JCU > Research Portfolio > Ms Sandra Croaker

About

Sandra Croaker is an Associate Lecturer in Social Work Field Education located at the Townsville JCU campus. Her role sees her working closely with students in preparation and planning for placement, bridging the space between academic education and practice learning. Sandra also works closely with social services providers in the Townsville region to continuously explore and grow new placement learning opportunities for students. Her experience in this role combined with her aim of creating interesting and engaging learning environments that are mutually beneficial for the agency as well as the student’s learning experience is nowadays informing her research interest.

Her early career saw Sandra involved in direct practice delivery, working with vulnerable people from diverse backgrounds. Sandra has gained her work experience overseas and in Australia across government and non-government social support agencies. These fundamental work experiences have broadened her understanding of applied social work and laid the foundations for her interest in critical social work and feminist social work theory.

As a PhD candidate, her current research focuses on social work graduates' readiness for eco-social work practice. This work is informed by Heather Boetto's model for eco-social work and Lena Dominelli's concept of 'green social work'.

Teaching

WS3503: Field Education 1 (Level 3; TSV)
WS5303: Field Education 1 (Level 5; TSV)
WS5304: Field Education 1 (Level 5; TSV)

Interests

Research

Field placement preparation and support in Social Work education
Student suitability for field placement and Social Work practice
economic and social participation opportunities for refugees, women and families
Social Work and the concepts of social, environmental and ecological justice

Research Disciplines

Honours

Awards

2018 - Sessional Staff Teaching Award

Memberships

2016 - Australian Association of Social Workers, Management committee member

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Zuchowski I, Cleak H, Croaker S and Bentley-Davey J (2022) It's up to you-the need for self-directed learning for social work students on placement during Covid-19. British Journal of Social Work, 52 (5). pp. 2875-2893
Bentley-Davey J, Collingwood H, Croaker S, Grentell M, Rytkonen F and Zuchowski I (2021) Using a community development approach to reimagine field education during Covid-19. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 22 (2). pp. 56-68
Zuchowski I, Collingwood H, Croaker S, Bentley-Davey J, Grentell M and Rytkönen F (2021) Social work e-placements during Covid-19: learnings of staff and students. Australian Social Work, 74 (3). pp. 373-386
Zuchowski I, Watson S, Dickinson T, Thomas N and Croaker S (2019) Social work students' feedback about students' suitability for field education and the profession. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 31 (2). pp. 42-56
Croaker S, Dickinson T, Watson S and Zuchowski I (2017) Students’ suitability for social work: developing a framework for field education. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 19 (2). pp. 109-124

Conference Papers

Croaker S, Gurtner Y and Bandaranaike S (2017) Identifying student work skills and personal values for work-integrated learning: a host organisation perspective. Refereed Proceedings of the 20th WACE World Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education. In: 20th WACE World Conference on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, 2017, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 5-8 June 2017, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Monash University - National Centre for Healthy Ageing - Living Labs Program

Pilot of an Animal-Assisted Activity program in residential aged care to support intergenerational and intercultural social connections for healthy ageing.

Indicative Funding: $70,999 over 1 year (administered by Monash University)
Summary: Pets and People SuPAWters (PaPs) Program will explore the potential of using human-animal bonds in aged care, to facilitate social connections between three often marginalised and vulnerable groups at risk of loneliness and social isolation: older Australians living in aged care facilities; migrants and refugees from community organisations; and international university students. PaPs will be co-designed using an Action Research process, and evaluated using mixed methods. Monash and James Cook University social work students, undertaking fieldwork placements, will be supervised to facilitate the co-designed PaPs program, delivered in a hybrid model (both online using internet-enabled tablet technology and in-person interactions).
Investigators: Em Bould, Maura Bevilacqua, Sandra Downing, Sandra Croaker, Janette Young, Libby Callaway and Keith Hill (Monash University, College of Public Health, Medical & Vet Sciences, College of Arts, Society & Education and University of South Australia)

Data

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

Zuchowski, I. (2018) Student suitability for social work field education. James Cook University

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.