The 5th Annual Social Work Conference will be held on Monday 4th July 2011

At the heart of social work lies the task of safeguarding and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children and adults. The Government’s vision for adult social care recognises the important role of social workers in supporting and protecting adults while empowering them to make their own decisions about shaping and buying services tailored to their needs. The Government has also commissioned reviews of a number of services affecting children and families which will have implications for social work reform, including the Munro Review of Child Protection.

In the current economic and political climate, the challenges and opportunities these developments pose for social work are immense and are reflected in the struggle for social work to define, enhance and promote itself as a profession. With rival bodies vying for leadership of a social work college, how can we come together to ensure that the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults remains our clear and urgent focus? These conflicts and opportunities are explored in this annual social work conference, which brings together the best in research and practice today.

Call for workshop papers and posters - Abstracts must be submitted by email to martin.webber@kcl.ac.uk by Friday 6th May

Keynote Speakers

Prof Eileen Munro, London School of Economics, on the Munro Review of Child Protection

Prof Stephen Scott, King’s College London, on how social workers can reduce child abuse

Prof Jill Manthorpe, King’s College London, on safeguarding older adults

Dr Jim Campbell, Queen’s University Belfast, on coercion in mental health services 

Book your place here

Booking Information

Early Bird rates before 16th May 2011

£80 – delegate fee (£120 after 16th May)
£40 – social work student (£80 after 16th May)
Free – service users, carers and unwaged (limited places only)
Free – Making Research Count members (bookings only accepted through training managers and sent to janet.noble@kcl.ac.uk

Tags: advanced social work practice, institute of psychiatry, Safeguarding Vulnerable Children and Adults, social work cpd

I have recently completed an audit and evaluation of the impact of the post qualifying (PQ) awards for social work practice across six London boroughs. The research was commissioned by Skills for Care London on behalf of the Social Work Development Partnership

Following consultation with a number of stakeholders we developed two online surveys. Staff with responsibility for post qualifying education and practice learning (PQ Leads) were asked for their views and the support they needed to promote the post qualifying framework. Social workers who had completed a post qualifying module or award were asked about their  motivations, the support offered by their employers,  the benefits and their experiences of studying for a post qualifying award.

Although it was small scale research project the findings are significant for employers, social workers, HR, Workforce Development and Learning and Development teams. There are key messages for  the Social Work Reform Board and the Munro Review of child protection: Better frontline services to protect children.

The PQ awards are highly valued by social workers who believe that they are more skilled, confident and reflective practitioners as a result of undertaking PQ study. Overall the majority of respondents felt that post qualifying training in their organisations was important or essential 47.5% of social workers believed that post qualifying training for social workers is very important and 18.7% stated that it is absolutely essential.

73.7% of social workers believe that there has been a direct impact upon their work with service users as a result of undertaking a post qualifying award. There was a particular focus on the importance of being able to reflect on practice and reaffirm the importance of social work values when working in multi-disciplinary settings.

Promoting, supporting and recognising the value of PQ learning is a valuable recruitment and retention strategy. Social workers in the survey placed a great deal of importance on their professional development and career advancement. Currently most local authorities do not have a career grade for advanced social work practitioners. The majority of responses indicated that the PQ framework is not embedded within a social work career pathway or linked with career development.  

Career progression and advancement is an area for development by local authorities to provide career pathways and develop a strategic approach to the recruitment and retention of social work staff. Local authorities who have developed a framework for career progression, which links with the post qualifying awards, could be promoted as exemplars of good practice.

There is an important link between the PQ awards and practice learning. 62% of those undertaking a PQ award had supervised a student. At a time when we need to ensure that high quality statutory placements are available the PQ awards have an important role to play in ensuring best practice standards are maintained.

Local authorities who have a dedicated lead for practice learning and the post qualifying awards are in a stronger position to contribute to the wider workforce agenda which includes the development of the InLaws framework and for children’s services implementing the One Children’s Workforce Tool.

Skills for Care London have developed a range of support materials and and resources. These include the Post Qualifying and Practice Learning Bulletin, the London Directory of Post Qualifying Programmes, the PQ Employers Guide to the PQ Framework and PQ case studies.

Sharing learning and knowledge is an important employer  benefit for  post qualifying education. The research indicated that PQ award holders have been involved in the development of policy within their organisation, writing for professional publications, running workshops, presenting at conferences and shared their learning with students to embed good practice within their organisations.  

Can employers afford to ignore the return on investment of improving social work practice through the post qualifying awards?

Download the report Evaluating the impact of the PQ awards and find out about the Key Messages for the Social Work Reform Board

Shirley Ayres Consulting specialise in impact audits and communication strategies linked to demonstrable outcomes. Contact info@shirleyayresconsulting.co.uk to discuss  how we can help you to evaluate and communicate the benefits of the services your organisation delivers.

Tags: advanced social work practice, improving social work practice, Leadership and Management, Learning and Development, post qualifying awards, research, researching the impact of post qualifying awards, ROI

The 4th National Continuing Professional Development Conference for Social Workers on the theme of ‘Integrated   Practice’ will be held at the Institute of Psychiatry on 14th September 2010.

 The conference features prominent keynote speakers, engaging workshops and a unique opportunity to network with professional colleagues from across the country.

