Participation and access for ‘equity’ students in social work and human services higher education: more than ‘bums on seats’?

Social work students in England now have to register with the General Social Care Council and ‘sign up to’ the codes of practice. These specify that social workers must not ‘behave in a way, in work or outside work, which would call into question [their] suitability to work in social care services'. This paper describes a small and ongoing piece of doctoral research into social work students' perceptions of professional regulation. The policy context for social work regulation is outlined, including the implications for social work educators and students. The paper discusses the ethical and methodological issues which arose when planning the study. In conclusion, regulation has benefits for service users and professionals, but its implementation involves difficult ethical decisions. When students' suitability is called into question, there are implications for their personal and professional identities: exploring these implications will be the focus of the next stage of the research.

My research is concerned with the development of social work students’ personal and professional identities in the light of policy changes introduced into social work education. Since April 2005, social work students have had to register with the General Social Care Council and ‘sign up to’ the Codes of Practice. The Codes specify that social workers must not ‘behave in a way, in work or outside work, which would call into question [their] suitability to work in social care services’. The research is of particular interest because the participants were among the first social work students to be registered; I hope that it will contribute to academic and professional debates. The study is informed by a poststructuralist approach to identity and discourse. I argue that social work education and professional registration are part of a regulatory discourse. The research questions explore some of the discursive resources that social work students draw on to construct their personal and professional identities. I begin by locating the study within contemporary debates in higher and professional education, and then review the literature about social work registration and its implications for students and social work education. These policy and educational developments are considered through the lens of poststructuralist concepts: discourse, power and subject positions; governmentality and resistance. Finally, my literature review explores some concepts of identity and professional identity. The empirical data is derived from seven semi-structured interviews with social work students. The transcripts were interrogated using a form of discourse analysis developed from the work of Potter and Wetherell (1987). The research findings suggest that this group of students see professional registration as an integral part of social work education and becoming qualified. Their talk indicates that registration brings students’ private lives into a more public domain than previously. However, the data suggests that social work education itself challenges and de-stabilises identity as students negotiate the boundary between being ‘unqualified’ and ‘professional’. So while registration does impact on how students behave and how they see themselves, this must be placed in the broader context of learning to be a professional social worker. The study concludes by considering the practical implications for social work education.

Social workers write a lot and their writing has a major impact on people's lives. The complexity of their writing task arises because they must deal with confidential client information while usually writing for multiple audiences. This means that social work students must achieve more than the basics of technical writing skills. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, after reviewing the literature on the importance and challenges of writing well in social work (and having hosted a number of writing workshops for social workers and human services practitioners), we argue that the development of students' writing skills must be framed within the social, political and ethical professional circumstances in which students will be working in the future. By teaching writing skills through the lens of the profession's ethics and values, students will be instilled with a greater understanding of the importance of writing. Second, we propose a model of ethical professional writing which integrates three essential elements that must conjoin in tandem: reflective mindfulness of the client-centred focus of writing responsibilities; a sound understanding of the values and principles of the social work and human services professions as highlighted in the unifying themes in various codes of ethics; and competence in compositional, rhetorical and technical writing skills. In particular, this article focuses on the second element of this model which is concerned with having a sound understanding of the values and principles of ethical professional writing. We conclude that this framework will promote writing competence and benefit clients.

ABSTRACTGeneral career research suggests that many factors may influence how people select a career, including information about or exposure to the career. The focus of this paper is upon how exposure to a social worker personally (e.g. friend or family) or in a therapeutic capacity (e.g. received social work therapy) may influence the decision to become a social worker, when compared to other disciplines. The results showed that 63% of 64 social work students had personal and/or professional exposure to social work prior to making a career decision. When compared to other students (n = 447) the social work students were significantly more likely to have accessed social work services (themselves or a family member). The influence of a friend who was a social worker and working with a social worker was noteworthy for mature-aged students. These results highlight that every interaction social workers have with the community provides valuable information about the profession and gives insight into social work as a career. Additionally, the results suggest that the increase in numbers of social workers and the influence of that exposure to a social worker have resulted in an increase in the use of social work services by students, and may continue to rise in the future.

This article links the development of service user involvement championed in the United Kingdom to two examples in Dutch-speaking qualifying social work programmes: one from Belgium and one from the Netherlands. In both projects, a longer lasting cooperation with more marginalised service users was established. The Belgium project highlights social work lecturers and service users living in poverty, working in tandem to deliver a module to social work and socio-educational care work students. The example from the Netherlands involves young people from a homeless shelter as peer-researchers, working together with social work students. Both projects, one focusing on social work education and on social work research, highlight striking similarities in the positives and challenges of working with service users including how this challenges both groups preconceptions of the other, deepens learning but also creates greater potential for confrontations which need to be managed creatively. The article also identifies the pre-requisites for this to be effective including appropriate resourcing, training, facilitative skills and acknowledges that collaborations can be extremely fragile. However, such projects need further investment, experimentation and implementation on an international scale to share learning and promote creative approaches for the development and learning of social work students.

