Winnicott’s “Potential Space” and the Jewish Study Hall for social work students,faculty and practitioners

Abstract

The article addresses the potential interface and dialogue between academic and quasi-academic spaces. In particular, it examines the space of the Jewish Study Hall (Beit Midrash) as facilitative of the professional as well as personal development of social work students and practitioners in an Israeli college. We examine how Winnicott’s potential space concept contributes to understanding the Study Hall’s uniqueness as an extracurricular learning space within the School of Social Work. Twenty participants in the Beit Midrash for Judaism and Social Work took part in the study. Thematic analysis of transcribed sessions revealed three themes: (1) The Beit Midrash as a peaceful, safe and inclusive physical space; (2) The Beit Midrash as a space for playing out different realities; and (3) The Beit Midrash as contributing to social work training. Findings indicate that potential spaces that embrace the metaphysical world can help students engaged in religion and spirituality to complement and expand their academic training. We conclude by recommending that Winnicottian potential spaces that embrace the metaphysical world be integrated in social work programmes.     

Children and Families’ Involvement in Social Work Decision Making

This review summarises the research literature on children’s and parents’ involvement in social work decision making, which is regarded, in policy terms, as increasingly important. In practice, however, it tends to be messy, difficult and compromised. Different individuals or groups may have different understandings of participation and related concepts, while differences of age and disability also mediate effective user engagement. The literature highlights common themes in effective participatory practice with both children and their parents. Central to this are the establishment of relationships of trust and respect, clear communication and information and appropriate support to participate.     

Policy advocacy for women's unpaid care work: comparing approaches and strategies in Nepal and Nigeria

This article focuses on policy advocacy programmes in Nepal and Nigeria, instigated by ActionAid International with local women's rights organisations and non-government organisations, and supported by the Institute of Development Studies, UK. These programmes aimed to challenge women's unequal responsibility for care work and to influence policymakers to understand the importance of providing services to support them. One of the main components of these programmes was child care, a responsibility which most women experience 24/7 for at least two decades of their lives, and which profoundly shapes their lives and opportunities. We examine the processes through which each of the country teams have engaged with public policies on this issue, focusing on the similarities and differences in each context. Although the programme of activities has been implemented in much the same way in both countries, and each chose to focus on early child-care provision as the main policy demand, the partnerships and policy processes chosen differ greatly. Specifically, we distinguish between ‘critical engagement’ (in the case of Nepal), as compared to ‘constructive engagement’ (in the case of Nigeria). The article ends with some reflections on the challenges facing the teams during their work, and the implications and lessons that can be drawn from these two case studies.     

Troubling the ‘Happy Family’: US Liberalism and Narratives of Transnational Adoption and Immigration from China

This essay connects adoption and immigration from China by considering the relationship between the adoptee and the Chinese nanny hired to care for her. I examine news media alongside Wendy Lee’s 2008 novel, Happy Family, which portrays the adoptive family through the perspective of a Fujianese immigrant domestic worker. Transnational adoption from China emerged in the early 1990s as undocumented immigration from the Fujian province rose, representing a major shift in Chinese immigration. These practices have been apprehended divergently in mainstream discourses. This essay approaches the family as a site of neoliberal privatization that frames adoption in terms of inclusion into US national ideologies of race, gender, and class, while undocumented immigration from China has been framed through exclusion. I argue that the nanny destabilizes the construction of the family as a space of depoliticized inclusion through her labor, revealing the neoliberal inequalities that shape both adoption and immigration.     

Action!: Student-Generated Videos in Social Work Education

Experiential learning is a vital aspect of social work education, particularly for teaching community practice. The literature, however, provides few examples of technology-based experiential assignments that educators can implement in their classrooms. This exploratory study examined an innovative student-generated video assignment developed for a social work community practice course. Thirty-seven former students spanning three distinct semesters completed an online survey of closed- and open-ended questions. Findings indicate the video assignment enhanced understanding of community practice and provided a unique diffusion factor. Participants appreciated how the video assignment differed from traditional assignments by offering opportunity for praxis, creativity, and acquisition of technological skills. Educators should note the challenges of student-generated videos to maximize their educational benefit and sustain student receptivity to such assignments. Teaching video-making skills has implications for post-graduation employment in the human service sector.     

