Troubling Times for British Social Work Education?

Although the creation of a new framework for qualifying education in social work combined with the introduction of a new framework for post qualifying education appears to have clarified and protected the future of social work in Britain, there remain a number of problems which these developments have not resolved. Indeed, as I will argue, their implementation has created a set of new questions that could derail the best intentions for the development of British social work. The purpose of this paper is to identify the scope of these problems, which potentially affect the provision both of qualifying and post qualifying education. It is suggested that while these issues may particularly impact upon social work education in England, it is probable that they will also present a problem for other countries in the United Kingdom.     

Social Work and Sustainable Social Development: Teaching and Learning Strategies for ‘Green Social Work’ Curriculum

It is increasingly recognized that social work has a vital role to play in shaping effective responses to environmental degradation, climate change and disasters. Innovative teaching and learning strategies can be used to facilitate understanding of complex, interrelated and systemic social, economic and environmental challenges. This article shares the development and design of a new social work course entitled ‘Social work and sustainable social development’. Teaching methods and strategies are provided including individual and group mind maps, case studies and presentations, guest speakers and evaluation methods. Implications for social work education and the profession are discussed in order to build capacity to address environmental justice and sustainability.     

From the Editor—Social Work Education for New Times

Abstract

A content analysis of 266 recommendation letters showed that males are more often associated with so-called male stereotype traits, while females are more often associated with so-called female stereotype traits. This outcome follows Gilligan's (1982) different voice theory: There are gender-based differences in values. It is argued that male and female voices should be merged to strengthen social work education and the profession and that an artificial male-female dichotomy should not set up.     

Social Workers’ Perspectives Regarding the DSM: Implications for Social Work Education

There is a decades-old debate in social work regarding the appropriateness of the use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by clinicians in this profession. Despite often contentious perspectives, there has been very little study regarding clinical social workers’ experiences, attitudes, and beliefs about the use of the DSM in their work. In this qualitative inquiry, 20 clinical social workers who had recently completed master’s of social work coursework and were working with children were interviewed using grounded theory methods. Results of the inquiry are presented and implications for social work education are discussed.     

Work–Family Conflict: Coping Strategies Adopted by Social Workers

There is a growing literature investigating the association between coping and work stress among social workers. An area that remains under-researched is the association between work–family conflict and coping. The present study explored the coping strategies adopted by social workers in dealing with the competing demands emanating from their work and family domains. In a larger study involving 439 Australian social workers, we analyzed the responses to two open-ended questions that explored the challenges experienced by social workers in meeting their work and family demands, and the coping strategies they adopt to deal with these challenges. The findings confirm that social workers experience work–family conflict and they adopt several coping strategies to deal with it including support from supervisors and colleagues, cognitive reframing, timely communication, setting clear expectations, time management, job flexibility and developing personal hobbies. We discuss the implications of our findings for social work policy and practice.     

Videoconferencing: A Viable Teaching Strategy for Social Work Education?

The findings of a study that examined students' reports about their experience with ITV are presented. The results are based on two different courses with different instructors and different composition of students. Results show that students in both sites report that the use of technology does not compromise their learning but they dislike it. Strategies for future research to understand the nature of the reaction are suggested.     

Social Work Training or Social Work Education? An Approach to Curriculum Design

Population ageing, economic circumstances and human behaviour are placing social welfare systems under great strain. In England, extensive reform of the social work profession is taking place. Training curricula are being redesigned in the context of new standards of competence for social workers—the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF). Students must be equipped on qualifying to address an extensive range of human problems, presenting major challenges to educators. Critical theory suggests an approach to tackle one such challenge—selecting the essential content required for areas of particular practice. Teaching on social work with older people is used to illustrate this. Habermas' theory of cognitive interests highlights the different professional roles served by the social work knowledge base—instrumental, interpretive and emancipatory. Howe's application of sociological theory distinguished four social work roles corresponding to these. It is suggested that curriculum design decisions must enable practitioners to operate in each. When preparing students to work with older people, educators therefore need to include interpretive and emancipatory perspectives, and not construct social work purely as an instrumental response to problems older people present. This approach provides one useful rationale for curriculum design decisions, which is applicable to other areas of practice, and to contexts outside England.     

Reconfiguring Social Work Education to Fight HIV–AIDS: A Model for Developmental Contexts

This article charts the response of social work educators in addressing HIV–AIDS. Based at the University of the West Indies in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the faculty within the Social Work Unit developed a model of teaching, research and practice that was innovative and transcended cultural, geographical and professional boundaries. The model has contributed a lasting legacy of knowledge and culturally relevant practices to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of social workers working with people living with HIV–AIDS (PLWHIV). Inherent in the propositions that underpinned the model was a belief in the role of education in alleviating psychosocial and other impacts of social problems. This article describes this unique initiative and discusses its relevance to current social work practice and the implications for contemporary social work education. The authors argue that while social work draws on a common body of knowledge, an established set of professional skills and a universal code of values, these central tenets of the profession should not be regarded as concrete and fixed but must be figured and reconfigured as needed to address emerging contemporary problems and their specific sociocultural manifestations.     

Improving Social Work Education in Vietnam Through International Cooperation: The ‘Social Work Education Enhancement Program’

This paper describes an initiative to improve social work education in Vietnam through a three-year international collaborative, including US Aid for International Development, San José State University, eight universities in Vietnam, Vietnam's government ministries, and Cisco Systems, Inc. The social work profession was officially recognized by the Vietnamese government in 2010. Despite the rapid expansion of social work education programs, there are significant limitations in the universities' ability to provide social work education. The goal of the Social Work Education Enhancement Program (SWEEP) is to strengthen the capacity of Vietnam's undergraduate social work programs to deliver quality education and prepare trained, job-ready social workers. The SWEEP project aims to improve the administration of social work education, the professional capacity of faculty, social work curriculum, and networking technology to enable centers for excellence in learning and scholarship. To ensure that the SWEEP team targeted training and technical assistance activities that were culturally congruent, a comprehensive needs assessment and frequent mid-course evaluations were conducted, showing many shared and unique contextual issues facing universities. The collaborative process of developing social work education which fits the local context can be replicated in other countries that are in the early stages of social work development.     

