Developing communities of practice

Groupwork, 2008

Social work in the UK has undergone a period of momentous change in the last decade with the introduction of a 'modernising agenda' that has increased managerial approaches to the organisation, development and delivery of services. Whilst posing a threat to some, these approaches are embedded and social workers must find ways of working within them to synthesise appropriate responses that promote the values and cultural heritage of social work within the new context. This paper considers the possibilities offered by communities of practice to develop learning organisations in which a managed and participatory approach to social care can be generated. A super-ordinate model of contending cultures is developed and practice that draws on and is predicated by groupwork principles is presented as a potential way forward.

Aranzadi, Thomson Reuters, 2022

Learning in Health and Social Care, 2003

The contemporary relationship between theory and practice in interprofessional learning and development is explored in the context of the United Kingdom (UK) government's multiple reform policies for 'modernizing' health and social care. As part of a 1-year action research programme, four local case studies in London are described. These illustrate the new collaborations being created and point to the importance of understanding, as a priority for future research and organizational developments in primary care, the changing and complex roles of non-statutory stakeholder agencies and process facilitation. Both are emerging as critical factors for effective policy implementation. Overall, the London-wide programme indicates the dysfunctional nature of excessively linear conceptual models, and the need, in practice, to espouse eclectic and dynamic approaches to theories for learning in health and social care.

NIHR open research, 2023

Efforts to build and foster adult social care research in England have historically encountered more challenges to its growth and expansion compared with health research, with a sector facing significant barriers in facilitating research activity due to a lack of resourcing, poor valuation or understanding of the profile of social care research. The landscape for supporting research in adult social care has been rather bleak, but in recent years there has been recognition of the need to foster a research community. The National Institute for Health and Care Research in England have committed to investing in social care research capacity by funding six adult social care partnerships, with one based in Southeast England. Three large online networking events were held in the first year of the project to engage managers and practitioners from the local authority and from the wider adult social care sector. These took place in July and November 2021, with a last event in March 2022. Two COPs were identified, following an ordering and thematising process of feedback 1 2 3 version 1

IntechOpen eBooks, 2024

In this article, a community-based working culture is introduced, and the development of social work orientations within a socially and culturally diverse community in Finland is examined through a case study. The objective is to expand understanding of the evolution of social work, grounding it in its ethical foundations. Two authors have previously synthesized competences of community social work; here, these competences are revisited in the context of recent practice development, with a focus on deconstructing power and knowledge. The assertion is that structures of thinking are a requisite to translate competencies into action, while moral courage and a tangible scope for action are essential to transforming practices. Tailoring social work to the lived experiences and contexts of those in need is imperative to effectively respond to evolving social challenges, some of which emanate from structural injustices.

European Journal of Social Work, 2020

van praktijkontwikkelaar, maar oneens over het mandaat voor PD, de toewijzing van deze rol en de benodigde competenties voor deze rol. De nadruk op collectieve betekenisgeving en de focus op de organisatiecontext en externe omgeving impliceert dat PD past bij de notie van connectieve professionaliteit. Maar het beschouwen van PD als een meta-activiteit waarvoor alleen sociaal werkers verantwoordelijk zijn, roept tevens vragen op over de bijdrage van PD aan het bevorderen van connectieve professionaliteit.

Australian Social Work, 2019

In a rapidly changing global environment, there have been renewed calls to position community development more centrally in social work, particularly in the face of contemporary practice challenges. This paper analyses the broad policy contexts of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change and discusses how these forces interact with social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland. The paper argues that sociopolitical forces both restrict and present opportunities for social work and community development practice and we seek to reactivate debate about the position of community development within changing and challenging contexts. IMPLICATIONS. Contextualises community development practice, policy, and research within contemporary environments of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change.. Critically evaluates implications and new opportunities for social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland.. Reactivates debate and analysis on the position of community development in contemporary social work as we move forward into the new decade, and the next global agenda for social work and social development.

Social Work

Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 2011

Evaluation research deals with practical questions of how practice is being carried out, how it can be studied and evaluated and how the outcomes can be communicated with the practice. In this article critical elements in evaluation practices are scrutinized from an evolutive perspective. It draws attention to the role of the researcher, the knowledge production and dissemination phases and how these have changed. It highlights the importance on practice connectedness and how this challenges the knowledge production processes. And concludes by stating that to be able to learn from practice, evaluation needs to evolve towards a more deliberative approach and have an active role both in science and society.

Social work practice has now taken the digital route. Social workers are expected to be astute project managers and crafty communicators through the digital media. Transnational approach in resolving local problems, resource mobilisation through unique collaborations and strategic dialogue are the most demanding needs as skills for trained social work professionals in the current era. In this age of shortcuts and instant results, social work gets limited to indicators, parameters and variables which define the project goals and remuneration packages. Only a handful of social work professionals engage in people's movements, civil society coalitions and individual practice. Some social workers do get into academia and very few start their own initiatives. Even the political arenas are opening up for social work professionals. In areas like social legislation and public interest laws are also creating enough space for social work professionals to practice social action and social work research to address critical social problems. Indian social problems are so multidimensional that any intervention is always less to address it completely. All the life-cycle problems of people need social work practitioners at every stage. Individuals and communities are both battling with market shifts and changes in their external environment where growth is valued more than human development. Under such circumstances the ideas of circular economy and sustainable business models are being floated in the profit oriented economies. This has brought in further challenges for the social work professionals to address such dynamic approach through practice innovation. Contextual understandings of the clients, social problems and diverse intervention strategies have become a norm in social work practice. Grounded theories from the interventions of social workers in their field realities needs to be constantly documented shared and promoted so that strategies of strengths can improve the worker's skill sets. Social work practice needs to be incorporated into all the line departments in the state agencies and also in public institutions where social work concerns are addressed. Every grievance redress mechanism, human rights commission, women, labour, information, child protection commission must have a social work professional as a competent authority in the membership of such commissions. Social work practice needs to be part of the privatized public services related to health, education, hospitality, telecom, information technology and management agencies as well. In a neo-liberal economy, the social work practice cannot be a stand-alone practice and always opposing the capitalist ambitions rather they need to address the aberrations of the social realities within individuals, groups, communities and agencies. Social work education can also create opportunities which are not limited by linguistic, ethnic, cultural, social and economic differences. An atmosphere of learning and unlearning the differences in the diverse Indian context will resolve many systemic problems and encourage a culture of appreciative inquiry. Social work strategies of attitudinal change and motivational support can surely create a space for change and development.