ABSTRACT
A central required component of all professional social work training courses in the UK is the placement. It provides the setting in which students both learn about and demonstrate their competence to practise. Comparing the potential of different types of placements and different supervision arrangements, for enhancing transfer of learning, has particular relevance to a discussion of reflective practice. There are influential variables operating in placements that are likely to enhance or diminish their potential to provide a context conducive to developing as a reflective practitioner, yet little has been written about the organizational context within which such learning takes place. Our research on a particular placement model (Boutland and Batchelor 1993) has provided us with detailed material on the experiences of students and practice teachers, some of which sheds light on these contextual variables and their influence on students' development as reflective practitioners.
