Well, this week is turning out to be a semi-eventful one. On Monday I was one of two ‘experts by experience’ advising a lecturer on a social work course on a day’s worth of student presentations. We were there to give feedback to the students and to help the lecturer decide whether the students had covered all the points they had to cover regarding the legislative and ethical issues based on a case study as well as the conflicts between personal and professional values, between all the legislative requirements that the case study required as well as the differences between powers and duties. It was fascinating to see the circles into which the prospective social workers are forced and the constant battle between doing what’s right for the service user and doing what’s in their best interests.
The groups all had rather creative ways of presenting the information they had to get across from acted out scenarios to quiz shows and I have to say that they all did a fantastic job. They were only first year students so there was a certain amount of nervousness as should be expected, however, the whole day was entertaining and informative and I’m hoping that the service user perspective feedback we gave was of value to both the students and the lecturer. The whole thing did, however, highlight the need for certain additions to the course such as presentation skills training; this was another of the functions of having ‘experts by experience’ at the presentations – to provide feedback on how the course was being taught from our observations of the presentations. Apart from the need for presentation skills to be embedded as a basic skill, my colleague and I found that the course seems to be taught very well so we had no complaints.
I had a ‘phone call earlier today from my ‘boss’ at Your Thurrock asking if I could cover a Planning meeting at the council offices tomorrow night that I have, of course, grabbed with both hands on the proviso that I’m free to be there. I’m also awaiting a call about a court case I was supposed to be going to with the ‘boss’ at some time during the day tomorrow as well. It’s a case I can’t really go into here as 1) it is still going through the courts and 2) I don’t have all the facts to hand anyway.
I have to say that it’s nice to be asked to cover more news-related things for Your Thurrock as it makes me feel a hell of a lot better about myself seeing the odd ‘by line’ associated with my name. As I have said in the past, I feel as though I have been validated as a budding journalist even if it never translates into a proper job. I do have to say though that, if a proper job came up, I’d jump at the chance especially if my blog became part of that paid job too.
My week is not a full-on explosion of activity but it is a semi-eventful one with just enough activity to keep my mind occupied and little enough to not stress me out too much as I look towards getting back into the job market. It may be that my life isn’t as pointless as first I thought.
Until next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment