This volume brings together prominent international scholars involved in both Western and indigenous social work across the globe - including James Midgley, Linda Briskman, Alean Al-Krenawi and John ...R. Graham - to discuss some of the most significant global trends and issues relating to indigenous and cross-cultural social work.
Social work field education in Canada is in crisis. New understanding and approaches are urgently needed. Innovative and sustainable models need to be explored and adopted. As professionals, social ...workers are expected to use research to inform their practice and to contribute to the production of research. Yet many social workers are reluctant to integrate research into their practice and into field education. Transforming Social Work Field Education encourages the adoption of research and scholarship into the practice of social work, especially field education. It offers current theoretical concepts and perspectives that shape social work field education and provides case studies of practice research grounded in the experiences of diverse communities and countries. Highlighting cutting-edge research and scholarship, each chapter addresses critical issues in social work practice and their implications for field education. Bringing together scholars at various stages of their careers, this book fosters a meaningful dialogue on the dynamic, complex, and multi-faceted nature of social work practice, research, and innovation in the critical area of field education. A vivid and original work, it stimulates interest and discussion on the integration of research and scholarship in social work field education in Canada and around the world. With contributions by: Wasif Ali, Helen Asrate Awoke, Kelemua Zenebe Ayele, Afework Eyasu Aynalem, Nicole Balbuena, Morgan Jean Banister, Natalie Beck Aguilera, Sheila Bell, Heather M. Boynton, Janice Chaplin Mailing, Emmanuel Chinlanga, Jill Ciesielski, Alise de Bie, Emma De Vynck, Cyerra Gage, Anita R. Gooding, Zipporah Greenslade, Annelise Hutchinson, Christine Anne Jenkins, Vibha Kausik, Ermias Kebede, Edward King, Kaltrina Kusari, William Lamar Medley, Karen Lok Yi Wong, Alexandra Katherine Mack, The Ottawa Adult Autism Initiative, Endalkachew Taye Shiferaw, Richardio Diego Suárez Rojas, Margaret Janse van Rensburg, Jennie Vengris, and Courtney Larissa Weaver
Abstract
This article is focused on the concern about the retention of child and family social workers in England. Retention of workers is seen as a major issue for the delivery of quality services ...for service users, stability of workforces and development of social work. The article reviews international studies in relation to retention identifying a gap in relation to studies that have followed up those who indicated they were going to leave child and family social work but were unable to say whether they acted on this intention or not. This study focuses on forty semi-structured interviews with child and family social workers in year 2 of a five-year longitudinal study half of whom had indicated they would remain or leave social work practice and followed them up to as whether they did so or not. The findings indicated that there were major similarities between those who left and those who stayed. However, the importance of the interaction of organisational, job role and individual factors provides organisations with opportunities to mitigate such challenging aspects of children and families social work so that their workers feel supported, and able to respond to these challenges positively.
This article focuses on the retention of child and family social workers. Such retention is important as it can impact upon service user experience, potentially result in an inexperienced workforce and in the local authority. This is not only an issue in the England, but also internationally. The article identifies the key issues from these international studies but notes that the intention to ‘stay’ or ‘leave’ has not been followed up to find out whether these intentions were carried out. This study follows up forty social workers who said they would leave or stay one year after this decision those identifying who actually left or stayed and why. In so doing, it provides an insight in key issues for social workers in relation to the culture of their organisation, managers support, supervision, the stress involved in the job and personal issues like caring responsibilities, health issues, reaching the age of retirement and most importantly the impact of the role on their families which can lead to ‘lightbulb moments’. Whilst local authorities cannot manage all these issues, the article argues that there are opportunities for local employers to make it more likely that their workers will remain with them.
Increasing attention has been paid to advancing new knowledge and teaching technologies in social work education. However, there is relatively less concern about social work educators' possession of ...social work qualities to demonstrate social work elements in teaching. This article argues that social work educators should regard themselves as both university teachers and 'social work teachers' using 'social work methods' to teach. Social work educators should model the core social work elements in their daily interactions with students. This article suggests that social work education should be regarded as a practice based on the characteristics of social work. It discusses the relationship between social work education and the foundations of social work and identifies the need to direct social work educators' attention to the meaning and importance of integrating core social work elements in social work education. It proposes nine core social work elements to advance the quality of social work education and presents effective ways to bring back social work elements into social work training.
