Taking a risk and playing it safe: the use of actors in interagency child protection training

Interagency training in child protection is an important part of engaging professionals in a common approach to their collective responsibility for safeguarding children. Training is a key method for empowering professionals to carry out their complex role in child protection with appropriate knowledge, skills and confidence. In Buckinghamshire, experiential learning involving actors has met with some success as part of the interagency child protection training programme. The following paper proposes the argument for using actors, describes how this is done and evaluates its effectiveness for participants, trainers and actors. It is suggested that this method has ample rewards if properly planned, particularly for practitioners in lessons for practice. A close working relationship must be developed between actors and trainers. Scenarios that seem real can be portrayed and skills can then be practised in the knowledge that no one is really being harmed but valuable lessons for real‐life situations can be learned. A central aspect is learning together in a supportive environment away from a blame culture. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multilingualism and European Identification

The literature on ethnicity and nationalism notes the centrality of language in group formation. Developments connected to globalization have simultaneously propitiated learning more than one language and the emergence of post‐national and pan‐ethnic identifications. This article brings the literature on ethnicity and nationalism to bear on the analysis of these changes to assess the causal relationship between multilingualism (ML ) and European identification (EI ). Sociology and social psychology provide solid theoretical arguments for why they should be related. The article tests this relationship with Eurobarometer data from 2010. I show that ML has a causal impact on EI and that interaction helps mediate this relationship. The effect of language on EI is modest, however, and interaction does not appear to be the main mechanism mediating it. The article concludes with speculation as to the role of low relative cross‐national mobility in Europe as the main explanation for some of the findings.     

Parents as developing adult learners

Drawing largely on the literature from adult learning and development, this article presents parents as continuous learners whose critical reflections on their experiences with parenting can be rich fodder for their growth and development. Theories and models are highlighted that may suggest a wider repertoire of approaches for helping professionals who are facilitating parents in their learning and growth.     

Child care practice innovations: using a model of change to develop training strategies

Modernizing health and social services is a major part of the current government agenda in England. As a consequence of this agenda, social workers and their managers are faced with new initiatives designed to increase the effectiveness of social services. Managers and trainers frequently find themselves in a difficult position; they are expected to introduce innovations to a workforce who can feel overwhelmed by the degree and pace of change, and as a consequence some workers can be hostile or resistant to learning about, and working with, new initiatives. This paper describes ways in which a theoretical model of change can be used to analyse likely workforce responses to policy and practice innovations. Based on this analysis, consideration is given to the implications of these responses for training and staff development. The application of the model to the design and delivery of a training strategy is explored: the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (Department of Health, Department for Education and Employment and The Home Office, 2000) is used as a case example. (This framework is new assessment guidance issued by the Department of Health for use in England.) The paper describes ways in which the model can assist educators promote effective learning and support practitioners and their managers through major change. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Instruments of trainers' activity: the use of refentials in processes of recognition and validation of prior learning

In Portugal, recognition and validation of prior learning has emerged as an important training practice. Since 2001, it has been possible to obtain an academic certification by valuing learning, regardless of its origin. The current study was conducted with trainers and adults who were involved in processes of recognition, validation and certification of competences (RVCC). This research study, using qualitative research methods, described and tried to develop the comprehension of the use of referentials as instruments of trainers' activity. This analysis focused especially on three aspects: (i) the organization and development of RVCC processes; (ii) trainers' role in these processes; and (iii) the use of a referential as an instrument of activity. The findings suggested that the referential used in these processes mediates trainers' activity, functioning as competences identification guides. After an initial appropriation, trainers reconceptualize the referential by creating their own grids. There is clear variability in the use of this guiding document. Trainers revealed ambivalence towards the autonomy that they have in their work activity. Although they assess the opportunity to individually and freely create their work instruments in a positive way, they also lack a collective support and validation.     

No Lone Wolf: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Creating Safe Schools for LGBTQ Youth Through the Development of Allies

Research suggests that bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth is a national problem that requires immediate intervention. The purpose of this article is to (a) discuss the critical need for a multidisciplinary approach to creating safe schools for sexual minority youth utilizing a social justice framework, (b) present an allyhood model to serve as a training framework, and (c) offer an exemplar for schools. By embracing a multidisciplinary approach to address the safety and belonging needs of LGBTQ youth, school psychologists and counselors can become leaders of systems-level change, poised to make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ students.     

