Search results for ‘Subject term:"social work education"’ Sort:
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The shape of things to come
- Authors:
- BERESFORD Peter, TREVILLION Steve
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 14.3.96, 1996, pp.28-29.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
There is crisis in social work education, but there is also opportunity. The authors look at the arguments and ask where training goes from here.
Changing the culture: involving service users in social work education
- Author:
- BERESFORD Peter
- Publisher:
- Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work
- Publication year:
- 1994
- Pagination:
- 93p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Report based on material gathered from a consultation exercise with service users, educators and service providers in Nottingham in 1992. Places user involvement in context and goes on to look at overcoming barriers to user involvement in social work training. Outlines a coherent approach to involvement.
Mend the gap - strategies for user involvement in social work education
- Authors:
- ASKHEIM Ole Petter, BERESFORD Peter, HEULE Cecilia
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Education (The International Journal), 36(2), 2017, pp.128-140.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
A major strand in social work’s history has been its paternalistic character, partly due to a philanthropic tradition, but also to the tendency to import an individualist expert model into social work practice. As a result, gaps have arisen between expert and experiential knowledge. In this article, so called ‘gap mending strategies’ developed by the international network PowerUs are discussed. PowerUs consists of teachers and researchers from schools of social work and representatives from service user organisations in nine European countries. The gaps as the network identifies them are presented and we share some processes within our practices that mend or maintain gaps between service users and professionals. Two main strategies will be explored in more detail - a strategy that has been developed in the UK of mainstreaming service user participation in all stages of social work education, and a strategy that has been developed in Scandinavia of developing joint courses for social work students and students from service user organisations. A main conclusion is that alliances between educational institutions and service user organisations will be important to get a fuller understanding of what gaps we are facing and how they best could be mended. (Edited publisher abstract)
Service users, social work education and knowledge for social work practice
- Authors:
- BERESFORD Peter, BOXALL Kathy
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Education (The International Journal), 31(2), March 2012, pp.155-167.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article examines the implications of service user contributions to social work education in the light of historical critiques of disability research and recent developments in UK disability policy and practice. The paper reflects on the authors' dual service user and academic perspectives as well as their dual disability studies and social work disciplinary affiliations. Referring back to early critiques of disability research, it argues that isolated user involvement in social work education can be problematic, particularly where that involvement is under the control of the academy. Drawing on feminist critiques of traditional social science, the authors present arguments for the collective involvement of service users in research and underpinning knowledge for social work as well as in social work education. In ending, the experiences of disability studies scholars and feminist theorists suggest that if mental health service users whose views do not coincide with dominant biomedical understandings of ‘mental illness’ wish to influence UK social work education, it will be important to make significant inroads into the academy, perhaps by developing ‘mental health service user studies’ in a similar way to the development of disability studies in UK universities.
Meeting the challenge: social work education and the community care revolution
- Editors:
- TREVILLION Steve, BERESFORD Peter
- Publisher:
- National Institute for Social Work
- Publication year:
- 1995
- Pagination:
- 91p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Explores the relationship between community care and social work education. Draws together a wide range of views and perspectives including those of service users, educators, practitioners, policy makers and researchers. Offers both practical and theoretical perspectives.
Working together for better social work education
- Authors:
- BERESFORD Peter, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Education (The International Journal), 25(4), June 2006, pp.326-331.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article looks at the development of user involvement in social work education at national policy level. It is written by a group of service users who are involved in Shaping Our Lives, the national independent user controlled organisation and network. The article looks at the background of user involvement in social work education and the work that Shaping Our Lives has done in the past. The new social work qualification requires user involvement in all its aspects and stages. The results so far have been patchy. Service users have made it increasingly clear that they want to be more directly involved in developing this policy alongside other stakeholders. They are particularly keen that some of the funding available goes to user controlled organisations to help develop service users' capacity to get involved and to ensure diverse involvement. The article looks at problems there have been in taking this goal forward and a positive initiative that has developed to help make it happen, led by service users, working collaboratively with other stakeholders.
'Anti-Oppressive Practice': Emancipation or appropriation
- Authors:
- WILSON Anne, BERESFORD Peter
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 30(5), October 2000, pp.553-573.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article offers an initial critical discussion of the concept of anti-oppressive practice (AOP) from the perspectives of service users. Whilst acknowledging the emancipatory aspirations of anti-oppressive practice, it also considers its regressive potential. AOP has become central in social work theory and practice and indeed is sometimes presented as a key approach and theory of social work. This discussion highlights the failure so far significantly to involve service users and their organizations in the development of anti-oppressive social work impact upon service users; the problems raised by 'expert' appropriation of users' knowledge and experiences and the issues raised by the failure so far to address the use of social work and social care services as an area of difference and category of social division. Finally, the article examines alternatives to existing notions of anti-oppressive practice based on the equal involvement of service users.