Developing people in a network of relational practices: reflections on the role of social work education

The mission of social work education in Flanders is threefold: to deliver education, to conduct research and to provide services to society. In our opinion social work education has a critical and liberating function towards society and it must stimulate and develop a critical attitude amongst students. In this article we first focus on the educational dimension of social work education as we practise this in one institute. Next we describe how we realise our objectives as a social work education institute in relation to the professional field. The central concept of our vision is social work as a relational practice.     

Evaluation of a Distance Learning,Post Graduate Advanced Award in Social Work Programme for Child and Family Social Work Supervisors and Mentors

This paper discusses open and distance learning and supervision in child and family social work, and presents the results of an evaluation by students of a distance learning, post graduate certificate programme for first‐line managers and supervisors in child and family social work. The programme also leads to an Advanced Award in Social Work. Eighteen students returned a postal questionnaire designed to gain their experiences of studying on the programme and their views about its different elements and its outcomes for themselves, their work, their organisations and service users. Most respondents thought that there were more advantages than disadvantages to studying by distance learning and to studying part‐time while working full‐time, but that self‐discipline is required and that workload constraints and difficulties in taking study time away from work impinged on their studies. More than half rated as good or very good the support provided by their mentors. Reported outcomes of studying on the programme included increased self‐confidence, enhanced supervisory practice, greater involvement of service users in service provision, and increased attention to gaining service user feedback. Key messages regarding the organisation of distance learning programmes are outlined, and pedagogical issues in post qualifying social work education are discussed, including the role of the mentor and the training needs of experienced staff or those working in specialised roles.     

Mixed‐Method Evaluation of Continuing Professional Development: Applications in Cultural Competence Training

Continuing professional development has been identified as an important tool for advancing the competence of social workers, yet outcomes of professional development are conventionally evaluated using methods that cannot provide trustworthy information about program effectiveness. This paper suggests that innovations in social research can be applied to strengthen the evaluation of educational outcomes from continuing professional development. The benefits of designing a mixed‐method evaluation of educational interventions are explored by reviewing the experience of implementing a cultural competence continuing professional development workshop series in Toronto, Canada. Review of the process demonstrates that the combination of methods results in a richer data set that can answer questions about both the process of the learning experience, and the effect that training has on professional practice.     

Promoting Deep Learning: A Teaching,Learning and Assessment Endeavour

The need for social workers to develop expertise in critical reflection is now a dominant theme in the literature. How this expertise is achieved, however, remains under‐explored in an environment increasingly focused on outcomes, evidence of performance and teachers' preoccupations with curriculum content and assessment. Students' understanding of critical reflection and how, if at all, their social work education assists in developing this capacity, continue to be under‐represented.

Applying a ‘deep‐learning’ framework, this article outlines an attempt to engage final year social work students in a teaching, learning and assessment exchange that promotes critical reflexivity. It presents the thinking behind the evolution of a unit focused on social work in public welfare and health settings. Using their final assessment exercise in which they are asked to review their learning, it then offers students' responses to that unit. In particular, the paper highlights the personalised practice visions offered by students as they seek to locate themselves, personally and professionally, before making the identity‐challenging transition from student to qualified practitioner.     

Experiences of Post‐Qualifying Study in Social Work

This article is based on a research project to explore the experiences of past and current candidates for post‐qualifying awards in social work in England. Also included in the study are the Leads of the post‐qualifying consortia in England. The study used questionnaire survey and nominal group techniques to gather data, which were coded and categorised into themes. The main findings relate to the perceived purposes of post‐qualifying study, motivations for undertaking post‐qualifying study, the factors that sustain and hinder study, the advice that those who have or who are experiencing post‐qualifying study would give to those about to start and future plans and hopes in this area.

Post‐qualifying study is generally valued, especially in relation to the opportunities it provides for professional development. The support of a mentor who has direct experience of the candidate's programme is highly prized, as are clear and consistent guidance from the programme and meaningful study time and workload relief from employers. There are also frustrations for some candidates who do not feel that their post‐qualifying study has stretched them beyond qualifying standards or who experience the teaching as divorced from the realities of daily practice. The appetite for a wider choice of post‐qualifying modules suggests that providers of post‐qualifying study will need to collaborate within and across regions in order to achieve a critical mass of candidates for more specialist or focused learning. The study suggests a need for further research to understand the impact of post‐qualifying study on candidates' social work practice.

