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News - January 2008
Free conference about higher awards in PQ framework - 31st January 2008
The Advanced Practice Social Work Network (a network of universities in London providing Post Qualifying Advanced Award programmes), in liaison with Skills for Care, is organising a conference about the higher awards in the revised PQ framework. Its purpose is to provide information about the awards and their role in the continuing professional development of advanced social work practitioners. Providers of PQ higher specialist and advanced award programmes in London will also be available to informally discuss their courses. (If you are a PQ provider of higher specialist or advanced awards, and you haven’t done so already, please contact Edith at Skills for Care to book a stall!). Contributors to the day include employers, practitioners, academics and service users and a flyer is attached.
The conference is funded by Skills for Care and is completely free to attend. However, you must send a booking form to Edith Ifekwuna at Skills for Care at the address given in the flyer to register for it.
For more information, please click here
NEW TRUSTEES WANTED
Could you be a trustee?
We are 5 trustees who meet 3 times a year, usually in London. Following the recent resignation of a trustee, we are keen to hear from any qualified social worker who may be interested in becoming a trustee. We would be particularly interested in recruiting someone with experience in continuing professional development, higher education or who lives or works in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Interested? Please e-mail Brenda Toward, Chair by clicking here.
GENEROUS DONATIONS
Trustees are most grateful to have received a generous donation of £2000 to add to our funds for grants for the year.
As always, we continue to appreciate the ongoing support from those who make annual donations alongside their BASW subscriptions.
Many thanks to you all.
GRANTS
Towards the end of last year, trustees awarded 13 grants totalling £3900 to experienced social workers to develop their knowledge and skills. Most of them are studying for advanced awards in social work.
Trustees very much value the feedback that we get from those who complete their studies. Well done to you all!
Research Protocol Writing for Social Workers
A distance learning course using eLearning
Are you interested in:
- undertaking practitioner research but not sure how to proceed?
- receiving 1:1 tuition by distance learning on how to write a research proposal at minimal cost to you?
Then we may be able to help you.
At the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, we are developing an eLearning course for social workers who are interested in doing a modest piece of practitioner research but have no experience in writing research proposals.
This 12-week course will help you to write a research question, consider appropriate methods for answering it and prepare a proposal that will withstand scrutiny at research ethics or research governance committees. This course will also provide online teaching materials on research methods and statistics. Further information about the course can be found on our eLearning web pages at www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/swsc (follow the eLearning link on the right hand side of the page).
We are currently recruiting a group of 8 volunteers to pilot the course for us, starting on 14th January 2008. The course will take approximately 5-10 hours of study time each week, but as this is distance learning it can be made to fit in around existing work and home commitments. To ensure your commitment to completing the module, we are asking for a modest charge of £100 for the course, £50 of which will be returned on completion of the assignments.
On successful completion of the course students will receive 30 academic credits at masters level and 30 credits in the Post-Qualifying Framework for Social Work at Higher Specialist / Advanced Level (subject to approval by the Institute of Psychiatry Teaching Committee and our APEL arrangements).
The development of this course is funded by a grant from the Skills for Care Innovation Fund.
Further information: http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/swsc or martin.webber@iop.kcl.ac.uk
May 2007
Be Inspired!
The Be Inspired! Conference was a resounding success, according to those who attended. Held on 25th April at the City Conference Centre Moorgate London, this unique conference aimed to inspire, motivate and engage social workers, service users and carers by celebrating the best in social work practice.
It was the first conference:
organised by the Trust
with the theme of inspiring social workers
that explored the common ground between social workers and social enterprise
to showcase practitioner research as a driver for promoting best practice
Following requests, the speakers and workshop presentations are available by
clicking here to download the programme for this exciting event with hyperlinks to each presentation.
Highlights included:
Where does inspiration come from? Shirley Ayres
Transforming society; a new partnership between people who use services and social workers Simon Duffy
Developing the evidence base for social work; the importance of practitioner research Martin Webber
Showcasing practitioner research
1. Dave Pitcher - See the presentation
2. Karin Slack - See the presentation
3. Sally Mendham - See the presentation
4. Shirley Williams - See the presentation
5. Catherine Poulter - See the presentation
What values are important to a social entrepreneur? Jason Pegler
What inspires you in social work? Owen Davies
A society without values has no values David Brindle (chair)
See the staff
October 2006
Be Inspired! Social work literary influences
The account of one of the most series cases of child abuse in America, Oliver Twist and top authors such as George Orwell and John Steinbeck are among the literary works, which influenced many people across the UK to pursue a career in social work.
The summer survey for the Social Workers Educational Trust of 300 social care professionals in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has uncovered a rich and diverse range of literary influences.
