Social work field education in the United Arab Emirates: Emerging standards,opportunities,and challenges

Field education internationally

Field education is the portion of a student’s education where they have the opportunity to practice their social work competence within a practice setting (Tanga, 2013). Field education is also referred to as field placements, and/or practicums and defined by Bogo (2010) as ‘learning through delivering a social work service in a practice setting under the tutelage of an experienced social worker’ (p. 13). It ideally includes an onsite social work field instructor, who can provide guidance to the student, and assist them in integrating theory with practice (Bogo, 2010). Assessment methods, evaluation, and a faculty liaison or advisor also assist students in integrating practice experience with theoretical knowledge. Perhaps the most salient global commonality of field education is the recognition of its critical importance to social work education (CSWE, 2022; IASSW and IFSW, 2020). Yet environmental factors can impede its influence, particularly structure such as practice sites, number of hours students are required to attend, and supervision.

Time spent in field education varies across regions and countries (Bogo et al., 2016). In countries with established accreditation bodies, minimum field hour requirements are often codified. For example, in the United States, accreditation standards outline a minimum of 400 hours at the bachelor’s level (BSW) and 900 hours at the master’s level (MSW) (CSWE, 2022). Canada is similar and has requirements of 700 hours at the BSW and 900 at the MSW (Canadian Association of Social Work Education, 2021). Cai et al. (2018) point out that the Chinese Association for Social Work Education currently follows the US competency model and accreditation standards, and requires a minimum of 800 hours for the MSW degree. These requirements can be contrasted with Australia and the United Kingdom, where students complete their field requirements at the bachelor’s level unless they are admitted to an MSW program with a non-social work bachelor’s degree. Thus, in Australia, BSW students are required to complete 1000 clock hours of field education (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, 2021). Similarly, Baikady et al. (2014) explain that India has not established a minimum number of hours for field education although on average students attend field two or three days per week. Yet the resources available to programs can impact the structure and quality of training.

Limited sources and placements for field education are consistent issues across the globe, and social work programs are experiencing difficulties in meeting the demands for high-quality placements (Bogo, 2010; Cleak and Zuchowski, 2020). A sharp uptake in social work program development is impacting China due to governmental goals of increasing the numbers of social workers yet programs must also contend with an underdeveloped social service infrastructure which impacts where field education takes place (Cai et al., 2018). In Lesotho and Papua New Guinea, problems of limited social service agencies, an increasing number of students, and lack of faculty are compounded by a lack of infrastructure to guide the development of a field education structure (Flynn et al., 2014; Tanga, 2013). In a broader study of Southern and East Africa and the implementation of developmental social work approaches, Gray et al. (2017) noted challenges in locating placements in part due to limited numbers of placements and competition among higher education institutions for these placement sites.

Citing neoliberal policy trends, Canada, Australia, and England are among countries where the social service sector is facing issues of increased and complex caseloads, funding cutbacks, and increased accountability measures which adversely impact the availability of placements and placement supervision (Ayala et al., 2018; Caffrey and Fruin, 2018; Zuchowski et al., 2019). These complexities are exacerbated by increased student enrollment, and competition among higher education providers (Ayala et al., 2018). In the United States, Phillips et al. (2018) point to similar issues impacting clinical field placements such as increased numbers of clients, clients with complex issues coupled with staff reductions and budget cutbacks which limit the ability of field instructors to provide supervision. Institutional requirements, national, and international standards also produce tensions, particularly when the expectations do not align with the realities of specific contexts or when standards are missing that could assist programs in developing field education expectations. Programs in countries with established field standards are often constrained by the number of hours, locations and supervision requirements, which make ensuring quality field experiences for students challenging (Ayala et al., 2018; Zuchowski et al., 2019). As Gray (2005) opines, standardization can inhibit the ability of social work practice to respond effectively to local community needs.

