1 Introduction

Most colleges and universities in the United States shut their doors in March 2020 in response to the global Coronavirus pandemic that significantly affected the entire world, resulted in millions of deaths and infections, and had major impact on higher educational institutions in nearly every country [1]. Prior studies have explored how universities, faculty and students responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, but this study specifically studies the lived experiences of social work students during the period and highlights their voices in the process. Exploring the perspectives of students is necessary for effective assessment of policies developed during the period. This would help to ensure student success in higher education in times of crisis. Prior to the pandemic, most schools of social work (SSW) in the United States delivered instruction in a traditional format, with students physically attending classes at scheduled times and faculty teaching course content in person. Forced to close by the pandemic, instruction modalities changed with most educational institutions switching to remote (virtual) learning and faculty and students having to adapt with little or no preparation. Until now, social work programs had historically been reticent about embracing online education [2, 3, 4]. However, the move to remote learning was necessitated by a need to comply with guidelines established by public health experts to prevent the rapid spread of the deadly virus. The guidelines included the use of personal protective equipment, regular hand sanitization and physical distancing [5].

This study was guided by the following questions:

  1. 1.

    How did the target university respond to the Covid-19 pandemic?

  2. 2.

    How did social work students experience their school’s handling of the pandemic?

2 Literature review

This is a qualitative case study of the lived experiences of social work students through the Covid-19 pandemic. While the social work profession is interested in the lived experiences of subjects, the reason for that is often assumed and it is less clear whether the term means the same thing to all scholars. We accept the description of lived experiences as a subject’s explanation of what he or she has lived through [6]. Storm’s [7] proposal that all social work research should begin with a study of lived experience is consistent with an earlier recommendation by Scott [6] that “When experience is taken as the origin of knowledge, the vision of the individual subject (the person who had the experience or the historian who recounts it) becomes the bedrock of evidence on which explanation is built” (p. 5). McIntosh and Wright [8]) described lived experience as “the best possible source of knowledge about what happens in the world—a limited source but the most reliable of all.” (p. 452).

The challenges produced for social work students and practitioners by the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in major shifts that at times seemed capable of changing the trajectory of social work education. For example, social workers and students experienced severe stress levels [9] that included employment loss, increased workload, fear for personal health, family caregiving responsibilities, reduced job opportunities for recent graduates, increased intensity of symptoms among clients and difficulty making the transition from face-to-face to virtual care [5].

The pandemic brought the role of online social work education into focus and studies due to the pivot to remote learning and teaching caused by Covid-19. For example, Smoyer et al. [4] and Evans et al. [10] studied the responsiveness of social work students to that pivot in the initial months. Smoyer et al. [4] found that the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students that they studied preferred the traditional in-person mode of instruction and felt frustrated by the quality and paucity of interaction that was available through online learning. Over half of the 3291 social work students surveyed by Evans et al. [10] reported feeling that they were learning less in the virtual mode and over a quarter reported experiencing financial insecurity in those early months of the pandemic. Rapanta et al. [11] studied the ways in which educators could support their students in the transition to online learning and what strategies they could develop and master to become efficient in online teaching. Their study found that remote learning during the period moved social work faculty and administrators to become more open to online teaching and learning than they had been previously.

Field education, which is regarded as the signature pedagogy of social work education [12, 13] also required major adjustments during this period. All social work undergraduate and graduate students are required to satisfy field education requirements. At the beginning of the pandemic, the SSW adjusted the social work curriculum in line with a directive issued by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) on March 25, 2020, which reduced the required filed internship hours for undergraduate and graduate students. The directive also extended the definition of what was considered in-person hours to include “remote field activity, including field-related assignments, training and virtual meetings” [14, 15].