Overcoming bias toward same-sex couples: a case study from inside an MFT ethics classroom

This article illustrates a teaching case in which a marriage and family therapy (MFT) trainee learned to develop cultural sensitivity toward same-sex couples despite religious beliefs that put her at risk of discriminating against that population. The case took place during a marriage and family therapy ethics course in the spring of 2003. From two first-person perspectives, the authors illustrate the processes that facilitated the student's change, addressing the class activities, discussions, and pivotal moments of teaching and learning that promoted the student's cultural competency and helped her to resolve this personal and ethical dilemma. A set of classroom techniques (creating a safe environment, using a stance of curiosity, finding alternative learning formats, extrapolating ideas from multiple sources, and capitalizing on students' experiences outside of class) used in the case are detailed throughout the article.     

Assessment Made Visible: Individual and Collective Practices

In this article I argue that by connecting assessment to learning and instruction and by enacting assessment as a collective practice we can see new opportunities for learning. The concept of mediated action and the notion of a collective zone of proximal development are used to theorize assessment. Two cases are included to support and make empirically visible the conceptual argument. The first case involves student teachers who assess exam papers in an online environment. The second case involves peer-group assessment among learners in an upper secondary school. Through the conceptual argument and the supporting cases assessment emerges as a practice involving process as well as product and a practice in which learning, teaching, and assessment are mutually constitutive of learners' development. Finally, some implications for practice are discussed, including some challenges related to the tension between individual and collective approaches.     

Souls on Ice: Incorporating Emotion in Web-Based Education

SUMMARY

Emotions have been neglected in education and online education, in favor of a heavy emphasis on cognition and rationality. This article explores the significance of emotion in learning and how recent research is identifying some pathways and dynamics in the way emotions impact on learning and on web-based learning. Online learners have not been considered as “emotional beings” and web-based education has not addressed this dimension in any significant way. A constructivist, emotionally-oriented (CEO) model of web-based education is introduced which emphasizes safety, challenge, and new thinking, and offers several strategies to enhance the emotional experience of learners.     

Preparing to face the media in times of crisis: Training spokespersons’ verbal and nonverbal cues

Seventeen in-depth interviews with professional media trainers from Belgium were carried out to examine which recommendations are offered during media training of organizational spokespersons. The interviews reveal the recommendations of media trainers concerning verbal, visual, and vocal cues of spokespersons, with special focus on addressing the media in times of organizational crisis. The findings offer a structured overview of practical recommendations given by media trainers to organizational spokespersons. In addition, the findings put the scarce academic literature about the optimal verbal and nonverbal delivery of crisis responses into perspective, by showing if and how those theoretical aspects are addressed in practice. Based on these insights a research agenda for crisis communication delivery is set.     

Engaging Students in a Virtual Classroom: The Use of Bulletin Boards in Teaching and Learning for Chinese Learners

ABSTRACT

Chinese learners, being influenced by Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC), exhibit unique perceptions and behaviors in a web-based learning environment, such as passivity in expressing opinions and uncertainty about their learning without a teacher's assurance. Findings in this paper reflect such influences in a web-based social policy course for Chinese students which made extensive use of bulletin board discussion. In addition, their involvement in it is associated with how they feel about teachers' concern about their learning and whether expectations and assignments are clear. The paper recommends ways to improve web-based teaching and to facilitate Chinese learners in this new learning environment.     

Towards a ‘virtual’ world: Social isolation and struggles during the COVID‐19 pandemic as single women living alone

This article is a personal reflection of how the current COVID‐19 pandemic affects our working lives and wellbeing, as single female academics who live alone in the UK. We offer a dialogue of our daily lives of being confined at home with lockdown measures extended. In particular, we focus on the experience of, and coping with, isolation and loneliness. Is isolation making us more socially connected? Through ‘virtual’ working and changing learning environments for us as teachers and learners, we explore changes in our working life and subsequent changes in the domestic environment. By capturing our lived experiences, we create an intellectual and safe space to voice our emotional struggles — as ‘invisible’ isolated individuals containing and consuming loneliness on our own. We foster alternative conversations as to how we might engender new perspectives from single female academics to combat social isolation in the workplace.     

Co-training: Developing a model for practice

This article is an account of two workers' efforts to understand how and why co-training works. Advantages of co-work in the sphere of training are outlined, three models of co-training are described, and the methodology of the model used in practice is discussed. The workers are keen to promote co-training as a method of work which benefits both trainers and course participants. The article is based on their own experience and the authors would not want it to be viewed as a finished product but rather as the stage they have reached in understanding and developing a particular model of co-training. It is hoped that readers will be prompted to value and to share their own experiences of co-training.     

Developing Entrepreneurship in Social Work Through International Education. Reflections on a European Intensive Programme

This paper addresses the issue of introducing training on entrepreneurial skills in social work education and illustrates the opportunities offered for doing so by international courses. It presents a critical reflection on the concept of entrepreneurship in social work based on the case of a European Intensive Programme within the Erasmus scheme. It explores the potential of using active experiential learning methods in an international environment and of creating a situation where participants are confronted with ‘real world’ problems so that they can develop entrepreneurial skills. The paper argues that experiences of this kind provide new stimuli and contribute substantially to developing an entrepreneurial mentality, by which is meant innovative and proactive attitudes as well as skills to develop the resources with which to face social problems in an adverse context.     

