Involvement of the voluntary sector in the diploma of Social Work Curriculum: A regional study

This paper explores the involvement of voluntary organisations in three Diploma of Social Work programmes in the North East of England. It focuses on their involvement in management, and curriculum planning and delivery. Issues of power and representation are fundamental to this involvement and consequently to this paper. The paper looks in detail at the approach to involving voluntary organisations in one programme, and compares the process and results of this approach with those of the other two programmes in the region studied. Throughout, the paper incorporates two perspectives: that of the programmes and that of the voluntary organisations. This paper concludes with suggested methods for involving voluntary organisations more closely in the management and curriculum development of DipSW programmes and demonstrates this with particular reference to the Black voluntary sector.