Other studies, for example De Fries et al. [16] and Sarbu and Unwin [17] addressed the impact of the pandemic on social work field education and student placements during the pandemic. De Fries et al. [16] characterized the shift forced by the pandemic as an “existential crisis” (p. 1) for field education. This characterization is consistent with the findings of the study by Sarbu and Unwin [17] which found that students believed that the future of social work practice would require a permanent shift from community work to online engagement. De Fries et al. [16] found that a major problem experienced by educational institutions during the pandemic was the challenge in developing as many remote internships as were needed to help institutions attain the appropriate level of balance needed to meet the goals of field education while also ensuring the health and safety of students and their families. This is understandable considering that field education departments in educational institutions must coordinate several moving parts as they work with organizations to place social work students in internships.

3 Materials and methods

This research was conducted at a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited SSW located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The study was reviewed and approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the aim was to explore the lived experiences of social work students through the pandemic. Spanning five traditional campuses and an online graduate program, the SSW offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs in Social Work, but this study focused only on the experiences of the Bachelors and Masters students because of the need to capture experiences over the full range of social work education, which includes field education.

3.1 Participants

A recruitment flyer and a solicitation electronic mail were sent to all social work students at all campuses of the SSW. Twenty-four students, including two who identified as men and 22 who identified as women, responded to the correspondence and expressed interest in participating in the study. Nineteen eventually participated in the study. Of this number, seventeen were from the university’s traditional social work campuses and two were from the university’s Online Master of Social Work (OMSW) program. Sixteen of the participants were white, including two who self-identified as Hispanic, and three African Americans. They were all female students and ranged in age from below 20 years old to above 50 years old. To be eligible for selection, a prospective participant had to be either an undergraduate or graduate social work student in the university and was expected to have access to a telephone for the purpose of interviews. Participant selection was done without preference for gender, age, race, religious or political affiliation. As shown on Table 1 below, three of the participants had graduated by the time that they were interviewed, but they had been students during the first year of the pandemic.

Table 1 Participant demographics
Full size table

Prior to each interview, we reviewed our informed consent statement with each participant, and each provided their consent to participate. The informed consent included a description of the research, the potential benefits and risks of participation in the study, an assurance of confidentiality and information about the Institutional Review Board (IRB) that granted approval for the study. Each participant also received a $10 Amazon card as compensation for their time.

3.2 Data collection and analysis

Qualitative interviews with all participants were conducted via Zoom, recorded, and transcribed with the aid of a qualitative software (Otter.ai) and each participant received a $10.00 Amazon gift card as compensation for their participation in the study. Following the interviews, the data were coded manually by reading each interview line-by-line and assigning appropriate codes. The data was further analyzed with the aid of QDA Miner, a qualitative coding software. Through the multiple processes of analysis, some codes were discarded, some were broken up into smaller codes and others containing similar information were merged, producing single codes [18]. In the process, dominant themes emerged that helped to explain the data in relation to the purpose of the study.

4 Findings

The findings of this study reveal the experiences of social work students during the Covid-19 pandemic, starting with the university’s decision to close down and change instruction modality through the students’ experiences as they navigated every aspect of their education through the period. We found several recurring themes in the experiences shared by the participants in this study. They relate to the instructional modalities developed by the university in response to the pandemic, student reactions to the new instructional modalities, and the evolving realities and challenges of field education. Of significance were also the personal struggles of the students, the challenges that they and their professors experienced in the classrooms, and the growth that resulted from the challenges. The findings also point to the necessity of planning for a future crisis which, like Covid-19, may also be unpredictable in its nature and effects.

4.1 Instruction modalities

The university’s closure was managed methodically and delicately by the administration. Just prior to the start of spring break in March 2020, the university’s administrative leadership announced via e-mail to all faculty, administrators, staff and students that students were not to return to their campuses and all instruction would transition to remote format following the break. For convenience, the university offered multiple learning and teaching modalities described as follows:

  1. a)

    The traditional in-person format required the majority of instruction to be provided in person.

  2. b)

    A hybrid/blended format in which 30–79% of the coursework would be delivered online.

  3. c)

    Remote format with the entire coursework delivered online, either synchronously on a designated day and time or asynchronously as a deadline-driven course.