A lack of professional bodies and country wide standards creates a different set of challenges, and in the context of Lesotho, are described by Tanga (2013) as insurmountable. Inherent dangers of perpetuating colonialism through the wholesale adoption of standards from the Global North by countries in the Global South underscore the need for countries to create their own standards and structures that are culturally and contextually relevant (Sewpaul and Lombard, 2004). Ibrahim (2017) provides a salient example and explains that social work education at Middle East universities and among Arab Gulf states is attempting to balance international social work education standards with Islamic cultural values but is constrained in part due to lack of professional social work associations that could provide such leadership.

Social work and field education: Gulf corporation countries (GCC)

Social work education was first introduced in Egypt during the 1930s, and by the 1960s, began to spread throughout the Middle East region including the oil-rich countries of the GCC (Holtzhausen, 2010). Sloan et al. (2017) calculate the number of current GCC social work education programs as 12 BSW programs: 6 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), 3 in the UAE, and 1 each in Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. Two graduate social work programs include one in KSA and one in the UAE (p. 201).

Although there is a diverse range of GCC social resources, programs, social benefits, and services that have developed to meet the welfare needs of citizens, social work is curtailed by a lack of infrastructure and lack of professional social workers (Sloan et al., 2017). Social work education is further constrained by limited regional social work literature, research, and textbooks, a lack of national and/or regional social work accreditation bodies, and a lack of professional social work organizations (Alkaabi, 2016; Megahead, 2017).

While there is a dearth of literature related to field placements and/or practicums in the GCC, Alkaabi (2016) describes the implications of the above constraints for social work field placements in Qatar. A lack of qualified social workers, the university’s limited ability to provide training for supervisors, and issues locating placement all create obstacles for students to meet learning outcomes (Alkaabi, 2016). Abu-Sarhan and Tedam (2021) concur and note the negative impact of the lack of qualified social work supervisors on student learning outcomes in the UAE.

Case study rationale

A case study approach was used to explore and describe field education phenomena and issues within the UAE context to gain an in-depth understanding (Yin, 2018). This study used a comparative approach to highlight differences in field structure and field approaches between the two universities in the UAE that offer social work programs, and to understand the implications of these differences.

Background and context

An Arabian Gulf country, the UAE is a federation of seven states or hereditary monarchies referred to as emirates (Kamal, 2018). Currently, there are two institutions providing social work education in the UAE: Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). The UAEU is a federal university, which delivers social work education at both the Bachelor and Master’s levels. The field requirements for the BSW is 400 hours total, and includes 200 days each for two practicum courses. The definition of 400 hours is loosely defined as it is dependent on the host organization such as the schools, hospitals and government ministries. In addition, lost practicum days arising from Ramadan and other national holidays are not required to be made up. Given the centrality of the Islamic faith, considering an e-learning package to support students to ‘make up’ for the missed days in practicum due to religious observances could be advisable. It is also possible that with licensing will come the need to ensure practicum days are met to enable graduates to be able to become licensed (Abu-Sarhan and Tedam, 2021). The concurrent mode of field education is an integrated approach whereby students attend practicum and take university-based courses alongside. Students attend practicum 4 days a week and university courses are delivered after 2 pm to enable those on practicum to engage. This provides useful opportunities for students to remain connected to the University during this crucial stage of their training.

HCT is a federal institution, which operates a multi-site social work program in the Emirates of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, providing a Bachelor in Social Work Degree. The field requirements for the BSW program are 740 hours in total. During their first field experience, students complete 240 hours in a child protection field setting, as prior to 2021 students were able to exit the program with a Child Protection Diploma. Students will complete 120 hours during their second field education course, and 360 hours during the third field education courses in various private and government organizations. The completion of 740 hours depends on an organization’s willingness to accept students and to allow them to work at least 6 hours per day. The students lose some hours due to national holidays, sickness, time restrictions, and Ramadan and are not able to make up for the missed hours. Recently, updates to the social work field education courses included additional projects in lieu of missed site attendance such as a meaningful project (example provided in recommendations section), presentations, and problem-based case studies (HCT, 2022).

