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Janine Harrisonjanine

Field Education Coordinator
BA(SW)(Wits), BA(SW(Hons)(Wits), MA(SW)(Wits)

Email: janine.harrison@flinders.edu.au
Phone: (08) 8201 2253
International: +61 8 8201 2253
Fax: (08) 8201 3760
International: +61 8 8201 3760
Office: SSS-Rm 339

Janine was appointed as a Field Education Coordinator in May 2006, a few months after relocating from Johannesburg to Adelaide with her family. This position focuses mainly on students’ field education and includes field placement negotiations, skills training, facilitation of student seminars and short courses for field educators, and assessment of students’ field practice activities. She also participates minimally in Honours thesis supervision and teaching.

Academic qualifications
Janine qualified as a social worker in South Africa in 1988 after completing first a Bachelors then an Honours degree in Social Work at the University of the Witwatersrand (“Wits”) in Johannesburg. She achieved awards for most outstanding student and most outstanding dissertation (thesis) in her Honours year. She later completed the degree of Master of Arts in Social Work at the same university, graduating magna cum laude.

Work history
Janine was first employed as a social worker in paediatric oncology and haematology at a large academic hospital in Johannesburg. She then spent seven years working in the chemical dependency field, ending up as Assistant Director of the South African National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency. She began a part-time academic career at “Wits” University in 1995 whilst studying for her Masters degree and working at a specialist unit for children and adults who had experienced sexual abuse.

Janine’s lecturing experience includes courses in direct social work practice, research design and methodology, social work supervision and professional education, occupational social work, organisational change and development, chemical dependency and HIV/AIDS. She presented papers at various conferences, including the Advances in Qualitative Research Methods International Conference at Sun City in 2002 and the Global Social Work Congress in Adelaide in 2004.

After 9 years in academia Janine joined the South African campus of Monash University as Community Services Manager. There she implemented a macro perspective with a dual focus on both the university community of staff and students and its engagement with surrounding impoverished communities, with the support of a dedicated team. Her position provided opportunities for social action, advocacy, community development, organisational development, policy analysis and development, needs analysis, group work and counselling.

Community involvement
Janine was involved in the anti-apartheid struggle from the time she left secondary school through activist work in various banned political organisations, including the African National Congress. She has maintained a strong interest in anti-oppressive work throughout her career, and has been involved in social action and advocacy with various marginalised and disenfranchised communities.

As a member of the Standards Generating Body for Social Work, under the auspices of the South African Qualifications Authority, she participated in the development of legislated national standards for social work education. She co-developed a set of national standards of practice for Employee Assistance Practitioners, who are mainly drawn from the Social Work profession in the South African context. She also participated in the development of a national Code of Ethics for occupational social workers. She was given a special award by the South African Occupational Social Workers Association in recognition of her contribution to the development of that field of practice in the South African context.

Subjects taught

  • Field Education 1
    • Interpersonal skill development
    • Collaborative learning
    • Assessment in field education
    • Orientation to learning in the practicum
  • Field Education 22B and M
    • Integration seminars
    • Assessment in field education
    • Learning in field and education
  • Theories of Social Work Intervention