Critical Thinking and Transformative Learning: Findings from a Pilot Study Examining Field Instructor Perspectives on Supporting Student Identity Transitions in Practice

Background and Purpose: Field Instructors (FIs) in social work education and practice play an important role in supporting students in traversing fluid, complex, and diverse personal and professional identities, as they take on professional social work roles during their transition from student-to-new practitioner; limited research has been done to understand how transformative learning unfolds in this context. There is debate whether CT and TL are desired processes and outcomes of social work field education, and there are tensions surrounding how transformation in the field occurs or not. In addition to these tensions and debates, neoliberalism continues to propel a crisis in field education with escalating demands for practica that necessitate support for FIs in their efforts to create space for students to learn, be challenged, and engage in CT and TL processes in intentional ways as they navigate shifting, complex, and diverse personal and professional identities in the practice milieu. Study objectives included 1) Identifying how FIs define, contextualize, and operationalize CT and TL in practice, 2) Identifying strategies used to facilitate CT and TL, and 3) Examining how FIs and students’ intersecting diversities (e.g., race, gender, class, etc.) impact shifting student identities toward professional competencies. Data analysis was completed via thematic analysis as detailed by Braun and Clarke (2006).

Methods: A qualitative pilot study was conducted, and a survey was administered using Qualtrics, sent via email to 200 employed social workers serving as FIs in a western Canadian context. A sample of twelve FIs (n=12) was obtained to identify how critical thinking (CT), transformative learning (TL), and student identity integrate in social work field education. Participants in the sample included BSW (63%) and MSW (36%) FIs; 36% of participants had 10-15 years experience in direct social work practice, while 81% had 0-10 years experience as FIs; 90% worked in direct social work practice.

Results: Key themes emerged and included Complexities of Critical Thinking; Transformative Learning—Reflexive and Contextual; Transformative Learning—Natural, Limiting, and Facilitating; Mechanisms supporting Critical Thinking, Transformative Learning and Deep Change; Challenges for Student-to-Professional Social Worker Identity Transitions; and Relational Accountability and Challenging Students as Catalysts for Change. Participants described close connections between supportive environments and quality supervision from FIs that positively supported student growth through both CT and TL processes in the field.

Conclusions and Implications: FIs discussed TL occurring along two key veins: 1) As a natural progression students go through as they navigate the complexities of the field experiences; and 2) Triggered by various challenges or disorienting dilemmas in the field which need to be understood and worked through with the support of FIs. Results of this pilot study provided valuable insights into how some FIs demonstrated support for students’ CT and TL and were valuable in supporting further funding to examine these concepts in a collaborative research project at a national level, across four Canadian provinces. How student identity is influenced in the field context is not fully understood; hence, this larger study will aim to elucidate these transitions more fully.