  4. d)

    A hyflex format option in which students would be free to choose to attend classes either in-person or live-streamed.

The SSW offered faculty several group and individual opportunities to learn the process and technology associated with remote teaching. Except for the two participants from the OMSW program, all participants in this study described the instruction modalities as initially confusing, very difficult to understand and follow, and uncomfortable. They expressed that the short learning curve was especially challenging for faculty and students who had previously been unfamiliar with remote teaching and learning. However, they also expressed that the instruction modalities offered needed flexibility to faculty and students and made it possible for students to take courses offered at other campuses that they would not have had the opportunity to take in the traditional instruction format.

Evident in participants’ responses was a difference between the experiences of students in the SSW’s online program and those in the traditional program with regard to technological knowledge and their levels of comfort with the change in instruction modality. While all traditional students expressed that they and their professors struggled to master Zoom technology at the beginning of the transition, the OMSW students reported a contrary experience because they were already familiar with online learning. The traditional students stated that they and their faculty became increasingly familiar and confident with the technology as time progressed. As one traditional student participant put it, “Even the professors had some challenges with technology. A lot of them were unfamiliar with Zoom and didn’t even know what a breakroom was.” [A003]. Another participant put it differently. According to her, “We were all learning together. We were willing to learn and those of us who knew were willing to teach the professors who, I must say, were also open to letting us help them. In the end, we all got better together.” [A10].

4.2 Reactions to closure and instruction modality change

All participants in this study reported having significant concerns after receiving an email from the university informing them that there would be a change in instruction modality from traditional to remote format. Unlike the online students who were already used to the structure, discipline and independence associated with online learning, participants from the traditional programs described experiencing overwhelming feelings of fear, apprehension, nervousness, uncertainty, weariness, stress and anxiety. According to one student, “I felt that I could get sick at any time.” [A001]. Another student said,

When we were first told that we were moving virtual, I thought it would just be temporary, like two weeks. I said, ‘I think I can do it for a couple of weeks.’ Then as it kept prolonging, I think there was annoyance because I signed up to be an in-person student and then it got switched online, which I never wanted to do because of my ADHD. Yes, there was annoyance and fear of how well I could do. [A005].

According to another participant,

I was definitely scared. My mind was all over the place—like, what if I am sitting in class, I get Covid-19, and you have not told me what to do about that? What if my classmate gets Covid-19 and I am exposed? What is the policy that protects me or anyone else? I was anxious. [A004].

Other participants in this study repeated these sentiments. Furthermore, some participants said they feared that the modality change would make it difficult to build friendships or even learn online. According to one participant, “I was really looking forward to be around people, you know, build my own community this way. You know, the more people you have in your environment, I think it’s so much better.” [A003].

4.3 Field education

The CSWE directive that reduced the required number of field education hours provided some relief for field educators and students but did not fully resolve the myriad challenges that were associated with other aspects of field education. A significant difficulty for field educators at this university during this time was finding field placements for students. Most of the SSW’s community partners that would normally accept interns either were closed due to the pandemic or were unwilling to accept any students as they were struggling to contain the pandemic and wanted to protect their staff and clients from the spread of the virus.

To create opportunities for students to succeed, the field education department, working in conjunction with community agencies, created a set of alternative field placement options that made it possible for students to complete their internships without seeing clients in the traditional mode. This was possible because the organizations where students were placed were also operating remotely. Although it helped students meet their field education requirements, this alternative method of field placement met with mixed reviews from study participants. According to one student,

I was really looking forward to being at a field placement because I am a hands-on type of person. I was looking forward to working with the elderly in a place like a nursing home, but nursing homes were impacted very badly by Covid-19. But even if the nursing homes had space for interns, there was no way the school was going to take that chance. At the end of the day, everything works out, as it should. I still had a good experience interning at my job. [A008]

