Field Action Projects

Editorial

Field Action Projects

            The framework of criteria for standards of assessment of quality in social work education brought out by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) includes field action projects. (FAP) It is therefore seen as desirable for all educational institutions offering social work to initiate field action projects.  Being a practice profession it becomes essential that all institutions teaching social work should themselves design and implement social projects.  This ensures generation of field based knowledge essential for a professional course.  The faculty members also have the opportunity to practice along with being academicians and researchers. 

            Most of the FAPs are serving as “live labs” to the students of social work. This offers great opportunities to train students according to the value orientation required by the profession.  FAPs are required to be designed to uphold the best standards be it in the functioning or planning interventions in the project management process.  Thus they also become eminently suitable as field work agencies for students.

            It has been observed that departments have been able to demonstrate interventions in new areas and issues through the FAPs.  Faculty members can explore new methods of interventions and are required to innovate newer techniques while working on these projects.  When these become part of class room discussions, dissemination of newer practice knowledge becomes possible.  FAPS can also generate data for undertaking research.  This makes the dissemination of knowledge further possible.  The NAAC standards expect these projects to offer employment opportunities to fresh graduates of the department. Thus the potential of FAPs should be explored by all schools of social work

            This issue of Social Work Foot Print (Samajakaryada Hejjegalu) looks at some of the FAPs initiated by different institutions in Karnataka. More importantly it carries interviews of senior social work professors.  Their views on the subject throw much light on the practices up till now and the potential that these projects holds,Besides  an experience-based paper by a senior professor of Social Work written in Kannada is given in these pages. Hope this exercise of placing before the social work professionals the need for developing interest in experimentation  and examining the theories and concepts taught in the academic forums would bear the desired results.

Guest Editor

Dr. K. Hemalatha