HCT field education also uses an integration model in which field education is dispersed through three different semesters, and students simultaneously are enrolled in other courses. Students attend their first and second practicums 2 days a week and university courses are delivered on the three remaining days. If completed during the summer, the students will attend 5 days a week. The third practicum course is delivered 4 days a week during fall and spring semesters and 5 days a week during the summer.

The disparity in practicum hours between HCT and UAEU is notable with HCT requiring 340 hours more than UAEU at Bachelor’s level. Indeed, it has only been at the time of undertaking this research that this has become apparent to the authors from the two institutions. At HCT, students undertake practicums at the end of their sophomore year (second year), after their junior year (3rd year), and during their last semester as a senior (fourth year). However, at UAEU, students undertake practicum in their senior year (4th year) in the fall semester (Practicum 1) and in the spring semester (Practicum 2). Students at UAEU shared their concerns about practicum being so far removed from when they studied their practice related courses and this is what a new practice development forum (PDF) was designed to address (Tedam et al., 2021). The PDF provided a safe and nurturing space where social work students were able to ‘discuss practice and ethical issues in an open, honest and informed way’ (p. 434) with an overall aim of enhancing practice effectiveness through collaborative learning. The PDF was particularly useful for students whose practicum supervisors were not qualified social workers and who were reported to not always be able to offer appropriate supervision.

UAE developments

UAE developments that support social work education, field education, and practice include regulatory processes such as licensing and licensure exams. At present, licensing will only be enforced in two of the seven emirates, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as licensing is contingent upon the emirate. The two departments that oversee licensure in these emirates, the UAE Community Development Authority (CDA, 2020) and the Department of Community Development (DCD), provide the following guidelines: only students who hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work will qualify to take the licensure exam in the UAE (DCD, 2020c). New graduates from the UAE will undergo supervision for a minimum of one year prior to taking the licensure exam (DCD, 2020c). This is a process which exists in England and is called the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) (Skills for Care, 2019), where a newly qualified social worker (NQSW) is supported by a mentor and further assessed as competent to practice after 12 months. During this time, the ASYE candidate is given a low caseload and continues to attend learning activities to enhance their professional practice. It is not mandatory and social workers completing their ASYE can apply for registration, a regulatory process similar to licensure (Skills for Care (2019). Licensure once enforced throughout the UAE has the potential to elevate the social work profession as it is an emerging profession as evidenced by the recent enactment of the Child Protection Law in 2016 (Staff Reporter, 2016).

Continuing education and supervision requirements have also been established to support the licensing of social work professionals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the emirate of Sharjah is in the process of developing licensure and licensure related processes (CDA, 2020; DCD, 2020b; Sharjah Social Services Department, n.d.). The remaining four emirates have not yet formally established a social work and/or social care licensure process.

Related to regulatory processes and licensure are ethical codes, which are still being developed in some emirates and missing in others. In the emirate of Sharjah, for example, HCT social work faculty are currently working in a multi-disciplinary committee formed by the Sharjah government’s Social Services Department and developing the emirate’s Code of Ethics for social professions. Abu Dhabi’s Department of Community Development (DCD, 2020a) recently developed a Code of Conduct and Ethics for Social Care Professionals. It provides guidance for licensed social workers; however, it is a generic code of ethics that covers all social care disciplines and not social work specifically (Tedam et al., 2022). The situation is similar in the emirate of Dubai. The codes are written broadly to cover ethical concerns common to most helping professions and may offer limited guidance for more specific social work-related ethical dilemmas. None of the emirates has developed a code of ethics specific to social work.

Issues

Implications for student learning

A key component of field education is the opportunity to practice social work knowledge, skills, and values in a practice setting, yet field practice can be negatively impacted by weak comprehension and engagement in social work theory courses. Having final exams with a higher weighted percentage in theoretical courses can potentially cause obstacles for student comprehension and understanding of practice applications. In addition, this approach relies heavily on recall knowledge, performance-based declarative written work.

