My Teaching Philosophy
Hello! Welcome to my e-portfolio! I’m a Senior Lecturer Social Work and the Academic Program Director of the Masters of Social Work (Qualifying) at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Through navigating this website you’ll be able to explore how I’ve dedicated myself in my academic career to scholarship in teaching & learning. Enjoy!
Welcome to my Continued Professional Development (Level 3) e-portfolio! I welcome this opportunity to share my teaching philosophy with you and to demonstrate how I have sustained teaching and learning scholarship across my academic career. Before I begin, I would like to humbly acknowledge the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples that have come before us, educating their peoples and communities in their traditional ways of knowing, being and doing. I acknowledge the Dharawal, Yuin, Gandangara and the Eora peoples as the traditional custodians of the land on which my teaching and learning takes place, and I pay my respect to the Elders, past and present and future. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the deeply held commitment that the social work profession has to work in true and authentic partnership with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples & communities, whether that be in practice, research or education.
When I consider the role that teaching has held for me across my career, it has been a constant source of inspiration. Although I trained as a social work practitioner, I always found a way to incorporate teaching into any practice job I held. Prior to entering into academia this included hosting and training social work students, running professional development workshops with nurses or allied health professionals, and training community groups and community leaders. I always felt a deep satisfaction from this work but it was entering academia that allowed me to start to articulate why this was, and what possible impact my scholarship in teaching and learning could have. In social work education students undertake a mandatory field education component, an opportunity to put into practice the theoretical components of the degree and, for the first time, be a social worker (Bowles, et al., 2020). However, having had my own experiences of field placements, I was left with many questions regarding the often siloed teaching of theoretical and practice teaching, rather than the potential integrating of the two, otherwise known as practice-based learning. In addition, having undertaken in my final year an international field placement in Sweden I was left questioning the transferability of practice skills in an international context. Universal social work, and the internationalisation and globalisation of social work education, had been hotly debated in the profession (Gray & Fook, 2004), and I too queried the premise of this argument. Was it not to our, and our clients, detriment to train social workers to cross borders without a critical, and both global and local, perspective? As a social work education community, did we not have an obligation to consider the student experience, or student identity (Fox, 2017), when designing internationalised study experiences, and therefore the potential impact they may have on the community to which they are bound? These questions led me to my PhD thesis which explored the international field placement experience, seeking to embed a critical perspective in what was swiftly becoming a commodified student engagement activity. In doing so I found myself embarking on a learning journey which embodied three core principles that have come to dominate my teaching philosophy: the importance of lived experience in the educational space, the development and cultivation of lifelong learning, and an emphasis on embodied learning, or learning by doing.
The importance of lived experience in the educational space
Up until we launched the Masters of Social Work (Qualifying) at the University of Wollongong in 2018 my teaching experience had all been in undergraduate programs. Although students in those degrees had a substantial amount of diversity, the numbers of students who were mature aged were minimal and most students were often school leavers with little prior work, or other, experience. Through designing and teaching the MSW(Q) field education program, as well as a number of core theory and practice subject curriculum, I was able to gain expertise in working with a different cohort of students. This postgraduate cohort of students largely have experience in the health and welfare sector, and often come into social work education with their own lived experiences that parallel the client or service user experience that they are learning about. This involves high levels of mental health experience, high levels of caring responsibilities, and high levels of educational need either through studying as an international student or through having had non-linear educational experiences in their past. In the social work profession, we call these experiences the students carry with them their lived experience, and it is understood that in social work education we are often training vulnerable people to work with vulnerable peoples.
Lived experience is understood as having had direct, or personal, experience of a phenomenon. However in the educational space, lived experience is often spoken about in relation to who you are learning about. In social work education this is traditionally understood as the clients, service users, or communities with which we work. The importance of prior student experience and educator experience before entering the classroom has become more and more realised as having an impact on the student’s learning trajectory. Research discussing the social work student’s experience of socio-economic hardship throughout their studies (Gair & Baglow, 2018a), the need for students to see diversity reflected in the classroom (Deepak, Rountree & Scott, 2015), and the need to be understood as an individual amongst many (Gair & Baglow, 2018b), has left me with an understanding that the culture of respecting lived experience in the profession starts with me in the classroom. I, in turn, also carry with me lived experience stemming from my own educational history, both as a student and as an educator (Fox & Wayland, 2020). Friere and Foucault speak of overt power dynamics in the classroom setting, the perpetuation of a hierarchical relationship between the student and teacher where education is passed between them as a commodity (Freire, 1970/2017). By acknowledging my position of power at the front of the class I am acknowledging my role in setting the educational agenda (Foucault, 1980), the onus therefore being on me to create and foster a safe space for students to build on their prior experiences before entering the classroom. By viewing the teaching and learning space in this way I can understand dialogue and debate in the classroom as vital in the pursuit of social justice learning (Bhuyan, Bejan & Jeyapal, 2017), and I am able to see the presence of curious questioning as non-threatening, as well as a teaching and learning goal in itself.
