ABSTRACT
Practice teachers are expected to use a practice curriculum which has become more explicit and systematic. Specific training programmes are difficult for a practice teacher to get to grips with the course philosophy, the curriculum design and the placement pattern of a DipSW programme; it is nearly impossible to do this with a number of programmes. For the reason, the notion of contractual arrangements with one particular programme is becoming more attractive. This can be an agency-wide agreement or at individual practice teacher level and it means them contracting with a particular programme, perhaps to take a student for specific placement on a regular basis. They might want to include in their portfolio any 'jigsaw pieces' they have been working on, in order to develop their own interpretation of the programme's practice curriculum. Either way, they should include specific examples in their portfolio which show how they have translated some of the learning objectives into practice with a specific student.