Other issues include aforementioned EMI learning environments. At HCT all courses are taught in English to include verbal and written instruction. This can hinder students in field education where written communication is in Arabic. Even though English is the unifying language in the UAE, many employees may only speak and write in Arabic. Interestingly at UAEU, the social work program moved from delivery in Arabic to English in 2003. With the program internationally accredited since July 2022, it is unlikely that taught courses will revert to being delivered in Arabic, although that could be a pragmatic and useful strategy from a student and client-centered perspective. Potential alternatives to solely English curriculums could include providing targeted courses in Arabic such as field seminars and practice courses. If the instructor is a monolingual English speaker, pair them with Emirati faculty for linguistic and cultural support (Wagner, 2021). First language key terms could also be embedded in digital materials and/or hyperlinked to Arabic translation (Wagner, 2021).

Implications for university field structures

Globally, social work programs are struggling to accommodate and place students in contexts where hour requirements are high (Ayala et al., 2018; Cleak and Zuchowski, 2020). The activities carried out within these ‘hours’ are an important consideration particularly when there is a rigid interpretation. Petra et al. (2020) argues that there is no empirical evidence about the number of hours students need to develop professional competence in social work. Their study found that on balance, BSW students were not disadvantaged by reduction of practicum hours by one week, unlike supervisors of MSW students who noted disadvantage to students after a reduction of practicum hours. Tanga (2013) concurs with a caveat that a minimum duration of training might be suggested globally, so qualifications from country to country are comparable. Thus, rather than a focus on hours, identifying realistic and contextually appropriate standards for field education is where the emphasis should lie. This also has implications for planning, program development, resources, and capacity.

Fortunately, HCT workforce planning is conducted the semester prior so resources and capacity can be approved. If the courses are planned accordingly, then the students will be placed in a manner to complete their field education hours and receive the maximum amount of field education practice. Problems arise when students are off sequence and can lead to a high number of students being placed in a given semester. Due to the low number of field education sites and qualified field supervisors, all students might not get placed.

An issue at both institutions is academic advising. Academic advising could potentially reduce issues before they become bigger problems for students, but faculty have advising loads anywhere between 30 and 70 students due to the high student–faculty ratio.

Faculty at the UAEU, in addition to teaching, have administrative duties which include providing additional individual support to students through tutorials, department and university wide committee membership, community service, student advising while also being expected to develop research and scholarly activity. Likewise, faculty at HCT have administrative duties in addition to teaching which leaves little time for applied research. However, avenues being explored at HCT include grants and the use of interdisciplinary research groups to meet research requirements.

Implications for field instructors

There are no courses or training requirements for UAE social work field instructors, consequently the ones used by UAEU offer management type supervision with little focus on social work theories, models, and methods. This is in direct contradiction to what exists in the United Kingdom where field instructors must be social work qualified and registered and have undertaken a 1- to 2-year Post Graduate Certificate in Practice Education. Social workers undertaking this course are required to work alongside a student and must themselves have an allocated mentor to support and guide their learning and development.

The requirements from the UAEU international accrediting body for the BSW field education program are robust and require field supervisors and University faculty who oversee practicum to be qualified social workers with at least 2 years, post qualifying practice experience. HCT requires that there must be memoranda of understanding (MOUs)/contractual agreements with the field education sites. However, the process of obtaining an approved MOU through the legal department of both the institution and site can be lengthy to finalize.

