The application of co-operative inquiry to a student led research project on social work placement: A student, professional placement coordinator, and academic tutor reflect on their experience

The authors reflect on their experiences of engaging in an international, online, student-led co-operative inquiry research project. It was designed and delivered during Covid-19, a time when placements and social work education had to adapt and accommodate new teaching and learning methods, to enable social work education programmes to continue, and when all but essential international and internal travel was restricted (Archer-Kuhn et al., 2020; Dept. of Taoiseach, 2020; McLaughlin et al., 2020; O’Brien et al, 2023). For the placement duration, Australian and Irish social work students and their academic tutors engaged in online conversations that were transcribed, resulting in the coproduction of data. (McLaughlin et al., in press). The authors include a student, an academic, and a professional placement coordinator. The research project was a first-time engagement with such an activity for all 3 authors. They discuss features of the project design and its enactment and critically reflect on their own engagement with the project. Using co-operative inquiry, the article points to how students, in collaboration with academic tutors, used co-operative inquiry and various technological affordances to complete a piece of practice research, while on placement, during Covid-19. The article points to an increase in student knowledge and confidence in completing field research.