Social Work Teaching Partnerships were developed in 2015 by the Department for Education in England to foster stronger links between social work employers and educators to improve the quality of social work graduates leaving universities. The initiative resulted in practising social workers entering universities in greater numbers to teach social work students. This paper focuses on how two practicing social workers – Elizabeth and Alex - were affected by teaching social work students in a university setting. The paper presents the practitioners’ reflections of teaching and its effects through short vignettes before examining these reflections by drawing on critical social theories. Social work teaching partnerships which encourage practitioners to spend time as social work teachers in the University classroom can produce unanticipated, positive effects for these practitioners. If the university classroom is seen as a “field” (Bourdieu, 1988), it can facilitate social workers to become objects of knowledge for social work students andto themselves. Interacting with students created opportunities for Elizabeth and Alex to reflect on their social work values, knowledge base, role, and practice. By asking unexpected questions in the classroom, students problematize (Foucault, 1984) what it means to be and to practice as a social worker. Consequently, classroom interactions with social work students can lead practitioners to think about how they would like to work. Elizabeth’s and Alex’s reflections of their classroom experiences may also help to inform and strengthen workforce retention policies in social work, as their self-efficacy increased and new possibilities for social work practice emerged.

The aim of the study was to test the U.S.A. Validated 'Attitude Towards Disabled Persons' Inventory (A.T.D.P. Form O) on a British student population to establish norms. The objectives were to test specific hypotheses related to the sex of the respondent, contact with physically disabled people and whether social work students had different attitude scores than non social work students. In addition, a comparison was made between the British and U.S.A. 'norms'. The student population of four specific British Universities comprised the sampling frame. The sample was a non probability accidental sample of social work and non social work students. Standardised A.T.D.P. Form Os were administered in group situations. Each form was accompanied by a letter explaining the study, together with a short questionnaire eliciting the sex of respondent and type and extent of any contact with disabled people. The findings demonstrated that there are probably differences between U.S.A. and British norms but that there are general similarities between the two countries. In both countries females, scored higher than males, which by interpretation indicates possibly a more favourable attitude. Contact with the disabled is also a contributing factor in higher scores. Social work students also tended to score more highly than non social work students. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the possible development of professional attitudes for those who work with the disabled. It is postulated that 'idealisation' may be reflected in attitudes of students who intend to work with the disabled which, after general and professional life experience gives way to less favourable attitudes. Closeness of contact of respondents to disabled people is a factor which needs further exploration in connection with changing attitude scores.

This article explores theoretical responses to the living structures of dominance and subordination within modern postcolonial societies, highlighting racialised international students’ experiences within Australian universities. Drawing on coloniality of power and border thinking, it seeks to address ethical responsibilities for social work and human service educators from the author’s positioning as a non-Western immigrant ‘Other’, and experience of belonging as an educator of future social work and human service practitioners in Australia. Utilising autoethnographic and qualitative study, the article offers great insight into the systemic nature of discrimination in Australian tertiary education institutions. It suggests a need for critical, self-reflexive awareness about the legacies of colonialism and hegemonic whiteness to permeate social work and human service profession and education. This article, thus, enables decolonising minds, securing informed understanding, and initiating a shift in the way non-white (and non-Western) racialised international social work students are seen, constructed, and understood in contemporary Australian (Western) societies.

Interprofessional education (IPE) ideally trains students from various disciplines together. Social work historically has lower status and power in the healthcare hierarchy, and little is known about how status differentials affect ‘social work voice’ during IPE. We explored ‘social work voice’ during an IPE event through social work students’, other disciplines’ students’, and social work faculty perspectives. We share the lessons learned from reflecting on events that occurred during the IPE event and during students’ and facilitators’ debriefing. Surveys were sent to all social work attendees and a random selection of students from other disciplines, with lower response rates than desired. A focus group was conducted with the social work facilitators. IPE attendees valued learning with varied disciplines. The social work contribution was acknowledged as unique and valued by other disciplines, even when social work students did not expect to be valued. Serendipitously, an interaction between social work students illustrated the obvious yet seldom recognized importance of students’ cultural influences. IPE organizers and faculty must attend to cultural and gender inputs when assisting social work (and other) students to find their ‘voice.’

Domestic violence and criminal justice training needs of social services workers

The centrality of service user and carer involvement in social work education in England is now well established, both in policy and practice. However, research evidence suggests their involvement in student assessments is underdeveloped and under researched. This study focused on the positioning of service users and carers in relation to other stakeholders involved in the assessments of social work students in England. Using narrative research methodology, 21 participants, including service users, carers, social work students, social work employers and social work educators, were offered a semi-structured individual interview. Participants’ narratives revealed different power relations among those involved in social work students’ assessments and a lack of confidence among service users and carers in making failed assessment recommendations. The paper concludes by arguing the case for social work educators and service user organisations to provide joint training to support service users and carers in their role as assessors of social work students.