The development and cultivation of lifelong learning
Coming from a position that recognises lived experience in the classroom I can then understand the classroom as not being the pinnacle of a student’s learning experience, rather an impetus for an ongoing learning process. In social work we enshrine ongoing professional development in structural processes such as the provision of clinical supervision and the importance of critical reflection and reflexivity (Watts, 2021), however despite being taught these tools to benefit their future careers, this often means that when a student ends their social work training they are considered by the profession “educated”, able to enter the profession and effectively be at the end of their development. The impact of this is that professional, or lifelong learning, is often then relegated to the agencies in which social workers practice, and the government, non-government and private sectors which employ them. This becomes problematic due to funding constraints in the community sector limiting professional development opportunities for staff (Gilchrist, Colleran, & Morris, 2010).
There is an alternate perspective that I have embraced across my academic career which places lifelong learning as central to the educational paradigm (Fouche & Martindale, 2011). Through this position I am able to understand the importance of bringing the workplace into the classroom, and vice-versa students into the workplace, a practice I have embraced over the years. Coming from a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) framework (Hay, 2020), I have actively pursued ensuring not only the engagement of students in formal, mandatory field placement opportunities, but that they have been exposed intimately to the workforce in the classroom setting, allowing them to engage as equals in dialogue and critical enquiry. An example of this is in the workforce partnership approach I have applied to classroom based teaching (Fox, M. In print). The current Covid-19 pandemic has provided challenges to how social work education is traditionally delivered, however it has also provided opportunities. Through my scholarship regarding podcasting as pedagogy I have been able to actively pursue a WIL agenda that incorporates an interdisciplinary and relational approach to remote learning, an approach that builds on student’s lived experience whilst allowing for flexible skill development (Fox, et al., 2021)
An emphasis on embodied learning, or learning by doing
Finally, through embracing the centring of lived experience and lifelong learning I have been able to develop expertise in practice-based learning, an embodied educational experience whereby learning is achieved through the act of doing. Practice-based learning is central to my approach to social work education and stems from the rich history that is experiential learning (Kolb, 2015), the use of simulated teaching and learning activities and assessment (Bogo, et al., 2014), and practice theory (Hopwood, et al., 2016). I have been fortunate to be mentored by extraordinary social work educators throughout my career and since arriving at the University of Wollongong was part of the founding team setting up the social work simulation laboratories in both the Bachelor of Social Work and Masters of Social Work (Qualifying). I have developed teaching and learning curriculum that incorporated both WIL and simulation into practice-based learning subjects, working within a framework articulated by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW, 2021), and positioned centrally within the teaching philosophy here at UOW. My capacity to work at a national level in this practice-based learning space is cemented by my role on the ANZSWWER (Australia New Zealand Social Work & Welfare Education & Research) Committee of Management, and in my role as Chief Editor of the ANZSWWER Journal, Advances in Social Work & Welfare Education (http://journal.anzswwer.org/). In these capacities I am able to provide consultation to the National Accreditation Standards for all social work programs across Australia, as well as to pursue an agenda articulating the use of podcasting in social work education and practice. This work is ongoing and being extended further in a forthcoming book to be published in 2023, Podcasting in Social Work Education: Pedagogy and Practice (Fox & Singer, forthcoming).
In 2021 I was invited on to the Social Work Discoveries Podcast to discuss my teaching philosophy, my approach to researching the field of social work education and the field of podcasting pedagogy. This episode has received one of the highest levels of international downloads for the Social Work Discoveries Podcast, providing a platform for me to communicate and disseminate the impact of my work.
Have a listen to this interview here!
