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Simmons College School of Social Work Launches First Academic Journal in the Nation Focused on Field Education

BOSTON (January 12, 2012) — Addressing a growing interest in scholarly research on social work field education, the Simmons College School of Social Work recently announced the launch of a new online journal, the Field Educator. The Field Educator is the first academic social work journal in the nation focused entirely on field education — the merging of theory and practice in real-world settings, such as clinics, prisons, hospitals, and human welfare agencies.

"We're absolutely thrilled about the launch of the Field Educator," said Suzanne Sankar, professor and assistant dean of student affairs at the Simmons School of Social Work. "There's a wealth of knowledge held by field educators and we want to give people a forum to discuss and share information within the social work community."

Identified by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) as the signature pedagogy of social work, field education is growing in popularity among social work educators. The Field Educator is designed to promote the exchange of knowledge between field educators in academia and those in the practice community. Each issue of the journal will include scholarly articles on theory, practice, and research, as well as a "Practice Digest" section with descriptions of dilemmas and developments in field education.

The journal will focus on innovation in social work field education, methods of evaluating student performance, and the transition from classroom to field placement. Content is available for free online at fieldeducator.org.

To promote excellence in field education research, the Field Educator and the Simmons School of Social Work are offering an annual award of $1,000 to the author of the best research article submitted to the journal. The first winning paper will be announced at the 2012 Annual Program Meeting of the CSWE and published in the journal's fall 2012 issue. Articles should be submitted electronically to fieldeducator@simmons.edu.

The next issue of the Field Educator will be posted in April 2012.

The Simmons School of Social Work (www.simmons.edu/ssw) was founded in 1904 as the nation's first training program for clinical social workers. Today, the SSW provides rigorous clinical social work education for men and women, with a strong emphasis on field education. Recent initiatives include a new Bachelor's in Social Work Degree (BSW) and the Center for Applied and Community Research.

Simmons College is a nationally recognized private university located in the heart of Boston with a history of visionary thinking, and a focus on leadership and social responsibility. Follow Simmons on Twitter @SimmonsCollege and @SimmonsNews.

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