Ms Sandra Croaker ~ Lecturer, Social Work
Social Work
- About
-
- Teaching
- 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
- Socio-Economic Objectives
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'.
- 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
- 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
Connect with me
- Phone
- Location
-
- 4.249, Social Sciences (Townsville campus)
- Find me on…
-
My research areas
Similar to me
-
Dr Jo MensingaSocial Work
-
A/Prof Susan GairSocial Work
-
Dr Ines ZuchowskiSocial Work
-
A/Prof Abraham FrancisSocial Work
-
Ms Sandra DowningPublic Health & Tropical Medicine