Readiness of Social Work Students for Field Instruction and Career
Keywords:
Field instruction, Career readiness, Student preparedness, Experiential learning, Practicum competenciesAbstract
This study aimed to assess the perceived readiness for field instruction and career readiness among third-year Bachelor of Science in Social Work students at Ifugao State University. Specifically, it evaluated the respondents’ readiness across core competencies related to field instruction and career preparation and examined the relationship between these two variables. Using a descriptive-correlational design, data were collected from 79 respondents via a standardized questionnaire and analyzed using means, standard deviations, and Pearson correlations. The results revealed that students perceived themselves as “Highly Ready” in both field instruction (M = 3.01, SD = 0.27) and career readiness (M = 3.06, SD = 0.30). Among the competencies, the highest mean scores were observed in the domains of practicing in various contexts and technological skills. Furthermore, the analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between readiness for field instruction and career readiness (r = .66, p < .001), indicating that students who are better prepared for field instruction are also more confident in pursuing their future careers. These findings underscore the importance of further enhancing field instruction experiences to support career readiness. Based on the findings, it is recommended that experiential learning, skills reinforcement, and mentoring be strengthened during the deployment phase.
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