The article concludes with two checklists of questions, one for individual candidates and another for agencies and programmes. These questions arise from the findings in the research.     

The role of service users in problem formulation and technical aspects of social research

The importance of the practitioner-researcher relationship in problem formulation derives from the need for relevance to the issues faced by practitioners. This paper argues that if research is to be relevant to the issues faced by service users, they too must be involved in problem formulation. There is a substantial literature on the moral case for user involvement in research but relatively little about the technical benefits. The paper sets out some distinctions in the meaning of user involvement in different models of social research, and, drawing on examples of user-led and user-controlled research, suggests not only that problem formulation benefits from user involvement but that several other key technical aspects of social research may also be improved.     

The trend toward multiple authorship in social work: A British and US comparison

This article provides a comparative analysis of publication trends in social work in the US and Great Britain. This exploratory effort seeks to identify possible explanations for the phenomenon of multiple authorship, the implications of multi-authored scholarship, and some of the potential ethical questions that may arise from such collaborations in regard to what constitutes legitimate contributions to a scholarly article or book. To the extent that common trends are emerging across international boundaries, the incentive for heightened communication and collaboration may be increased in an effort to identify implications and derive solutions to common problems.     

Professional Relationship Boundaries: A Social Work Teaching Module

Social workers are often challenged by the complex and ever‐changing dynamics within their relationships with clients, and struggle to find ethical responses within professional boundary grey zones where boundaries with clients can be difficult to identify, yet easy to cross. Social work educators attempt to prepare students for these complex situations, yet in the United States research reveals rates of social work boundary violations that lead one to question the efficacy of social work ethics education. This article describes the educational competencies and instructional strategies that comprise an adaptable course module which was developed in response to this challenge, and intended to increase students' self‐awareness, motivation and professional judgment‐making abilities related to their professional boundaries. The educational competencies for this course include the abilities to: identify boundary violations, apply critical thinking skills to complex professional relationship contexts, increase awareness of self and other, and initiate prevention strategies. In contrast to traditional approaches to education, this article describes instructional strategies that are based on adult‐learning principles, which have the purpose of effectively and creatively teaching topic areas in such a way as to produce behavioural change. These course topic areas include a ‘Professional Relationship Boundaries Continuum’ conceptual framework, boundary violation impacts, personal boundary vulnerabilities, blurring boundary indicators, and risk‐minimizing strategies.     

Equity vs. Invisibility: Sexual Orientation Issues in Social Work Ethics and Curricula Standards

The responsibility of the social work profession to be inclusive and equitable in its service provision is reviewed via policies relating to professional training regarding sexual orientation issues. A comparative review of Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA) and international standards regarding sexual orientation issues in social work codes of ethics and curricula standards was undertaken. A consistency exists in the USA between its ethics code and curriculum standards further backed by a mandated approach, but it is weak in the area of ethically principled practice skills. Both Canada and the UK are less consistent and comprehensive and lack a mandated approach. The results speak to where consistencies exist and where they need to be established in order to develop an infrastructure that properly trains social workers in cultural competency for these populations.     

Preparing the next generation of researchers

This paper examines the needs of new and future social work researchers in the light of the overall aims of this particular project. The author is an aspiring ‘new’ researcher and will examine her own personal experience, to date, of being part of a postgraduate research programme in order to clarify how we might best ensure that the next generation of researchers can contribute to the strategy which is being developed. The paper reviews the author's experience of research training to test its adequacy in preparing the next generation to meet the demands required and in consideration of current professional develop ments around social work and social care. The paper will also consider who will be the members of this next generation and how the future agenda for the profession might potentially contribute to the development of a sound professional knowledge base and also influence the wider social science debate. The conclusions of this paper will draw together a number of key issues that have been highlighted so far and give a perspective on these which links values, knowledge and skills in ways which might usefully promote further debate and constructive resolution.