Whiting & Birch (E-Journals)
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The self in social work
Get PDFSocial work has a long and significant history in the use of the ‘self’. The first part of this paper is a contextualising discussion around recent reforms to social work. The second part is a historical examination of the conceptualisation of the self in the contemporary era. This discussion is intimately wedded to notions of identity, ‘social’ and conceptions of the self. This discussion will review the major philosophical understandings of self, before examining the ‘self’ in social work. Recently social workers have developed the term ‘use of self’ to indicate important aspects of the professional relationship and how this term is defined rests on how one conceptualises ‘self’.The final part of the paper will examine how social workers describe and involve the self that they bring to their therapeutic and non-therapeutic work. Participants in case-study, narrative accounts describe the self that they bring to their work as individualistic although at the same time stress the relational, positioned, relationship-based self. This examination carries the concept of the self from the notion of self as separate and constant to the self as a process in interaction
Editorial: Austerity and some contemporary challenges for professionalism
No full textThe early post cold-war consensus - that bourgeois democracy has solved the riddle of history and a global capitalist economy will usher in worldwide prosperity and peace - lies in tatters; but no plausible alternatives of political and economic organization are in sight (Mishra, 2013). Globalisation has everywhere rapidly weakened older forms of authority. ‘Conservatives’ institute revolutionary free-market ‘reforms’; meanwhile technocrats slash employment and welfare benefits, and immiserate entire societies and generations. Both main UK political parties - Conservative and Labour - advocate continued austerity, albeit for the latter it has been defined as ‘austerity-lite’, with a mainstream position arguing for a slower reduction of debt, involving some combinations of spending and tax adjustments that would depend on the growth of the economy and tax revenues. This position however has proved to be not uncomfortable with people becoming very rich – putting the blame for the crash and the economic pressure for a recovery from the crash, on labour rather than the greed, avarice and shady practices of capital
Competence units or holistic assessment: The language may be different but the challenges continue
Get PDFWhen public attention is focused upon the profession of social work, a typical response has been to change initial training and the learning outcomes by which students are assessed. Although social work education has employed competency frameworks for two decades the incompetence discourse and the concern about graduates’ ability to undertake competent social work practice continues. Empirical research problematized the competence phenomenon to explore practice educators’ experiences of using competency units and their perspectives of competence for social work. This paper draws upon findings from that research to explore the concept of holistic assessment and to suggest that educators need to reconsider the epistemological principles of assessment for social work practice
Sustaining partnership working in practice learning: An exploration of the perspectives of practice teachers and students
Get PDFThis paper reports the findings of a small-scale study undertaken by one university – Glasgow Caledonian University- to test the state of ‘partnership working’ between the university and placement providers. The study was conducted in two stages with 35 practice teachers responding to an on-line survey in stage one, and 16 practice teachers and students participating in interviews at stage 2. Overall findings indicate that the university has managed to sustain effective partnership working, despite organisational changes and resource constraints but that a number of improvements should be made to existing arrangements so that partnership working and the quality of practice learning can be further enhanced. It is evident that ‘independent practice teachers’ and ‘work-based supervisors’ have an increasing presence on the practice learning landscape, requiring a careful examination of their roles and responsibilities
Reflections on delivering interprofessional education in practice
Get PDFThe interprofessional education (IPE) programme in Aberdeen has been in existence since 2003. Commencing with undergraduate students from medicine and pharmacy, it expanded to include: applied biomedical science; diagnostic radiography; dietetics; midwifery; nursing; nutrition; occupational therapy; physiotherapy and social work. To cater for these different courses the programme has been diversified using blended learning strategies and innovative technologies. Models for practice delivery have been tried and tested, and research evidence has underpinned the development. This paper will highlight three of these tested models that can be used to deliver IPE in practice namely: simulation using gaming; face-to-face IPE in practice and the creation of virtual communities for student learning. A critical factor to enhancing the excellence of this curriculum development was the quality of the partnership working between the Universities and the practice settings. Fundamental to this was the staff development in IPE facilitation and training. Students demonstrated transferable skills from university to placement settings, applying their learning to interprofessional and inter-agency working. These formal and informal learning approaches have been crucial to the students’ acceptance of each other as equal partners in delivering health and social care
How does storytelling within higher education contribute to the learning experience of early years students?
