian social work field education during the Covid-19 global pandemic
Partnership working in the face of a pandemic crisis impacting on social work placement provision in England
Lengthy unpaid placements in social work
Feminist social work pedagogy
My children… think it’s cool that Mum is a uni student
Gender
Social work students’ professional and personal exposure to social work
Making Gender Visible
Students' Experiences of University and an Australian Social Work Program
Mature-aged Social Work Students
Social Work Students’ Experiences of Ethical Difficulties in Field Placements
Global standards for social work education and training
Using thematic analysis in psychology
A Look in the Mirror
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |