Educating Social Work Students Against the Grain: Tutors Accepting that Facilitating Learning Means we Need to Adapt our Preferred Teaching Styles

This paper draws on a case example of working with a student within the workplace whose personal characteristics and learning style conflicted with my own preferred style of delivery, and indeed challenged my own professional persona. Concepts of power and emotional intelligence are explored, and the need to work in partnership to create a ‘safe place’ for learning and assessment in an educational context. The willingness to change teaching style and adapt contributed to my own professional development as a facilitator of learning, and enhanced the learning experience for the student