scholarly journals Creating space to think and feel – Reflections on teaching, learning and practice in social work, with insights from social pedagogy

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Ganpatsingh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Reflecting Team ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
User Groups ◽  
Creative Media ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Television Plays ◽  
Work Education

The stories and identities of people who use social work services are often obscured by mass media stereotypes and labels – ‘failed asylum seekers’, ‘scroungers’, ‘troubled families’. The influence of managerialism compounds this problem, with space for thinking and feeling continually under pressure. This practice paper draws on ideas from social pedagogy to reflect on the benefits of a creative attempt to connect heads and hearts in the academy. Informed by an approach used with nursing students in Australia, social work undergraduates in London (England) were encouraged to engage with a range of creative media (newspapers, films, television, plays, social media) and journal about what they noticed. Drawing on narrative ideas, students reflected on portrayals of people that were ‘thin’ – labelling and oppressive – and ‘thick’ – revealing a richer picture of people’s lives, needs and capabilities. After putting together short stories or accounts of their own, based on their journaling, students were invited to share these in a type of ‘reflecting team’ with peers. This process invited students to develop critical and ethical perspectives through thinking about what had struck them, what they had understood differently about the service user groups, what resonated with them personally, and how this might affect their practice. This small example of creative practice is considered as part of a wider reflection on the value of a rich curriculum for social work education, holding out hope for humane practice in challenging times.

scholarly journals Law in Social Work Education: Reviewing the Evidence on Teaching, Learning and Assessment

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 547-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzy Braye ◽  
Michael Preston‐Shoot ◽  
Robert Johns
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Work Education

scholarly journals Using creativity, co-production and the common third in a communication skills module to identify and mend gaps between the stakeholders of social work education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Reith-Hall
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Work Education

The involvement of stakeholders – academics, service users and carers, students and practitioners – is thought to improve the quality of social work education, although few approaches and strategies for achieving this have been articulated. Even service-user and carer involvement, which is firmly embedded within social work courses in the UK, would benefit from being better theorised and researched. This paper considers how creativity, co-production and the common third helped social work academics from an English university and service users and carers from a local user-led organisation to design, deliver and evaluate a communication skills module for social work students. In spite of some challenges, effective and supportive relationships have developed, with a range of benefits becoming increasingly apparent. However, the strengths of this partnership highlighted gaps in the relationships with other stakeholders. In a conscious effort to overcome paternalistic traditions of transmission-oriented teaching, some gap-mending strategies were developed to involve students in the module’s design, delivery and evaluation. It is proposed that social pedagogy, with its focus on social inclusion and social justice, might help fulfil a current aim of British higher education, to work with students as partners and increase meaningful involvement and collaboration.

scholarly journals A social pedagogy lens for social work practice with return migrants

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaltrina Kusari ◽  
Christine A. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migration Crisis

The number of asylum rejections has increased in recent years, yet successful claims differ dependent on the originating county of the asylum seekers. In 2018, the European Union rejected 25 per cent of the 519,000 asylum requests which it received (Eurostat, 2019). Kosovars were the fourth-largest group of asylum seekers in Europe in 2015 and 96 per cent of them were rejected and returned to Kosova. Rejected asylum seekers and those who lose their temporary status are returned to their countries of origin partly because the EU endorses repatriation, or the return of forced migrants to their country of origin, as a preferred solution to the migration crisis. This, despite a significant body of research which substantiates that repatriation is not sustainable and current repatriation policies have seldom considered the experiences of rejected asylum seekers. Considering that social workers are the first point of contact for many rejected asylum seekers, models of practice which inform social work with this population are needed. This article uses the case of Kosovar returnees to examine the utility of a social pedagogy lens to better prepare social workers to work with returnees. Social pedagogy, with its dedication to social justice, the importance it places on local and regional contexts, as well as its attention to praxis, is well placed to guide social workers in partnering with return migrants as they navigate the complex realities of reintegration. While grounded in Kosova’s context, the social pedagogy framework has global implications considering the increasing number of return migrants worldwide.

Cross-Cultural Social Work: A Critical Approach to Teaching and Learning to Work Effectively across Intersectional Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-482
Author(s):  
Corry Azzopardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Cultural Sensitivity ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Class Room ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Work Education

Abstract All relationships in social work education and practice constitute sites of cross-cultural exchanges. In keeping with the profession’s social justice mandate and anti-oppressive principles, it is fundamental for emerging social workers to begin the life-long learning process of developing a congruent composite of awareness, values, knowledge and skills essential for working effectively across diverse social locations and intersectional identities. Grounded in a social justice framework, this article engages critically with the concept of cultural competence in social work pedagogy, explores the significance of diversity and intersectionality in social work education and proposes a multidimensional model for teaching, learning and evaluating cross-cultural sensitivity and responsivity in the social work class-room.

Social Pedagogy and Socio-educational Work with Young People

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-31
Author(s):  
Xavier Úcar
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Young People ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
Methodological Perspective ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Teaching Learning

The literature on social pedagogy has highlighted the difficulty for those in English-speaking contexts to gain a precise picture of social pedagogy due to its relatively recent incorporation into social work in English-speaking countries, where pedagogy has always referred to teaching–learning processes. In this chapter, social pedagogy is introduced as a theoretical and methodological perspective to work with people of any age, but specifically with the young. The theoretical traditions of social pedagogy in Europe and the diverse ways to professionalize in different countries are presented first. Next, the chapter analyzes the current characterization of social pedagogy and the main issues still pending. The chapter concludes by presenting the principals of social pedagogy when working with youngsters.

A Curious Curriculum Component: The Nonmandated "Given" of Field Seminar

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
Nancy Trantham Poe ◽  
Cindy Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Integrate Theory ◽  
Pedagogical Analysis ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Undergraduate Programs

Purported to integrate theory and practice, field seminars are a neglected area of pedagogical analysis in social work education. Most BSW programs contain seminar components although they are not required by accreditation standards. The authors conducted this research to examine the prevalence, purposes, and practices of BSW field integration seminars. Data were gathered from course descriptions published on the Web sites of undergraduate programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and a nationwide survey of BSW field directors. Findings indicate that field seminar is a ubiquitous curriculum component, with wide variation in conceptualization, format, and design; however, there are some striking commonalities in stated purposes, teaching/learning methods, and assignments. Findings also suggest seminars constitute a valued instructional modality in social work education, occupying a unique curricular space in BSW programs. Implications for curriculum development and further pedagogical examination are addressed.

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