Two participants [A009, A011] described their alternative placement experiences as “excellent” and four [A004, A006, A011, A017] described their overall field experiences as “problematic,” “stressful” and having “unclear expectations,” and fraught with “unusually long onboarding processes”. One (A004) described communication with the field department as “poor and rare” and another [A006] described it as “confusing.” According to this participant, “Calls about field education were often not returned and sometimes it was hard to get anyone to address our problems. It was just kind of, like, no one had any answers for us about what was going on.” [A006]. Another participant said,

I was placed in a position that did not have a social worker with SIFI overseeing my placement, and there was a lot of confusion. I think that was directly related to the pandemic as well as the always changing the guard of who was running field at my campus. Luckily, I had an amazing field instructor and my field placement turned out to be an unforgettable experience. [A013]

All participants stated that the introduction of a new field education reporting technology system during the pandemic was a major source of high stress for them during the period. Twelve participants described their field experiences during this time in positive terms. According to one participant,

We struggled with Sonia—the new system for field. Then we would reach out to our field liaisons and field directors and they did not know what they were doing either. So, we all felt like, great, who are we to turn to? That is how it felt. I just wish they had kept it simple. [A011].

One student who had graduated by the time of this study stated that, because she did not feel that she received sufficient guidance in field education during the pandemic, she lacked the confidence to take on a job as an MSW graduate despite having several opportunities to do so.

Despite some expressions of unhappiness and disappointment, all participants reported feelings of gratitude and praise for their field instructors and faculty field liaisons who they described as having been supportive of them. All participants also commended the field education department for ensuring that the safety of every student was paramount in placement considerations.

According to one participant,

I got so lucky with my field supervisor and then my field liaison being Dr. P. That arrangement just made my experience the best I have had in this university in terms of field placements, truly. So, I think everything was done well. People in field department were available to talk to and there was a lot of communication and transparency. I think that they all did the best they could have done in the circumstances. I had a fulfilling internship. [A007]

Another participant said, “Unlike my first-year internship, the second year was phenomenal, robust and outstanding instruction for me. I couldn’t ask for more from my field liaison, Mr., G, and from the staff at MM Elementary School where I am interning.” [A004].

4.4 Personal struggles

Participants reported that they experienced many systemic and personal challenges during the pandemic. One participant [A017] summarized the challenges by saying: “The most glaring challenge was the uncertainty all around. You just never really knew what was going to be happening from week to week or month to month, and adapting to online learning was a difficult process”. Some participants expressed that they struggled with childcare issues because their grade school children also had to attend classes virtually due to school closures. As a result, students who were also working mothers had difficulty maintaining the appropriate balance between their employment and parenting roles while also being fully engaged as students, interns and in some cases also as spouses needing to tend to household chores.

Some participants reported that they were also caregivers for their own parents, which further complicated the challenges that they faced daily in trying to complete their academic assignments and fulfilling the needs of everyone around them while also making sure that the health needs of their parents were well attended to. Some participants also reported that they or their family members experienced job losses and they knew of several other students with similar experiences. They stated that this had significant financial impact on them and, in some cases, produced or exacerbated mental health issues with which they had to contend along with the education-related challenges produced by the pandemic.

Ten participants in this study discussed a new social action initiative introduced during the pandemic and required of all graduate students in field education status. This program required students to work in groups throughout the semester to complete multiple assignments on selected environmental justice issues. The participants expressed support for having social action as a requirement but disapproved of the time commitment and the timing of the program’s inception. They described it as an added stressor at a time that was already difficult for them. One participant described it as follows:

I feel like social action was an example of the fact that some of the professors were not taking the lives of students into consideration, so they threw more things on us. You know, we are students who work full time, and try to take classes, maybe full time for some of us. It makes me feel like they did this to make themselves feel good, or to make the school look better, and did not look at how it would affect the students. I hope they take a better look at that social action next time. [A002].