Looking forward, my scholarship in teaching and learning continues to be focused on practice-based learning expertise, centring the student and future practitioner in pedagogy. My leadership in teaching and learning therefore is focused on developing capacity for future social work educators. I am actively pursuing this aim in the School of Health & Society and through the collaboration that is Social Work Media, an educational resource and podcast production platform, specialising in workforce resources for education and industry. To demonstrate this commitment to ongoing capacity building Social Work Media is launching a new podcast in 2023, Social Work Teach, a podcast that speaks directly to the practice of social work education.
I hope you enjoy perusing my e-portfolio and delving into my contributions to teaching and learning in social work education. At the top of the portfolio you will see three tabs: Podcasting Scholarship, Practice-Based Learning, and National Scholarly Contribution. In each tab you will be able to discover my key contributions in each area, see evidence of a sustained body of scholarship and national and international impact, and understand how each body of evidence aligns with the CPD (L&T) Framework.
Dr Mim Fox
References
AASW, 2021. Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards, Australian Association of Social Workers, https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/13629
Bhuyan, R., Bejan, R. & Jeyapal, D. 2017. Social workers’ perspectives on social justice in social work education: when mainstreaming social justice masks structural inequalities, Social Work Education, 36:4, 373-390, DOI: 10.1080/02615479.2017.1298741
Bogo, M., Rawlings, M., Katz, E., & Logie, C. 2014. Using simulation in assessment and teaching: OSCE adapted for social work. Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education.
Bowles, W., Fox, M., Short, M. & Waugh, F. 2020. Collaboration in social work field education. In “Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations in Social Work Field Education”, Rollins, W., Egan, R. & Hill, N. (Eds.), Routledge: 138-149.
Deepak, A.C., Rountree, M.A. & Scott, J. 2015 Delivering Diversity and Social Justice in Social Work Education: The Power of Context, Journal of Progressive Human Services, 26:2, 107-125, DOI: 10.1080/10428232.2015.1017909
Foucault, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge: selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Brighton: Harvester Press.
Fouche, C. & Martindale, K. 2011. Work-life balance: Practitioner well-being in the social work education curriculum. Social Work Education, 30(6): 675-685.
Fox, M. (In print). A community of practice-educators as self-care: a sustainable strategy for both academic and practitioners alike. In N. Lemon (Ed.), Reflections on Valuing Wellbeing in Higher Education: Reforming our Acts of Self-care, Routledge.
Fox, M. 2017. The international field placement: a reconciliation of identity. Social Work Education, 36(5): 495-507.
Fox, M., McHugh, S., Thomas, D., Kiefel-Johnson, F. & Joseph, B. 2021. Bringing together podcasting, social work field education and learning about practice with Aboriginal peoples and communities, Social Work Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2021.1972963.
Fox, M. & Singer, J. Forthcoming. Podcasting in Social Work Education: Pedagogy and Practice, Routledge.
Fox, M. & Wayland, S. 2020. When you become the lived experience: the journey backwards from academia, Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 32(2): 32-36, https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol32iss2id739
Freire, P. 1970/2017. Pedagogy of the oppressed. M. Bergman Ramos (trans.). Penguin Classics.
Gair, S. & Baglow, L. 2018a. Australian Social Work Students Balancing Study, Work, and Field Placement: Seeing it Like it Is, Australian Social Work, 71:1, 46-57, DOI: 10.1080/0312407X.2017.1377741
Gair, S., & Baglow, L. 2018b. Social justice in a tertiary education context: Do we practice what we preach?. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 13(3), 207-216.
Gilchrist, D. J., Colleran, N., & Morris, C. L. 2010. Staff retention factors in the non-profit sector: an examination of a West Australian community organisation. Third Sector Review, 16(3), 43-61.
Gray, M. & Fook, J. 2004. The quest for a universal social work: some issues and implications, Social Work Education, 23:5, 625-644, DOI: 10.1080/0261547042000252334
Hay, K. 2020. What Is Quality Work-Integrated Learning? Social Work Tertiary Educator Perspectives. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 21(1), 51-61.
Hopwood, N., Rooney, D., Boud, D., & Kelly, M. 2016. Simulation in higher education: A sociomaterial view. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 48(2), 165-178.
Kolb, D.A. 2015. Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning & development, Second Edition, Pearson Education Inc.
Watts, 2021. Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes About Reflective Practice in Australian Social Work Education and Practice, Australian Social Work, DOI:10.1080/0312407X.2021.1874031