Simulating Practice: Teaching Students to Honor Human Rights in an Ever-Changing Professional Landscape

Overview: Simulated client pedagogy can improve practice skills with diverse populations. Additionally, students can practice with simulated clients in both remote and face-to-face modalities. This panel will describe the theory, practice, and effectiveness of using simulated client pedagogy which enhances student skills, promotes cultural awareness and honors human rights.Proposal text: The 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards provide added clarity about the appropriate use of technology in social work practice as well as the centrality of teaching human rights and antiracism. Both of these can be strengthened using simulated client pedagogy to teach practice skills.

The first panelist will describe using a simulated case as a model of instruction, which involves having people act as clients. Students interact with simulated clients in a controlled learning environment so they get direct support and immediate feedback. Simulated clients can be used to provide ongoing practice to teach and develop skills. Utilizing simulated clients throughout the course allows more opportunities for students to work with multiple issues, a variety of modes and see the progression of a case from assessment to evaluation.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, social work programs were confronted with the burgeoning need to prepare students to engage in remote practice (Banks et al, 2020). Now that remote practice has become the norm, social work educators must prepare future social workers to work with clients in both face-to-face and remote modalities.

Equally, social work students must be prepared to work with a wide range of populations and in diverse settings. As the population becomes more diverse, social work educators bear a larger responsibility for educating culturally competent practitioners. Social work students need to develop practice skills with racially and ethnically diverse clients.

The second panelist will highlight current research and teaching strategies that focus on addressing these challenges, through the use of simulated learning pedagogy. Case development, hiring and training of simulated clients, and various modalities will be discussed.

The NASW Code of Ethics mandates that social workers demonstrate competence in practice, including competence in use of technology in practice (NASW Code of Ethics, 2021, Standard 1.04d). Although it is possible to teach about remote practice in a face-to-face classroom, using simulated clients online allows students to apply what they have learned and see the strengths and limitations of working with clients remotely.

The third panelist will present the findings from a mixed methods study. Findings include data collected from student coursework, a field readiness survey, and focus group reports. These were mixed based on a concurrent triangulation design. Students reported an increase in awareness and comfort working with diverse clients in addition to confidence with remote practice skills. In general, students reported being more comfortable trying new things and were more willing to take risks and make mistakes. They also learned to work with colleagues and practiced using professional theories and language.

As we see more complex and vexing societal issues in our current environment, it is paramount that social work programs continue to adjust our curriculums to prepare students to meet future challenges and opportunities. To prepare social workers with the knowledge, skills, values, and cognitive affective processes, we need to allow them the chance to practice with strong support in order to prepare them for the field.