‘A great job and a family’: work narratives and the work and family interaction

This article investigated how work narratives of dual-earner families are materially and symbolically configured in discourses of reconciliation of work and home life. Following critical studies of the work–family interaction, this research takes into consideration symbolic and social structures and tries to look into the interrelation of factors such as job resources, job satisfaction, levels of autonomy with the self-esteem and sense of ‘self’ which parents derive from their paid work. Hochschild's concept of ‘emotional culture’ is used to explore how parents' experience of work is intertwined to their occupational groups and how it is associated with different narratives of work–family interaction. This study is conducted through qualitative methods, using in-depth semi-structured interviews on a sample of 27 dual-earner families. The data collected are composed of in-depth accounts that are then examined through the method of narrative analysis. The data indicate that, for divergent occupational levels, work generates different material and symbolic resources, which account for divergent narratives of work and home. The sociological analysis of occupational levels with the associated emotional culture of work and family then provides an exploratory model for understanding the links between social class and work–family interaction.     

Gender differences in faculty attrition in the USA

In this study, we examined possible gender differences in reasons for faculty attrition during the last 20 years at a small women's liberal arts college. The attrition rate was calculated from archival data collected through old college directories. As in earlier studies, the attrition rate was higher for women (31%) than for men (18.5%). Reasons for leaving the college were assessed in an online survey completed by 45 out of 66 tenure-track or tenured professors who left (excluding retirees). Work–family conflict was the most frequently cited reason for leaving, with disproportionately more women than men giving this reason. Open-ended responses revealed that work–family conflict typically referred to the difficulty of coordinating two careers. Female faculty who left were also significantly more dissatisfied than males with the support for balancing work and family life at the college. The need for colleges to create spousal policies to help faculty coordinate dual careers was discussed.     

Implementing a strengths perspective in child welfare and protection: a challenge not to be taken lightly

Although it can be observed that the popularity of a strengths perspective in social work is increasing, social work researchers have articulated the necessity to gain empirical knowledge about actual social work practice that claims a strengths perspective. We explore the findings of recent research into a strengths-oriented pilot project in the field of child welfare and protection in Flanders (the Flemish speaking part of Belgium), in which we examined whether the strengths-oriented discourse in social work actually took place in the relationship between social workers and families in practice. The research reveals an ambiguous picture of the ways in which the strengths perspective can be implemented in practice, because social workers walk a tightrope between responsibilizing and governing families. We argue that the implementation process needs a conceptual and theoretical foundation that goes beyond mere eclecticism. We also argue that this demands a broadening of the focus of strengths-oriented social work from a relational to a political level, as this strengths-oriented social work practice remains situated within the broader social, economic, and political context.     

W(h)ither the academy? An exploration of the role of university social work in shaping the future of social work in Europe

A controversial proposal to pilot the training of child protection social workers through an intensive work-based route in England is being supported and funded by the UK Government. Frontline, the brainchild of a former teacher, locates social work training within local authorities (‘the agency’) rather than university social work departments (‘the academy’) and has stimulated debate amongst social work academics about their role in shaping the direction of the profession. As a contribution to this debate, this paper explores the duality of social work education, which derives its knowledge from both the academic social sciences and the experience of practice within social work agencies. While social work education has traditionally been delivered by the academy, this paper also explores whether the delivery of training in the allied professions of probation and nursing by ‘the agency’ is equally effective. Finally, this paper explores the Helsinki model which achieves a synergy of ‘academy’ and ‘agency’. It suggests that there are alternative models of social work education, practice and research which avoid dichotomies between the ‘academy’ and the ‘agency’ and enable the profession to be shaped by both social work academics and practitioners.