Assessment of aspects and effects of field practice realization by students of social policy and social work

Abstract

Field practice is considered as an important part of academic education, but the researches of its aspects and effects are underrepresented. The paper is aimed at: examination of the representation of field practice aspects among undergraduate students of social politics and social work at the Faculty of Political Sciences - University of Belgrade (FPS-UB) and its effects on development of students' professional competencies, an analysis of differences between students of various academic years and an analysis of the association the effects of practice has with characteristics of work organization - teaching base and cooperation with mentors. Research was conducted by TPS1 questionnaire among 201 students within all four years of academic studies. About four-fifths off all questioned students gave positive answers on majority of aspects of cooperation with mentors, practice organization by FPS-UB and teaching base and practice effects, but there were also some deficiencies. Cooperation with mentors and teaching base organization of practice are highly associated with practice effects and both variables combined have independent impact on variance of practice effects. Findings are discussed in the lights of contemporary researches.

Terenska praksa je važan deo savremenog univerzitetskog obrazovanja, ali su istraživanja njenih aspekata i efekata nedovoljno zastupljena. Ciljevi rada su: analiza zastupljenosti aspekata terenske prakse i zadovoljstva ovim aspektima iz perspektive studenata osnovnih studija socijalne politike i socijalnog rada na Fakultetu političkih nauka Univerziteta u Beogradu (FPN-UB), njenih efekata na razvoj profesionalnih kompetencija studenata, razlika između studenata različitih studijskih godina i povezanosti efekata prakse sa karakteristikama radne organizacije (nastavne baze za praksu) i sa saradnjom sa mentorima. Istraživanje je sprovedeno upitnikom TPS1 među 201 studentom sa sve četiri godine studija. Oko četiri petine studenata je pozitivno ocenilo većinu aspekata saradnje sa mentorom, organizacije prakse od strane FPN-UB i nastavne baze i efekata prakse, ali su se pokazali i nedostaci. Saradnja sa mentorom i organizacija prakse u nastavnoj bazi visoko su povezane s efektima prakse i obe varijable daju nezavisan uticaj na varijansu efekata prakse. Nalazi su diskutovani u svetlu savremenih istraživanja.