Top of the list of fiction was George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris & London" and "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist", the 1914 novel by Robert Tresswell about the struggles of a group of plasterers and decorators which captures the flavour of working life and how capitalism operates in the workplace.
Dave Pelzer's account of his childhood abuse by his mother and his survival after being rescued at the age of 12, detailed in his autobiographical account "A Child Called It" was among the most influential non-fiction works to have steered many into considering social work as a career.
Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, a collection of papers written by Erving Goffman in 1961 about people living in what Goffman referred to as 'total institutions' such as mental hospitals and boarding schools, also decided the career path for most social workers.
The qualitative study is believed to be the first time a social work organisation has captured the diverse range of books, authors and literary characters that have contributed to social work practice.
Entitled "Be Inspired!" the online survey canvassed views from social workers across all four UK countries. Leading figures in social work including Lynne Berry, chief executive of the General Social Care Council; Anthony Douglas chief executive of CAFCASS; Andrea Rowe, chief executive of Skills for Care; Ian Johnston, director of BASW; Neelam Bhardwaja, the first Asian woman director of social services, and social work academic Michael Preston-Shoot were amongst the hundreds of respondents.
For Andrea Rowe, "The Growth of Self Esteem" by Murphy and Moriarty was instrumental in paving the way for a new approach to youth offending. "It gave me the grounding in 'normal' child development and led to me viewing young adult offenders as people with arrested development who needed safe opportunities to develop self esteem through play. Without this I would not have had the confidence to lead the Alternatives to Custody that I did."
Michael Leadbetter drew early inspiration from Freud's "The interpretation of dreams" to help decide upon a social work career. He later went on to become president of the Association of Directors of Social Services. "I was always intrigued by what people did, why, the choices taken, the choices not taken. I had also been 'written off' by various teachers. Having failed the 11 plus badly, I left secondary modern school, without any qualifications - under something of a cloud.
"In contrast to my brother 12 years older who had always been top of the class and had a PhD in chemistry and physics by his mid-20s. What had happened in my childhood that caused this, or was it, simply that I was just not terribly bright! I wanted to find out. Hence I read widely Freud, Oswald Schwartz, Jung, Maslow and latterly the work of Eric Bearn and Transactional Analysis."
SWET Summer Survey - Top Fiction and Non Fiction Books
FICTION
| Book Title |
Author |
| 1. Down & Out in Paris and London |
George Orwell |
| 2. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist |
Robert Tresswell |
| 3. To Kill a Mockingbird |
Harper Lee |
| 4. Skallagrigg |
William Horwood |
| 5. Kate & Emma |
Monica Dickens |
| 6. The Grapes of Wrath |
John Steinbeck |
| 7. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden |
Joanne Greenberg |
| 8. Kes |
Ken Loach |
| 9. Oliver Twist |
Charles Dickens |
| 10. The Colour Purple |
Alice Walker |
| 11. The curious incident of the dog
in the night-time |
Mark Haddon |
| 12. The Golden Notebook |
Doris Lessing |
NON-FICTION
| Book Title |
Author |
| 1. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation
of Mental Patients and Other Inmates |
Erving Goffman |
| 2. A Child Called It |
Dave Pelzer |
| 3. A child's Journey Through Placement |
Vera Fahlberg |
| 4. Dibs - in search of self |
Virginia Axline |
| 5. Social Work Practice |
Veronica Coulshed |
| 6. The Client Speaks: Working Class
Impressions of Casework |
Noel Timms & John E Mayer |
| 7. The Casework Relationship |
Felix P. Biestek |
| 8. The Skilled Helper: a systematic
approach to helping |
Gerard Egan |
| 9. Zen in the Art of Helping |
David Brandon |
| 10. Bury Me in My Boots |
Sally Trench |
| 11. Understanding Social Work: Preparing
for Practice |
Neil Thompson |
| 12. Games People Play: The Psychology
of Human Relationships |
Eric Berne |
| 13. Rules for Radicals |
Saul Alinksy |
Grants Awarded
In October 15 grants were awarded totalling £5,500. Most of these went to social work practitioners undertaking the post qualifying or advanced awards. Often these were also linked to academic awards such as an MA.
Social Workers Educational Trust 2006- Special Award
The Trustees decided to make a special award of £1000.This award will support the publication and free distribution of a book, which has been written by a social worker about her experiences of abuse in childhood.
Dates of Next Meetings Last date for grant applications
13th January 2007 13th February 2007
12th June 2007 12th May 2007
9th October 2007 9th September 2007
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The Social Workers’ Educational Trust. Registered Charity Number 313789
Correspondence should be addressed to:
The Honorary Secretary, Social Workers’ Educational Trust
BASW, 16 Kent Street, Birmingham, B5 6RD
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