2. Even though I am a ‘Social Worker’
• I am not ‘teaching’ you how to be Social
Workers…
• You are not studying a Social Work degree –
which has a technical requirement called ‘key
roles’.
• Social Work anyway, is a broad practice area:
Whatever images etc you think ‘Social Work’ is
there are many more roles and applications of
the discipline in the UK and abroad.
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3. Here are some examples:
I have worked in:
• Residential Social Work
• Youth Offending Team Social Work
• Education (Welfare) Social Work
• Family Support Social Work
• Looked After Children Social Work
• Child Protection Social Work
Each role was different, but each relied upon the
application of ‘Theory into Practice’.
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4. The Theory
• Although the narrow definition of this words
tends to mean a conclusive or hypothetical
explanation of actions or events, in education
we tend to use the term in a wider sense to
include any information/data that has been
obtained from a respectable written source:
EVIDENCE.
• When we use evidence to inform our
practice, this is called ‘EVIDENCED BASED
PRACTICE’.
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5. Evidence Based Practice and your
Studies
• If all of you in this group were experienced or
continuing practitioners, this module ‘Working
with Families’ would be presented very
differently:
• The theoretical/evidence content would
frequently be brought back to a question:
“…and how does this theory/evidence link
with what you DO in practice?”
• However…
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6. Imagine…
• Because the majority of you are not in regular
practice: This module is presented by bringing
you back to the hypothesis ‘What MIGHT you
do with this theory IF you were in practice?’
• This is a more difficult question for you to try
and answer: It requires you to try an envisage
yourself in a role that you are perhaps
unfamiliar.
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7. The Stereotypical Social Worker
• In order to ‘imagine’ yourself in role, you
might have constructed a model of ‘Social
Worker’ in your ‘minds eye’.
• This ‘model’ might simple or complex, have
accuracies and inaccuracies. It is perhaps a
stereotype. It is ‘abstract’ and ‘hypothetical’
• Hence, you have to struggle with abstract
theories and apply them to an abstract model!
(Mind blowing!)
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8. Before we move on…
I have introduced a few, perhaps
unfamiliar, words in this hand out; are you
confident that you are clear on their meaning?
• Concept
• Abstract
• Hypothetical
• A good starting point to begin understanding
hypothesis and hypothetical is the children’s
TV programme ‘Dinosaur Train’ (See Youtube).
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9. OK… Let me help you!
Read excerpt 1 in today’s Pack (Total Family
Support): Occupational Summary Sheet: Family
Support Worker.
• This role is one of many similar roles that you
might apply for upon graduating. (You will not
graduate as a ‘Social Worker’… Therefore, I am
not ‘teaching’ you (Social Work).
• NB ‘Concentrate on the message not the
messenger’.
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10. Statutory and Voluntary Intervention
• Many of those practitioners that support
families are not ‘Social Workers’.
• However, it is these Family Support roles that
can have the most impact upon families.
• These Family Support roles often work with
families in a voluntary and preventative
context.
• Let’s unpick these terms; voluntary and
preventative.
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11. ‘Theory’ (evidence base): It ‘began’
with Social Work (kind of!)
• Established theories such as
Maslow, Bronfenbrenner.
• The Children Act 1989 s.17
• The Department of Health (2000) Assessment of
Children in Need and their Families.
• The ECM ‘Change for Children’ Agenda (2003/04)
• The Children Act 2004
• The Common Assessment Framework (2006)
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12. Conclusion
• You have to continually develop your own internal
‘abstract’ models of ‘practice’ with families and
‘theories’. These models are never complete!
• You have to be able to ‘see’ the relationship between
theories/evidence: A good starting point is ‘compare
and contrast’.
• The more that you engage with these 2 processes of
building knowledge and apply this knowledge to
assignments the better your marks will be (You
win), and a more effective future practitioner you will
be (I win)
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