Research Note—Is Social Work Education a Form of Social Work Practice?

ABSTRACT

The inclusion of social work education as a form of practice has been missing from the debates on the need for a unified definition of social work practice. This Research Note reports the findings from interviews with 20 social work educators who were asked whether social work education is a form of social work practice and were encouraged to elaborate on their response. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis and revealed five themes. The findings contribute to the debate on the need for clarification among social work authorities in shaping the definition of social work practice and the need to provide a clear stance on the extent to which social work education is a form of social work practice.     

Perfecting the Craft: Formative Assessment of a University–Agency Partnership for Social Work Education

The aim of this study was to identify strengths and weaknesses of a Title IV-E partnership for delivery of child welfare education in the United States. A formative assessment was conducted for a newly developed partnership between a public child welfare agency and seven institutes of higher education. Using a qualitative design, interviews were conducted with professionals from the agency and from each college/university, as well as with students enrolled in child welfare courses supported by the partnership. Findings address strengths and benefits of the partnership, lessons learned, and suggestions for enhancement of program administration, curricula, field placements, and recruitment and retention. Respondents described numerous benefits of the partnership, particularly its contribution to professionalism and commitment among child welfare workers, improving the field of child welfare, and promoting a focus on outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families. A concern to be addressed in future research and practice was integrating opportunities for education and career advancement for persons currently on staff at the public agency. Recommendations are discussed for improving university–agency partnerships in child welfare and beyond.     

Challenging Social Work Education’s Urban Legends

Urban legends circulate throughout society, including higher education and social work education. Some academic mythologies take on the status of a tradition—no matter the evidence or lack thereof—and continue to thrive, to influence thinking, and to shape norms, which, in turn, direct behaviors. As with urban legends, academic myths are able to overpower and dismiss the conclusions drawn from critical thinking processes. Accreditation standards, common program structures, and faculty behaviors and expectations have evolved over time grounded in and shaped by various legends. Social work educators applying critical thinking processes to their educational enterprise will be able to challenge with intellectual rigor the profession’s urban legends, which will then result in national standards and program models that are creative, proactive, and forward-thinking.     

Virtual Social Work Education—Theory and Experience

This paper critically analyses the experience of providing social work education over the Internet. It argues that the interactivity and responsivity integral to e‐learning are significant capabilities that can facilitate the kind of student centred learning in social work that is consonant with the emerging consensus on effective educational and professional practices. Associated with this it argues that e‐learning better provides equality of access and opportunity to a diverse range of students to pursue social work education through the creation of critical mass and technological adaptations to diverse needs. Research with a group of students who have pursued online learning is presented. The research indicates that though e‐learning is largely considered a positive and enabling experience by students, it is still experienced as isolating by most. A balance therefore needs to be struck in future between face to face and online interaction ensuring students are not isolated and that infrequent use of e‐learning does not delay engagement with the medium and the passing of online developmental milestones. This paper concludes that there is a longer term future for e‐learning within social work education but that this future needs to be based on androgenic constructivist strategies to student learning and a responsive blend of online and physical interactivity.     

Fit for Purpose? Post-Qualifying Social Work Education in Child Protection in Scotland

Recommendations for post-qualifying training and education in child protection social work consistently form part of the political response to child abuse scandals. The influence of child abuse politics upon the push towards post-qualifying training and education has been consistent across the United Kingdom. Within Scotland educators have been quick to respond to the market demand for programme provision and there is now a growing number of academic programmes being offered by higher education institutions. Yet despite post-qualifying training and education achieving the status of ‘panacea’ there is little in the way of a national dialogue about what post-qualifying training and education in social work child protection should look like. The parameters of this have not been subject to any kind of national debate and the Scottish academic community has not entered into a professional dialogue on these issues. More crucially, educators have not engaged in any level of identifiable evaluation of their provision and there is an absence of engagement with the scholarship of teaching child protection at the post-qualifying level. This paper connects with these issues to question whether the post-qualifying training and education delivered by Scotland's universities can be considered fit for purpose.     

Business in Social Work Education: A Historically Black University’s Social Work Entrepreneurship Project

The destabilization of the current economy has sparked increased interest in entrepreneurship, especially for underrepresented minority social work students. The entrepreneurial thinking of these social work students entering social work programs at historically Black colleges and universities needs to be fostered in a learning environment. This article describes a historically Black university’s creative social entrepreneurship venture in response to the Social Work Congress’s 2010 imperative “Business of Social Work—Infuse models of sustainable business and management practice in social work education and practice.” The social entrepreneurship project uses the interprofessional collaborative educational model and attempts to provide meaningful and relevant education to social work students interested in social entrepreneurship through the collaborative efforts of the university’s School of Social Work and the School of Business and Management.     

Teaching Note—Incorporating Social Innovation Content Into Macro Social Work Education

The practice of social innovation offers promising approaches for addressing social issues. Although many social innovation strategies are congruent with macro social work theory and practice, some of the insights and tactics that have emerged in the social innovation field have the potential to strengthen current macro practice. Based on our experiences with the social innovation program at the Boston College School of Social Work, we focus on 5 aspects of the social innovation cycle and suggest social innovation content that can be incorporated into macro social work curriculum.