Student’s Perceptions of the Community Impact of Social Education Degree Internship

Abstract

Evaluating the impact of an intervention is a very important stage in social educators’ practice, since it allows them to improve the quality of socio-educational projects. The aim of this study is to rethink the internship of the social education degree through students’ perceptions about the impact of their projects in the community. This is a qualitative and exploratory study using documental analysis of 50 internship final reports of a social education degree from a Portuguese polytechnic higher education institution and whose emerging categorical content analysis was performed with NVivo software. The analysis revealed four distinct indicators linked to the project (accomplished objectives, evaluation of activities, sustainability and innovation), the target group (participation, motivation and benefits), the institution (satisfaction of collaborators, improved dynamic, routines and space enhancements), and the students (relational, reflexive and planning skills; satisfaction). It also revealed instruments, feedback, observation, document analysis and case reports as means of verification. The use of indicators related to the project’s objectives, the changes perceived from the benefits in the target-group and in the institution, and the interveners’ level of satisfaction should be noted as positive. Given the inconsistency in the use of formal assessment instruments, the results show the need to strengthen students’ mobilisation of project assessment skills in order to improve the quality of undergraduate education.

Keywords: Social educationPracticum impactQuality

Introduction

Problem statement

Assessing the impact of the internship on the community where the socio-educational intervention projects are developed, is a fundamental step for reflecting and reappraising the training of social educators. It is intended to be carried out by students, but also by trainers, especially those who have responsibilities in designing and monitoring the internship model and projects. As part of the degree in social education at the School of Education, of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, after implementing the project, a final internship report is required with a critical reflection on the impact of each project in the community. It is important to understand the perception of the interns about the impact of their training on the community, taken from the reports content, in order to identify the indicators and means of verification upon which they are based.

Research questions

Based on the problem stated above, we defined the specific study question: which indicators and which means of monitoring the impact on the community emerge from analysing the content of the final internship reports?

Purpose of the study

From the content analysis of the final internship reports, we intend to collect information about the indicators and means of verification reported in the internship’s impact assessment. This information will allow us to reflect upon and rethink the practices and project assessment methodologies with the aim of improving the quality of learning.

Research methods

This is a qualitative and exploratory study, using the documental analysis of final internship reports. The reports targeted for analysis relate to supervised socio-educational interventions, developed in the internship of the degree in social education at the School of Education, of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, during the academic year 2015/2016 with a total of 520 contact hours. The analysis focused exclusively on the contents of the assessment of the impact of the intervention on the community as defined in the project.

Excerpts from 50 final internship reports were analysed. These present socio-educational intervention projects were developed in institutional and community settings, which include 23 in local municipalities, 20 in social solidarity institutions, 9 in schools and 3 entities linked to the Ministry of Justice, covering various target groups, from the general community, children, youths, adults and the elderly, to more specific audiences such as multi-challenged families, people with special needs, prisoners and other people in fragile situations.

From the analysis of five randomly selected reports, a preliminary draft of the categorical system was prepared, enabling an orientation for the reading and analysis which followed. The theme was defined as the recording unit and the subchapter as the context unit, having followed the enumeration rule of coding each topic only once in each report. The rules of comprehensiveness, relevance, objectivity/reliability and exclusivity were followed (Bardin, 2015). Before the final categorization, we proceeded to determine fidelity between encoders, using three researchers, who were knowledgeable of the objectives and methodology of the study. They codified the same information independently, regardless of the previous discussions on the predefined categories (Yardley, 2008). The levels of agreement were 98%.

The emerging categorical content analysis involved the use NVivo software, version 11.

Findings

The reading from the perspective of students about the impact of the internship on the community present in their final reports allowed to identify the indicators considered in the presentation of the impact of the internship (Table 1 ) and the means of verification to support these indicators (Table 2 ). The value appreciation regarding the impact of the internship was not taken into account, because it was always mentioned as positive.