One participant offered an alternative to how social action was structured and implemented during the pandemic:

What they called social action wasn’t even different from academic work. How about having us spend time working in community service and real social action in our area, like deploy us to the women’s shelter, or a lunchbox like or a homeless shelter? Or have us you know, out in the field, even if it’s just working in a soup kitchen? I feel like that would be a better use of our time than doing another kind of what felt like academic busy work and calling it social action when we did not touch any community and when we are already taking academic courses. [A004]

4.5 Frustration with classroom management

Thirteen participants said they observed unusually loose classroom structures that enabled students to display a disturbing lack of etiquette, which would not have occurred had classes been in person. For example, some spoke of distractions caused by the actions of other students, such as students who would not turn on their cameras, and some others driving on the road, working, shopping or doing house chores with their cameras on while purportedly being in class at the same time. According to one participant,

All professors should have been able to say that cameras had to be on during class, that students should not outwardly be sitting slumped or lying down in bed at home or be on their phones in the middle of class, and that students needed to participate respectfully. You know, half the time, I sit in class, and people’s cameras are just off. I think there should be some kind of standard Zoom policy in place for students and professors, some kind of general guidelines. I think a policy like that could be really beneficial for the virtual classes. I mean, it says something when the professor is asking a question, and everyone’s camera is off—and this is all you see in the whole class of, like, 20 students. It is discouraging and upsetting. In addition, we are already so limited in our interactions with each other in the fact that we are not even looking at people’s faces. It is just tough but there should be some expectations on how we are supposed to behave. [A005].

Another participant said,

I think students just listened to professors and that exchange that you would have in person did not exist in most of my classes. So, most of us did not even explore the material initially because there was no interaction going on. [A007]

There was no uniformity in the experiences that participants reported about the impact of the pandemic on the quality of the education that they received during this time. While four participants expressed that they felt that the quality of education that they received was less than what they would have had in person, 15 participants expressed that the quality of education they received was either the same or better. According to one participant, “I feel like I got less than I would have in person, and it was hard and disappointing. I don’t blame anyone because there is nothing anyone could have done in the circumstances, but it was confusing.” [A015]. Another student expressed, “I do not feel that my learning necessarily suffered. I feel like the quality of what the professors brought was the same as what I would get in the classroom” [A019]. A participant also stated,

As far as my academic education, the majority of my teachers have been outstanding, whether they be in person or online. Different professors have different ways of presenting material, and different ways of handling and teaching class either in person or online. Some people and approaches just work for me better than others and I would say that the vast majority of my education has involved engaging with my professors, regardless of if it’s online learning or in person. I was also able to do that while learning online during the pandemic [A003].

4.6 Personal growth

The lessons learned from this pandemic experience provided students some impetus for reflection and personal growth. The following statements are what some of the participants said: “I learned that I can be very patient.” [A002]. “I was reminded that life is unpredictable.” [A008] “I learned that some of my classmates did not own laptops.” [A019]. “Seeing the professors struggle with the technology reminded me that we are all human and don’t know everything.” [A014]. “I became more dependable for everyone.” [A011]. “I learned to be flexible.” [A012].

Some participants said they learned about the value of self-care during the pandemic. They also learned how to identify and emphasize advantages that exist in the midst of difficult challenges. According to them, by working together to help professors learn the technology at the same time that some students were also learning, they were able to build community in some of their classes. Some participants reported that they created group chats rooms for their cohorts on WhatsApp and GroupMe platforms to help each other problem-solve between class days. As the social distancing rules became more relaxed, one cohort used their group chat room to schedule relaxation parties. This also had the advantage of helping them to understand the role that technology could play in social work education and practice.