Early Intervention in Portugal: Study of Professionals’ Perceptions

Early intervention (EI) has been characterized by considerable advances in its domain, which has had great repercussions in the implementation of the family-centered approach. These changes have had implications in the practices and in the adoption and learning of new values that should be implemented in EI. This study evaluates the professional perspectives regarding family-centered practices in EI programs in Portugal. The results highlight the importance of effective collaboration and coordination between health, education, and social services and the importance of providing child and family support in a natural context. These results reinforce the need to invest in professional training to improve the quality of services offered to families in EI.     

Creating a Culturally Safe Space When Teaching Aboriginal Content in Social Work: A Scoping Review

Teaching Aboriginal content in social work education presents risks of retraumatisation for students. There are international calls for a trauma-informed teaching model that creates cultural safety in the classroom. This study aimed to develop a trauma-informed model for social work education by reviewing the literature on cultural safety for Aboriginal peoples. This model incorporates key aspects of ensuring Aboriginal cultural safety: de-colonise social work education; collaborative partnerships; build relationships; critical reflection; develop cultural courage; and yarning and story-telling. It provides a valuable framework for creating a more equitable teaching and learning environment that also ensures the essential academic content is covered.

IMPLICATIONS

• Trauma underlies the historical, contemporary and cultural narratives of Aboriginal peoples. Students engaging in Aboriginal content that is traumatic can mean connecting with trauma that has occurred in their own lives.

• Trauma-informed teaching and learning will ensure that educators create culturally safe spaces that enable students to engage well with content.

• The adoption of the framework proposed in this paper may lead to the creation of a culturally safe space for teaching and learning in social work education.

     

Issues of Isolation and Intimacy for the HIV Infected,Sexually Addicted Gay Male in Group Psychotherapy

The pertinent issues of isolation and intimacy with sexually addicted, HIV infected gay males was researched from the perspective of group psychotherapy as a treatment modality. The purpose of the article was to highlight shame based feelings associated with being sexually addicted and HIV diagnosed with the subsequent behaviors of isolation and difficulties with intimacy. The group model is examined as a means towards alleviating isolation and helping the client form new ways towards bonding and forming intimacy. Group interventions are seen to be helpful in lessening sexual compulsivity, creating new forms of relating and providing a safe environment for an individual dealing with HIV disease.     

The role of social anxiety in volunteering

The volunteer management literature suggests that the most effective means of recruitment is personal asking. However, agencies that apply this method do not report the expected success in volunteer recruitment. Often they face the volunteer recruitment fallacy: those people assumed to be interested in volunteering do not necessarily volunteer. Based on the literature of shyness or social anxiety and on empirical observations, this article suggests that social anxiety often deters volunteering by new recruits. We hypothesize that people with greater levels of social anxiety will be less likely to volunteer. Furthermore, we hypothesize that people with high social anxiety will prefer to give monetary support to worthy causes rather than volunteer their time, and if they do choose to volunteer, they will do so alongside friends. Our hypotheses are supported based on the findings from a large‐scale nonrandom sample in North America. We suggest how to avoid the volunteer recruitment fallacy by creating a personal environment in which high‐social‐anxiety recruits feel safe and accepted. By removing the fear of being negatively judged by strangers as they enter the agency and creating a more personal approach, new recruits may have a higher probability of becoming long‐term and consistent volunteers.     

Engaging through Learning—Learning through Engaging: An Alternative Approach to Professional Learning about Human Diversity

This paper presents an alternative framework for construing learning about human diversity as an ongoing, socially constructed, contextual process based in relational learning. The approach enables shifts in understanding for teachers, students, practitioners, client groups and organizations. Conceived to strengthen professional social workers' capacity for on the job learning, this approach provides another entry point for social work faculty to conceptualize the learning process as relational, contextual and process based. It seeks to capitalize on the learning process itself as a mechanism through which learners simultaneously engage one another around issues of culture, identity, and difference and learn through the engagement. The approach is guided by four conceptual touchstones, 14 years of social work practice in a global context, and eight iterations of teaching a masters level diversity course. Eight constructs animate this process approach. They include: exposure, engagement, emotion, empathy, narrative, personal disposition, the learning environment, and a sense of ‘self‐in‐relation’. In addition to illuminating the social structures and social processes that construct diversity, the approach can also engender the sense of relational solidarity among learners necessary for prolonged commitment to social change.