As for the first dimension, assessment indicators , four categories were identified: target-group (representing 41.5% of total mentions), intern (21.5%), project (18.4%) and host institution (15.0%). Within the target-group category, three subcategories were created: benefits (38.4%), motivation (32.6%) and participation (29.0%)

The most representative subcategory relates to the target-group’s benefits, with arguments related to social gains (e.g., greater interaction between individuals), cognitive gains (e.g., better performance), gains in self-esteem, autonomy and behaviour. Examples of such arguments are: “The acquisition of some key elements [by the clients] related to daily activities was notorious” (report 24), for autonomy; “[The clients] realized that they had dreams to fulfil, that they should fight for them when they returned to freedom [incarcerated prisoners] and that despite the difficulties they may have, with dedication they will be able to do it and not return to crime” (report 33) about the purpose of life. As for motivation, it was also mentioned that “The clients showed great interest and commitment for the tasks, showing some anxiety for the following week” (report 24).

In the intern category, the subcategories identified were relational (42.3%), planning (38.5%) and reflection skills (7.7%), and personal satisfaction (11.5%), illustrated by the following statements: “We may consider that our presence in the parish council was appreciated since the relationship that has been established between us and the clients is remarkable” (report 13), for the relational skills; “We always try to enhance appealing activities and that would precisely meet the interests [of the participants]” (report 24), for the skills of planning.

Within the project category, four subcategories were identified with decreasing values: achieving objectives (50%), sustainability (26.3%), assessment of activities (18.4%) and innovation (5.3%). About this last category, it was noted that “We left our mark because we brought some innovation and creativity.” (report 1). With regard to the first subcategory, “As for the objectives defined in the internship project, I think that generally speaking, they have been achieved” (report 5).

Finally, the category on the host institution included as subcategories: extending dynamics (48.4%), satisfaction of collaborators (29%), creating routines (12.9%) and improvement of the physical space (9.7%). As an example of the most representative subcategory within the host institution, statements such as the following are identified: “The fact that we bet on performing intergenerational activities meant that people participated on a larger scale, because the fact that there could be parents, children and even grandparents together in the same activity facilitates what would otherwise be a problem, that is, where to leave the children” (report 30).

In the second dimension, means of monitoring the impact of the internship on the community , two categories were identified (Table 2 ): unstructured records, representing 57.5% of mentions, and structured records (42.5%). Within the first category, informal talks (57.8%) and implicit observation (41.3%) were considered. The second included constructed instruments (41.1%), document analysis (20.6%), case report (11.8%), attendance records (11.8%), direct observation (8.8%) and existing instruments (5.9%).

Conclusions

Regarding the assessment indicators, there is a variety and scope because aspects related to themselves (i.e., the category, interns), to the context (i.e., host institution), to the project itself and to the target group have been identified. The highest value was found in the target group, centred on the number of participants and their interest, specially on the benefits observed in the people who underwent the intervention. This focus on the benefits is mentioned in the methodologies addressed in preparing the projects for previous internship courses (Pena, 2005; Serrano, 2008). Similarly, in other studies within the same area of training, it was concluded that the analysis of the impact tended towards that indicator, showing the changes perceived in the project participants (Araújo et al., 2014).

In the project assessment from the reference to the contribution of the interns themselves, is worth highlighting the predominance of mentions of their relational skills, which transmit the value of interpersonal skills in the intervention of social educators, as recognized by the International Association of Social Educators (AIEJI, 2006).

Reflecting on the impact of the internship, students tend to consider aspects predominantly related to indicators rather than the means of monitoring used. Nevertheless, the use of some constructed instruments should be noted, which was the more commonly reported subcategory in the structured means of assessment. This indicates that the use of this type of strategy should be increased. In turn, monitoring based on unstructured records resorting to memories reinforces the need for greater investment in this area.

The inconsistency of using formal assessment instruments leading to gaps in collecting and obtaining reliable data to sustain and support the assessment results should be object of further development, analysis and reflection. In our opinion, it may translate difficulties in terms of selecting/creating instruments and recognising the importance of using them. But it also highlights the need to detect any gaps in training in these content areas that must be understood in order to overcome them. Finally, this reflects a structural aspect concerning the definition of an assessment methodology based on the objectives of the intervention as a key pillar of efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency. The development of practices based on evidence is considered a core function of social work. Promoting skills that foster this should be ensured in the curriculum (Moore & Avant, 2008) for improving the quality of higher education for social educators. We emphasize the importance of these internal assessments which allow us to monitor the paths to training courses and gauge the adequacy of the recommended models and the results actually achieved.

Acknowledgements

To the Centre for Studies in Education, Technologies and Health (CI&DETS) at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal.

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