Some students stated that taking remote classes during this period provided them with opportunities that they would most likely not have had. For example, three participants with young children expressed that, because classes were virtual, they were able to fulfill a long-held dream to return to school for graduate studies and still maintain their employment and their presence at home with their children. One of the participants described as follows,

I learned a lot about my family, the world and myself. I had wondered how I could maintain all of my different roles—as a parent, a partner and a student. It forced me to look for another place in my family. So, in a sense, it was both a challenge and a blessing. I became everyone’s cook, ensuring that there were three meals ready for everyone on time every day. I was also the backup teacher when someone could not get on a virtual class, forcing me to become competent in technology, and doing all of that at the same time that I was getting calls from my extended family members for things like doctor appointments while also trying to make space for myself for my school work. [A009]

Despite the challenges that they experienced, all students reported that they learned a lot more about the SSW during the pandemic and spoke glowingly about the efforts of the SSW to keep them safe and ensure that their education was delivered satisfactorily. Two participants expressed that they had considered withdrawing from school but were able to continue with their education because of the supportive systems, including advisement that the (SSW) had in place. One participant expressed disappointment that nobody from the school checked up on her periodically but, overwhelmingly, participants expressed that they found the SSW to be very efficient in handling all pandemic related crises. They applauded the SSW for providing them the opportunity to take classes across campuses, since classes were remote. As a result, they were able to take classes and experience professors that they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do.

All participants described as “great” or “excellent” the overall efforts made by the SSW to keep students abreast of all developments and to address student needs as they arose as. One participant’s comments effectively reflected the overwhelming sentiments expressed in this study:

I have nothing negative to say about the School of Social Work. They have consistently done their best throughout this period—making sure that we get the right field placement, doing everything they can to help s graduate in time, giving us hope that we would be able to go through the pandemic trauma together and answering our questions as best as they could. [A001]

4.7 Preparing for the next crisis

Social work programs should not assume that higher education will never again face a major crisis, although it is impossible to predict what that will be or when it will come. Some directions for preparation can be gleaned from the findings of this study to help any social work program fortify itself against potentially destabilizing shocks in the event that a major crisis, like a pandemic, occurs again. First, any social work program may be well served to create a standing group with the sole responsibility for crisis preparedness. Such preparedness must include plans for academic instruction, field education, and student, faculty and staff safety and wellness. Second, all members of the social work academic community must be apprised of the plan and the implementation steps to ensure that proper compliance and communication are effectively engaged during the crisis. Finally, in the tradition of social work practice, social work programs should engage in periodic evaluations of all aspects of their operations even in periods of calm to ensure that they can withstand a crisis when it occurs.

5 Discussion

This study was conducted to explore the living experiences of social work students through the pandemic. All academic programs experienced the effects of the pandemic, but we chose to study social work students for two reasons. First, we are social workers. Second, we did so because of the intricacies of social work education with its extensive requirements for field education, which continued to be a graduation requirement through the pandemic. In the circumstances, we wanted to understand how students experienced the challenges and associated policies.

All participants were interviewed to inform the study on how their university handled the pandemic era challenges and how they experienced the university’s efforts. The findings reveal challenges faced by field educators in designing and implementing policies to the satisfaction of all stakeholders. They also reveal struggles by some faculty having to teach in a modality that they had neither been familiar with nor trained in. There were also challenges for students having to learn through a modality that was suddenly thrust upon them and for which that had been unprepared. The findings also highlight the personal challenges of family and work responsibilities with which many social work students contend as they also work to fulfil the demands of social work education.

The successful process of planning, teaching and learning through the pandemic supports the underlying assumption of a system as a collection of subsystems that work together, each performing its own functions, for the main goal of aiding the success of the whole. Each group in the SSW (that is, administrators, faculty and students) had different tasks and levels of responsibility, and each faced significant challenges due to the pandemic. Despite that, the ability and willingness of members of each group to embrace their roles and work with others resulted in the successes that the SSW had in tackling the pandemic era crises. For example, students recognized the challenges that administrators and faculty faced and the hard work that they put into ensuring that students received instruction without major disruptions and the students ensured that they followed through with changing demands under the guidance of their faculty. As a result, they were able to overcome their own initial trepidations and succeed.

Ashcroft et al. [5] and Abrams and Szefler [18] found in their study that some students or their family members experienced job losses during the pandemic. This study had the same finding. This and other challenges that students face call for colleges and universities to pay particular attention to the important responsibility of investing in robust mental health care services for the benefit of their students.