Get PDFBackground and rationale. Reading stories telling stories is a familiar practice within primary education; furthermore there is recognition that stories are used within higher education. This study seeks to understand how storytelling within higher education contributes to the learning experience of early years students. It is anticipated that a deeper understanding of stories and storytelling in this context will lead to a greater appreciation of this resource and its enhanced use. Design/methods. A qualitative methodology was used. The participants included 45 early years students. All students involved in the study were employed as early years workers contributing to the care and education of children aged 0–5. Semi structured interviews and non-participant observations were completed to collect the data and thematic analysis was used in its interpretation. Findings. Participants saw multiple contributions of story and storytelling including the facilitation of learning, the enhancement of reflective practice and the reinforcement of professional/group culture. Story and storytelling provided opportunities for relaxation, entertainment and had a significant social impact. Certain activities encouraged storytelling and the most engaging stories were those that the listener could relate t
A Mentor’s PATH: Evaluating how service users can be involved as mentors for social work students on observational practice placements
Get PDFThis paper will explore the experience of service user involvement in social work education, examining the challenges of involving ‘seldom heard’ service user voices. Over a six month period, a group of four people with learning disabilities were supported and enabled to take on an assessment role as Mentors for four first year BA(Hons) Social Work students at the University of the West of Scotland. The article will focus on an evaluation of this pilot project and will outline the partnership work between the university and placement agency in planning, preparing, and supporting the mentors to carry out their role in supporting students on placement and assessing their communication skills, value base and readiness to practise. Central to the planning process was the use of PATH – a person centred planning tool. The evaluation will detail the crucial role played by the support staff in the placement agency, without whom this project would not have been possible.The evaluation was carried out using a mixed methods approach and embraced the principles and values of participatory action research. The evaluation provides insight into the experiences of the mentors, the students and support staff, and demonstrates that with the right support in place, and with commitment to thorough planning and preparation, seldom heard service users can be meaningfully involved in social work education
Promoting employment among people with disabilities: Challenges and solutions
No full textThis article focuses on difficulties that people with disabilities and reduced work capacity experience in employment and social participation, and on their rehabilitation goals, in order to make recommendations for policy and social and vocational rehabilitation service provision. A semi-structured interview procedure, which included the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0, was used to conduct initial needs assessments with 85 persons in Estonia. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results revealed that participants experienced multiple difficulties, which they mostly ascribed to unstable health conditions, that limited their abilities to participate in employment and social activities. A large number of participants also identified themselves as unemployed for health reasons and linked their rehabilitation goals to health restoration rather than becoming employed. Difficulties such as lack of work skills, unsuitable work tempo, mobility limitations, and emotional problems were also mentioned. To support people with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining employment, services must correspond to the persons´ need; and comprehensive, person-centred rehabilitation assessment, service planning, and budgeting mechanisms are needed. Supportive legislation, flexibility in service provision, and the availability of needs-based rehabilitation and other services, including lifelong learning opportunities, are also necessary to help people learn new work skil
De-stigmatizing sex work: Building knowledge for social work
No full textThis qualitative study illuminates a controversial perspective of sex work arguing that it should be treated as a legitimate occupation. The article draws on a series of interviews with sex workers, social workers and experts working in areas of support for sex workers in Sydney, New South Wales. Sex workers, social workers and experts’ perception is that sex work was perceived as empowering for sex workers. Contrary to the common images of sex workers as drug users, victims of violence or glamorous women, most of the sex workers in this study did not fit any of the common stereotypes. Sex workers also preferred to obtain support from other sex workers rather than more ‘powerful’ professionals. These findings have implications for social work and appear to demand greater support for opportunities for sex workers to have peer-to-peer interactions and support and understanding from professionals to provide them optimal support if they wanted to remain in the sex industry