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Welcome to the West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership newsletter.
In this newsletter, we will keep you informed on updates, developments, events, masterclasses, best practice and research, within the West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership.
In this edition:
I have been a social worker for over thirty years. I worked in local authorities as a practitioner and Practice Educator and then, having found supervising and developing students particularly rewarding, moved into a social work learning and development role. My interest in improving practice learning from both the student and employer perspective led me to join a government Practice Learning Taskforce as a Change Agent for the West Midlands in 2002 to support the implementation of the Social Work Degree. This was an amazing experience and I had the opportunity to work regionally and nationally with employers and universities on projects, research and initiatives to improve the quality and supply of placements.
After the Taskforce finished, I obtained a position with Skills for Care and remained there until the end of 2017. Working in the national social work team on initiatives such as the Practice Educator Professional Standards, Quality Assurance for Practice Learning, ASYE and most recently the Knowledge and Skills Statement for Practice Supervisors was very rewarding and it’s good to see that those projects still have a place in social work today.
I was self-employed after leaving Skills for Care and had a number of contracts including working as a National Assessment and Accreditation Assessor and as an Independent Chair for Continuing Healthcare funding for NHS England.
I was thrilled to be offered the post of Partnership Programme Manager for the West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership. The role seems a natural progression for me and is an exciting opportunity to work directly with employers and universities on all facets of social work learning, development and education.
Our Programme Team is evolving. The Consultant Social Workers started at the beginning of July and I started in late June and we are all working hard to get to know partners, understand their priorities and embed a new structure to ensure we can be as efficient and effective as possible. I have enjoyed the first month and am looking forward to developing productive relationships and collaborative solutions with you all as the year progresses.
Cheryl Wall, Partnership Programme Manager, West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership
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EBEs – or Experts by Experience – are service users and carers who are fundamental to both the admissions process and delivery of many of the courses in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences at Birmingham City University. The current coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for everyone, not least our EBEs, who come from all walks of life. Many of them shy away from computer systems, and a number of them have had to self-isolate since middle of March due to their own age and/or either their own health or that of those people they care for.
We spoke to Reshma Patel, Expert by Experience Consultant from our Social Work Department, to find out how we’ve stayed in touch with our EBEs during the lockdown and why it’s so important.
“As a team we’ve always strived to breakdown perceived barriers and ensure coproduction exists throughout all Social Work Programmes by working with Experts by Experience, but COVID-19 is indiscriminate and has impacted on everyone’s lives that not a single human being has been living their previous lifestyle. It has highlighted both the commonality between all of us and how we have experienced this pandemic in different ways. Everyone has had to adjust to this new norm and I really was not expecting to still be working while not on campus (wishful thinking!)."
Read more...
Reshma Patel, Expert by Experience Consultant, Birmingham City University
A research study is being undertaken as part of the University of York to explore the experiences of mental health practitioners who have faced an experience of discrimination from service users or their family.
The study comprises a short online national survey. All frontline mental health practitioners - doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, wellbeing coaches, support workers etc in the UK are invited to participate. The survey is open to those working in the NHS, Local Authority and Voluntary sector. It can be accessed through this link.
Find out more.
What is ‘Training to Teach’?
Staffordshire University are delivering ‘Training to Teach’ sessions for local social work practitioners wanting to develop skills in teaching and become involved in curriculum design on social work programmes.
These training sessions do not carry academic credits, but a certificate of completion will be granted at the end of the course for CPD evidence.
This Training to teach course will be a full day of teaching followed by a half day workshop. Staffordshire University will run two groups/cohorts of this to ensure inclusion from across the north of the region. There are 30 spaces on each session.
Please note that due to COVID-19, all training will be virtual via Microsoft Teams.
Each of the sessions will include:
- Consideration of environment: classrooms, lecture theatres, simulation suites, virtual.
- Exploration of delivery methods and pedagogy.
- Time spent with members of our service user and carer group regarding co-facilitation.
Cohort A
- Wednesday 19 August - 10am – 4pm, Microsoft Teams
Cohort B
- Tuesday 1 September - 10am – 4pm, Microsoft Teams
If you are interested, please email westmidlandsteachingpartnership@coventry.gov.uk to request an application form.
Read further information.
Worcestershire Children First (WCF) is the wholly owned Council Company providing an alternative delivery model for children's services across Worcestershire. Its mission is to make a positive impact on the lives of children and young people between the ages of 0 – 25 years, their families and carers, by providing outstanding child and young people-focused services where practice and practitioners flourish and life opportunities for all are maximised. The vision for WCF is for Worcestershire to be a wonderful place for all children and young people to grow up.
On 11 August 2020, WCF will launch the Positive Outcomes Project (POP) which is an innovative project that aims to deliver services for children and young people within their communities whilst providing high quality placements for student social workers. POP has worked closely with Worcestershire County Council’s Social Work Academy (SWA) in creating, planning and implementing the project. POP will continue to work collaboratively with the SWA to ensure that all students receive high quality practice learning opportunities with consistently high standards of practice education and supervision. Part of the investment of WCF in to POP is to provide practice learning opportunities for student social workers within children’s services to invest in our future workforce.
Read on.
Teresa Bufton, Team Manager, Worcestershire Children First
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 The West Midlands Social Work Teaching Partnership is pleased to share details of an additional Train the Trainer session available to Local Authorities, Trusts and HEIs within the Partnership.
The session that was postponed since April will now be held on 10 August 2020 and led by Prospera Tedam.
The session is available to people who are interested in delivering this material in their own organisation. This may be of interest to people who are already facilitating sessions for practice educators or for experienced practice educators who would like to develop their skills in delivering material to others.
It aims to keep Practice Educators up to date with the latest developments in Practice Education and support Practice Educators who may not have supported a student recently or have qualifications which have lost their currency.
The session will focus on:
- Promoting equality and valuing diversity in practice learning
- Creating and sustaining professional relationships in practice learning
If you are interested in attending the session, please contact Nicole.Collins@coventry.gov.uk.
Staffordshire University have recently received ethical approval to commence research into the impact of the legislative changes to social work practice in response to COVID-19.
As a result, they have created a short anonymous questionnaire for all social workers to complete.
Full information regarding the research project is contained within the questionnaire, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
Complete the survey and find out more.
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