Despite the significant challenges that the pandemic posed for social work education, the findings of this study highlight significant benefits accruing from the responses of higher education personnel and the CSWE, which is the gatekeeper of social work education in the United States. In most cases, the quick and flexible response by this SSW was a demonstration to students, who are future social workers, of the importance of instilling hope through readiness and concern for the welfare of others. This lesson was not lost on the participants in this study.

6 Implications of the study

The value of training all faculty in remote teaching cannot be overemphasized. This study highlights some of the difficulties that faculty may present who are not trained in remote teaching, and students who are unfamiliar with remote learning. Revelations about any classrooms fraught with distractions due to lack of clear rules of etiquette, inability of faculty to maintain control of the remote learning environment and difficulty building social relationships with fellow students stand as an emphasis for this point. Faculty who are trained to teach remotely would most likely be better in building community and therefore engaging students in their remote classrooms. The pandemic required a sudden shift from in-person to virtual learning and did not accord professors and students the opportunity to receive extensive (if any) training on that modality. As revealed in this study, some professors even wrestled initially with the basic functions of Zoom technology. It would be beneficial for the future of social work education if all new faculty received structured training on online teaching whether or not they will be teaching online. Training that integrates technology with social work practice would be beneficial for university professors going forward [19,20,21].

In discussing their lived experiences through the pandemic, the participants in this study also amplified the importance of student voices in higher education. Leaders of academic programs ought to maintain awareness that assessment is bi-directional—that students are assessing their programs as they are also assessing the students. Therefore, academic programs may be better served by inviting student voices to major decision-making expected to affect students in significant ways.

This study suggests a need to rethink how student success is defined in social work education. The focus is too often placed on academic success and not as much on other aspects of student life. However, while some participants measured student success in terms of their ability to perform well academically during this time, most participants defined student success in terms of their ability to juggle their multiple personal, educational and professional roles successfully. Therefore, consistent with the findings of Smoyer et al. [4], some participants in the study had high praise for instructors who they perceived as being supportive towards them.

The findings of this study will continue to be important not only for social work education, but also for other academic programs beyond the post-Covid 19 era. According to Storm [7], understanding the lived experiences of subjects helps in identifying existing gaps and how they should be addressed. Existing gaps may not only relate to service delivery but could also pertain to the resources available for service providers, and higher education instructors and administrators to make appropriate policies and accomplish their tasks effectively. Such gaps are not unique to social work education. Therefore, the findings of this study have relevance beyond social work education.

7 Limitations

Some of the findings of this study align with findings from other studies, for example [4, 5, 18, 22]. However, these findings may not be generalized to all schools of social work in the United States or elsewhere. Furthermore, this study spanned five campuses located in different parts of the state where the university is located and the campuses are different in their demographic features. However, it focused on the SSW of only one university in the United States.

All participants in this study were women because two male students who had expressed interest in participating did not follow up on scheduling their interviews. It is important to emphasize that this would not be unusual for a social work research study because, although men dominate the leadership positions in social work establishments [23, 24], women make up 84% of social workers and men make up only 16% [25].

8 Future research

It should be of interest to future researchers to learn if there is a difference in the skill set of new social work practitioners who were traditional students but ended up migrating to remote learning because of the pandemic and those who graduated and entered the profession prior to the pandemic. Future research should also explore the professional skills of social workers educated during the pandemic to determine the extent to which the pandemic affected their preparedness for professional practice.

9 Conclusion

This was a qualitative case study of the lived experiences of social work students through the pandemic. The findings revealed that students had mixed reactions to the forced school closure prompted by the pandemic, major challenges due to field education, personal circumstances and difficulties adjusting to new instruction modalities. They also experienced their own (and others’) resilience and successes due to collaborative efforts by professors and students. Although the challenges were numerous, the lived experiences of the students offer higher educators remarkable opportunities to learn from what happened, and to innovate and strengthen their programs in ways that they had not previously known or considered prior to the pandemic.