Student Assessment: Where Are We Now?

SUMMARY The assessment of student performance in field work placements during social work training has become an issue of increasing concern to all those connected with social work. This article outlines some major problems surrounding the issue, draws out of recent contributions some possible solutions to these problems and seeks to define areas in which further work needs to be done. In the autumn of 1979 Da vies published in Community Care three articles' on the assessment of social work students. Since their appearance these articles have provoked a variety of written responses, reflecting a range of reactions and including a number of constructive suggestions. In separate articles, Parsloe and Stevenson2 and Young3 have taken Davies to task over the conclusions he draws from the main research material he used. They have also challenged his wisdom in giving such prominence to the issue at a time when the social work profession has a shaky reputation and is under attack, and offered other views of the current state of assessment. A fe