Introduction - Part 1: Service user and carer involvement in social work education - where are we now? Hugh McLaughlin, June Sadd, Brendan McKeever and Joseph Duffy Introduction - Part 2: Service user and carer involvement in social work education - where are we now? Joe Duffy, Brendan McKeever, Hugh McLaughlin and June Sadd 1. Outcomes focused user involvement in social work education: applying knowledge to practice Susan Levy, Rowan Aiton, Jade Doig, John P. L. Dow, Shireen Brown, Liz Hunter and Ryan McNeil. 2. Lessons from a comparative study of user involvement Carolyn Gutman and Shulamit Ramon 3. Belonging to the library: humanising the space for social work education Robin Sen, Nora McClelland and Beverley Jowett 4. A journey of embedding mental health lived experience in social work education Kate P. Dorozenko, Sophie Ridley, Robyn Martin and Lyn Mahboub 5. Involving People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities in Social Work Education: Building Inclusive Practice Nicki Ward, Christian Raphael, Matthew Clark and Vicki Raphael 6. The benefits of prisoner participation in interdisciplinary learning Ben Raikes and Rachel Balen 7. Gaining by giving? Peer research into service user and carer perceptions of inclusivity in Higher Education Joy M. Rooney, Peter F. Unwin and Nina Osborne 8. Being a service user and a social work academic: balancing expert identities Joanna Fox 9. Role-played interviews with service users in preparation for social work practice: exploring students' and service users' experience of co-produced workshops Sara Hitchin 10. Learning from service users' involvement: a research about changing stigmatizing attitudes in social work students Elena Cabiati and Maria Luisa Raineri 11. The Meaningful Involvement of Service Users in Social Work Education: Examples from Belgium and The Netherlands Kristel Driessens, Hugh McLaughlin and Lia van Doorn 12. Mend the gap - strategies for user involvement in social work education Ole Petter Askheim, Peter Beresford and Cecilia Heule 13. Social work undergraduates and service users as co-learners and researchers Merav Moshe Grodofsky and Carolyn Gutman 14. A critical examination of the knowledge contribution service user and carer involvement brings to social work education Kieron Hatton 15. Expert by experience research as grounding for social work education Petra Videmsek 16. From service-user to social work examiner: not a bridge too far Hilda Loughran and Gary Broderick 17. What difference does it make? Findings of an impact study of service user and carer involvement on social work students' subsequent practice Mel Hughes 18. Life at the other end: participatory film-making, power and the `common third' Yohai Hakak and Kevin Holmes

Students studying undergraduate social work and human services (SWHS) degrees may have used health and human service agencies, before and during their university education. Using services provides them with insights that are useful for professional practice. However, this article identifies that they experience a fear of shame and stigma revealing this during their studies. In examining interview data from 15 undergraduate SWHS students they recounted how they integrated their experience of being a service user into their professional development. It is argued that insider knowledge of services can provide them with valuable insights for practice. Students spoke about how positive experiences motivated them to study and provided models of effective practice, exemplifying its potential power to assist those in need. Negative experiences of service use can also be beneficial for learning what ‘not to do’. Although students found the experience of service use invaluable, they felt it was never acknowledged within the curriculum. Consequently, students interviewed in this study identified service users as ‘others’. They feared disclosing their own use of services due to perceived shame and stigma. Failing to provide opportunity for students to integrate their service user experience into their professional development creates a false dichotomy which does not acknowledge the intersection of these dual identities.

Engagement is believed to be critical to a successful first year experience. This paper examines a range of strategies introduced into a first year Social Work and Human Services unit at Queensland University of Technology. The focus of these strategies was to enhance student engagement through building connections with peers, lecturers and the Social Work and Human Services professions. It is argued in this paper that students are more likely to continue with their studies if they are supported in building an emerging identity as both a university student and as a Social Work or Human Services practitioner. A range of strategies was introduced, including restructuring the unit to include an early intensive teaching block; inviting current practitioners to speak with students about the realities of practice; and embedding an academic skills component into the unit. Feedback from students highlighted the success of these strategies in developing their academic skills, building connections and embedding a sense of fit with the profession.

Psychodynamic casework is not as popular in social work theory and practice as it once was. It is considered by some to be impractical, unscientific, and not suitable for those customarily receiving a social work service. Task-centred casework, behavioural approaches, the newer psychotherapies, and family therapy have all taken over as major paradigms of social work method. This is especially so, I think, for the social worker working in a psychiatric setting, where many clients stay only for a short time and where emphasis is placed on assessment and short-term intervention. In this paper I shall argue that a psychodynamic approach in social work is still relevant; that it is important for its humanizing qualities, for understanding and working with people with severe problems and for, perhaps, helping us to locate the position of social work vis-a-vis other mental health professions. I shall do this by focusing on a particular case I had as a social work student on placement in a psychiatric da...