Non-traditional field education structure

As experienced by the Social Work program at HCT, there is a shortage of field agencies due to the large number of students, especially during the recent pandemic. In addition, there are many organizations requesting MOUs in order to accept students and this can be a lengthy process between HCT and field education sites. Thus, HCT has developed some non-traditional assignments to account for hours that were not completed in the field. The biggest project is called a ‘meaningful project’ and is now compulsory due to its positive impact. Students work together to find a gap in their field organization and work with the field supervisor to develop innovative ideas. This is a strategy for students to utilize evidence-based practice and advocate for change within organizations and communities. Other projects include providing students with problem-based learning case studies which allows them to use their critical thinking skills to solve an array of potential practice issues. As HCT’s Social Work program is offered in more than one emirate these projects are even more critical. HCT also has the benefit of key stakeholders on their Social Work Industry Advisory Committee who assist with addressing field issues.

On the other hand, the Social Work program at UAEU has not experienced a lack or shortage of field agencies, particularly because all undergraduate students must undertake Practicum 1 in schools and there is no shortage of schools. For Practicum 2, students are placed in organizations such as the Family Development Authority, Social Support Center, Zayed Higher Organization, National Rehabilitation Center (NRC), and hospitals (Abu-Sarhan and Tedam, 2021). In addition, students at UAEU come from all emirates and so field agencies are distributed around the country, which eases pressure on the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

At the start of 2021, one of the authors was approached to supervise a student who was matched to a school in Dubai during the pandemic. The placement duration was 70 days and due to the social distancing and Covid-related guidelines, supervisions occurred virtually. The challenges that virtual supervision presents as well as the benefits are documented (Mitchell et al., 2022) and the fact that the social work student was physically present at the school was helpful. This shows that innovation in field education is possible and can be beneficial to the students.

Training field supervisors

It would be unthinkable in other professions such as medicine for a non-clinician to support and assess the clinical work of a trainee doctor, yet there appears to be a less expectation in relation to social work where non-social workers assess social work knowledge and practice interventions. We acknowledge that social work in the UAE is developing and there are some generic behaviors, skills, and competencies that a non-social work senior member of staff could comment upon and assess. However, it is timely to consider a training package for field supervisors to complement the work being done around licensure.

At the UAEU, the PDF (already discussed) was initiated to bridge the gap between the taught curriculum and the practice/field curriculum. The PDF created the space and opportunity for social work students at all levels of their study to discuss cases from their practicum and receive practice guidance about how they might effectively work with their clients. The scope, benefits, and challenges associated with this project were also outlined and documented (Tedam et al., 2021).

At HCT, explicit documentation was developed to guide non-social work supervisors. This set a precedent in knowing what should be expected from each and the goals and outcomes for each student. HCT will begin to hold a mandatory training with all site supervisors potentially at the beginning of either the academic year or term to have an orientation of the expectations of field education training. This creates more realistic opportunities for students to complete all of the required hours and also gain client interaction experience while in the field.

Flexibility and adaptation of practice to local cultures

Due to cultural norms in the UAE and broader Middle East, female students and graduates are less mobile and may not be able to travel far distances due to cultural and religious reasons (Abu-Sarhan and Tedam, 2021). This is an important consideration particularly where some female students state a preference for both practicums in the same setting (e.g. schools), which robs them of the opportunity to develop and enhance a wide range of skills and knowledge.

This is also important because there are some students that are not allowed to complete their field education hours at sites where they will interact with males. Another issue revolves around female students that wear a niqab which covers their faces, as agencies have stated that ‘clients have to see your face’. Unfortunately, this creates difficulties placing students, resulting in academic sequencing issues and delaying graduation.

The relational aspects of field education in the UAE emphasize relationship building and the time and flexibility needed to ensure a successful placement (H Elshazali, personal communication, 2 July 2021). The limitations brought on by a focus on hours can impact this relationship building. In England, the Regulatory Body (Social Work England, 2021) stipulates the minimum field education requirements as a minimum of 200 days with each ‘day’ defined as ‘no less than 7 hours inclusive of a lunch break’ (Social Work England, 2021). This standardization can be useful in guiding practice while also building in a degree of flexibility (Tedam et al., 2022).