Problem-Based Learning – Challenges and Opportunities

Roisin McGoldrick, MA (Hons) Course Director, Glasgow School of Social Work, provides an insight into problem-based learning…

I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand
Chinese Proverb, Lau Tau 100BC

The opportunities and challenges presented by the new Framework for Social Work Education in Scotland (2003) which required the development of new Honours level qualifying programmes was welcome and timely. For a number of years the future of social work education had been under review and it was with some frustration that many academic staff and departments throughout Scotland carried on teaching a programme which was in some substantial need of change and development. For many years there had been calls for a graduate profession and for deficits in the existing programmes to be redressed. When this opportunity came to be a reality our collective wish in Glasgow School of Social Work was to create a programme of teaching and learning which would truly reflect the challenges of contemporary social work practice and would allow us to better prepare new workers to be ready to practice.

We saw the changes as an opportunity to explore new and different approaches to teaching and learning whilst recognising the strengths and importance of our existing curriculum and methodologies. We did not want to ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’ but rather wanted to ensure that what we provided was a stimulating, thought provoking experience which encouraged genuine reflection and analysis of the problems and dilemmas faced by practitioners in the field.

One of the methods we had been reading and hearing about was that of problem based learning (PBL) sometimes also described as enquiry, action learning (EAL).

Problem based learning emerged in the modern academic arena over thirty years ago at McMaster University in Canada. The approach there was that of taking problems based on actual clinical cases as the focal points in a medical programme. This approach emerged out of the experience of many years of both staff and student frustration at traditional methods of imparting and absorbing the immense amount of content inherent in medical education. There was a general recognition that such methods strengthened memory and recall skills in the short term but did not adequately equip students to apply their knowledgebase to the real life problems and dilemmas they would face in practice. {mospagebreak}

We were aware of the application of this teaching and learning process in many medical schools in the USA and Canada and knew that this was also a feature of medical education in Glasgow. Some social work programmes in England and in other countries also used this approach. We therefore, as part of curriculum design and planning work for our new degrees, began to gather information and to seek out examples and opinions on the feasibility of this being a part of the new qualifications we were creating. The usual considerations of finance and resources were explored and agonised over – there are real implications for staffing and at times when Universities across the country are exerting pressure on staff to achieve in the domain of research as well as teaching, responding to the imperatives of RAE exercise –  this was a major consideration.

However , one of the drivers was the recognition that we no longer live in an educational environment where the word of the lecturer or tutor is perceived as being the major source of direction, guidance and authority on any matter concerning theory and knowledge but increasingly we exist in a world where there are multiple viewpoints on ‘best practice’ and where ever-increasing numbers of people are coming to University, often from nonÐtraditional backgrounds and from educationally disadvantaged positions. The value of the traditional lecturing style was being questioned as being insufficient to address the changing needs of both students and the communities they would serve on qualification. The need to engage students at an early stage with the complexities of the challenges they would meet in practice was a driving force behind the willingness to embrace an approach which might lend itself more readily to this task.

Ultimately we adopted a hybrid model which encompassed a series of lectures, seminars and PBL groups. The lectures were relatively short and served the purpose of identifying the key concepts in the particular module. These were then explored in a relatively abstract fashion in seminar groups and then problems were posed to help students identify application of these ideas in real life situations. These were the issues which students then explored and debated in the PBL forum. {mospagebreak}

Our PBL groups looked like this:
– 8 students
– 1 facilitator
– Meeting once per week for two hours
– One student chaired each session
– One student scribed each session
– Clearly identified tasks (homework)
– Online communication to enable sharing of information between meetings

In one module – Envisioning Social Work – we used the summary report from the Caleb Ness Inquiry (2003) to help students explore the range of duties of social workers and other professionals in the statutory sector. Over a period of six weeks the students were given a series of trigger questions which they explored together and then undertook individual tasks to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the processes and practices described in the Inquiry report. For example, the PBL group were asked to identify the needs and rights of all members of the family as highlighted in the report summary and recommendations. This led, initially, to a discussion of needs and rights and what these might be and also how potential conflicts could arise in relation to competing needs. As the module progressed, the groups explored a wide range of issues including the legal framework for intervention in the lives of all family members; the range of service provision in relation to children and families services; addictions services and criminal justice services. They also explored issues in relation to inter-professional communication.

My initial concerns about using a case which revealed some of the most difficult and challenging aspects of social work practice were assuaged by the enthusiasm with which the groups engaged in the tasks set. It is inevitable that we will revisit many of the issues which arose from this module in several other places in the curriculum but it is also clear that the students have built a strong foundation on which to develop their understanding of the processes and practices involved in this complex arena of social work.

We are currently exploring student responses to the experience of being involved in PBL groups and are discovering an almost wholly positive reaction to the method. In addition to the acquisition of knowledge of a range of issues from neo-natal abstinence syndrome to community care legislation, the students report skills developing in other diverse areas such as chairing meetings and appropriate assertiveness. They acknowledge the development over the year of skills in conflict resolution (albeit on a small scale) and in understanding something of group processes. This would seem a much more rounded and substantial range of outcomes than might usually be expected from a year1 module and certainly has encouraged the staff team to consider the potential yet to be tapped in exploring alternative strategies in teaching and learning.

We are very obviously in the beginning stages of our application of problem based learning strategies and will evaluate the experience from both student and staff perspectives as we proceed. So far, the experience has been not simply educational but also hugely enjoyable – for both students and staff.