Social work education now operates within a complex array of higher education imperatives while the practice context has changed to adapt to a culture with an emphasis on technical and instrumental ...approaches. In response, one Australian social work program has embarked on a curriculum redesign project to incorporate a consistent theoretical framework across the whole program. This paper presents the results of a scoping review, which aimed to inform the redesign by the identification of theoretical orientations of other social work programs. Anti-oppressive, critical and postmodern, critical race, First Nations and eco-social work frames dominated the literature. Positive psychological theories to support graduate resilience were present, as were a small number of systems frameworks. The analysis identified the relevance and importance of the 'implicit curriculum' concept that brings attention to the organizational cultures in which learning takes place. The multitude of conceptual papers compared to the dearth of implementation and evaluation papers may suggest institutional barriers to the implementation of whole curriculum theoretical frameworks. More implementation research is needed to better inform coherent theoretical orientations for social work education.
Soziale Kohäsion zu fördern und zu bewahren ist eine zentrale Herausforderung europäischer Gesellschaften. Basierend auf Beiträgen der ersten trinationalen Tagung von DGSA, OGSA und SGSA wird in ...diesem Sammelband thematisiert, welche Bedeutungen soziale Kohäsion für Individuen und Gesellschaften hat und wie Soziale Arbeit dazu beitragen kann, soziale Kohäsion als Grundlage freiheitlich demokratischer Gesellschaften zu fördern und zu bewahren.
Without a doubt, structural and institutionalised racism is still present in Britain and Europe, a factor that social work education and training has been slow to acknowledge.
In this timely new ...book, Lavalette and Penketh reveal that racism towards Britain's minority ethnic groups has undergone a process of change. They affirm the importance of social work to address issues of 'race' and racism in education and training by presenting a critical review of a this demanding aspect of social work practice.
Original in its approach, and with diverse perspectives from key practitioners in the field, the authors examine contemporary anti-racism, including racism towards Eastern European migrants, Roma people and asylum seekers. It also considers the implications of contemporary racism for current practice.
This is essential reading for anyone academically or professionally interested in social work, and the developments in this field of study post 9/11.
Abstract
Service user and carer involvement in social work education is well established in the UK and other countries. There has however been limited research on the outcomes of this for social work ...practice and its subsequent impact on service users and carers. This has been noted in a previous systematic review involving one of the current authors. The current review aimed to synthesise literature from the previous decade (2011–2020) and follows on from the earlier review. PRISMA scoping review guidelines were followed and twenty-eight papers met the inclusion criteria that were framed. Data were extracted and tabulated according to the framework for the evaluation of educational programmes used in the previous review and analysed using narrative synthesis. A ten-item critical appraisal checklist was used to assess the rigour of all papers. The findings were similar to the earlier review. Most studies were from the UK and few evaluated change in students’ skills or subsequent practice; none evaluated subsequent outcomes for service users and carers. All stakeholders were positive about the perceived benefits of service user and care involvement. Future research needs to use more robust evaluation methodologies and evaluate skills development for students and outcomes for service users and carers.
The end of social work Maylea, Chris
The British journal of social work,
03/2021, Volume:
51, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Abstract
Social work literature is saturated with calls to reform social work in diverse and contradictory ways. This article argues that the profession of social work cannot be reformed and must be ...abolished. Specifically, the master narrative of Anglophone social work must be abandoned along with the institutions which maintain it; the professional bodies, the academic discipline and the formal title. Four reasons for this are presented: social work’s lack of coherent theory base, the problem of professionalism, social work’s historical abuses and the profession’s inability to rise to contemporary challenges. The fundamental theoretical tensions in social work theory are identified as preventing the profession from reconciling its aims of assuaging individual suffering and achieving social justice. This has also hindered social work’s aspiration to professionalism, which is both distracting and actively prevents social workers from working with people and communities. While these issues may have once been resolvable, the historical and contemporary contexts prevent resolution. Social work’s uncertain theoretical foundations, desire for professional legitimacy, past abuses and contemporary failures put the profession beyond recovery. No solutions or resolutions are suggested. What pieces are to be salvaged from the wreck of social work must be determined by the post-social work world.
