1.1 The names of the placement agency, the practice teacher, the student and the tutor require to be clearly stated in all placement reports. In certain circumstances, it may also be appropriate to name other specific personnel (eg. a link worker) but this should be done only if statements in the report require to be directly attributed to such individuals.
1.2 Otherwise, the identity of all individuals, families and groups should be withheld. Clients, service users, carers, etc. should be referred to either by their initials or by a pseudonym. Workers, whether in the placement setting/agency or in other related agencies, should be referred to by their job title or role.
1.3 Agencies themselves (other than the placement location) should be referred to by the function they perform (eg. "residence for adults with learning disabilities" or "area medical centre") rather than by name.
1.4 Where copies of agency recordings/reports are appended to the placement report, special care must be taken to ensure all identifying information (as outlined above) is fully deleted. In particular, where names etc. have been tippexed out from an original source, only photocopies of the anonymised materials should be submitted (rather than the original) to ensure that names cannot be detected through the reverse side of the page.1.5 It is important to bear in mind the extent to which reports are scrutinised during the process of assessment. For example tutors, Practice Assessment Panel members, Programme Assessment Board members and sometimes also the Course Coordinator and/or Head of the Route Department may all have sight of a report. Where, therefore, potentially 10 - 15 people may be involved, the necessity for confidentiality is increased.
©West of Scotland Consortium for Education and Training in Social Work 2001.