Camila Batmanghelidjh from Kids Company http://www.kidsco.org.uk will be talking about the need for new paradigms of care.

Keynote papers will be given by:

Professor Peter Huxley ( Swansea University ) – Integration of health and social care in mental health services

Professor Nick Frost ( Leeds Metropolitan University ) – Integrated working in frontline children’s services: research, policy and practice

Professor Marian Barnes ( University of Brighton ) – Ethics of care in promoting effective dialogue between workers, service users and carers.

The conference will also feature an interactive plenary session on the theme: “Are families becoming more dangerous?”

Professor Colin Pritchard ( Bournemouth University ) will address the issue of ‘Who kills children?’, based on data presented in his recent British Journal of Social Work paper that hit the headlines.

Attendance at the conference will count towards your GSCC post registration training and learning requirements.

Further information and the online booking form can be found at www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/annualsocialworkconference. Early bird bookings are available until 31^st July. All Making Research Count bookings should be made by Learning and Development Managers to janet.noble@kcl.ac.uk.

Abstracts for parallel workshops throughout the day are still being received . If you or a colleague are interested in leading a workshop of relevance to the conference theme, please submit your abstract by 25^th June. Full information and an online abstract submission form are available from: www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/annualsocialworkconference.

Any questions? Contact Julie Smith, the conference organiser julie.smith@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Tags: advanced social work practice, be inspired, institute of psychiatry, integrated working, professional practice, Social Work

Social workers and people who use social work services are today being encouraged to shape The College of Social Work by taking part in a UK-wide consultation. You can join the online consultation on the College website. Events are also being organised in several regions in England. A total of 22 consultation sessions will be held; twelve events for social work practitioners and managers and ten for users of social work services and carers.

The College of Social Work will start functioning in the coming months; at present the College Development Group is ensuring that those vital contributions are being captured and given to the Interim Board of the College once it is established. The Development Group is overseeing the consultation, which starts today and runs until October.

The College Development Group Chair, Allan Bowman, stated that

“We’ve been looking forward to today because it’s when The College’s work can really begin. We need the input of social workers, people who use social work services and their carers. Their views will shape the way the College is run. We encourage everyone with views to come forward, either at the large number of events organised so that people can discuss their views, or they can go online and help shape their College.”

Some of the issues that can be discussed in the consultation include:

• Membership
• Purpose,  functions and activities
• Working with employers, regulators, and unions
• Continuing professional development

Through these consultation activities it is hoped that a shared understanding of the purpose and key objectives of the College will be developed, built on the direct contribution of social workers and the people who use social work services. The consultation process will also ensure that the design and plans for the College will meet needs of the profession now and in the future.

Welcoming the College Moira Gibb, Chair of the Social Work Reform Board said:

“A College of Social Work is an opportunity for social work to gain the authoritative and influential professional voice it deserves. It is important that from the outset the College speaks for the breadth of the profession and represents the views of all social workers. This consultation is a major opportunity for the whole sector to set the direction and control the future of the College. I urge all social workers, and those engaged with social work, to take this chance to help shape the future of our profession.”

The College is clear that it wants to have the input of everyone involved from across the UK and that it will cover all aspects of social work.

The College of Social Work website

Tags: advanced social work practice, college of social work, Leadership and Management, professional practice, research, scie, Social Work, social work is complex and challenging

It is really refreshing to read about the contribution made by practitioners to the very challenging area of workload allocation and caseload management. Biri Yaya and Carolyn Cousins are qualified social workers, managers and published authors who take a keen interest in what really makes a difference to supporting front line social workers and practitioners.

This article shares the essence of two case allocation tools developed by the authors and implemented in a local authority. One of the most difficult aspects of front line management is knowing there is yet more work that has to be allocated to an over stretched team. The temptation can be to allocate to those who are willing, or will offer the least resistance. As all managers know, some staff will over commit and agree to take on more, while others will resist work – and these can sometimes be the very staff who the manager suspects are the least busy.

Many social work offices still rely either on a team meeting forum for allocation – where the overworked but committed social worker puts their hand up to take on more, much to the relief of the manager, while others rarely offer to take on anything new, or the alternative system usually relies on the individual manager allocating work based on their own judgment of capacity, gained from the self report of the social workers. Neither of these systems openly or transparently determines capacity.

The Weighted Case Limit sets a standard across all staff in a team or service, it requires a set case load limit and that case weighting be pre-determined. It allows for better informed judgment of worker capacity for allocation. It also helps define and distil the kind of caseload that can assist the worker’s professional development.

The Individual Capacity Planner is tailored to each worker and aims to assess spare capacity. Here work load capacity is determined using a quick case by case analysis, and rather than use case number ceilings the tool examines the amount of time required for each case. This model has been used both in safeguarding and family support contexts. This model relies on social worker report, but it does introduce some analysis and accountability, beyond a simple, ‘I’m too busy’ or ‘I can take another case’.

A systematic approach that takes optimum capacity in the notionally available time and impacting factors have proved to be effective methods of case allocation. Download the full report including an exemplar of caseload weighting here. Tried and Tested Workload Management Allocation Tools

The authors welcome feedback on these approaches and thoughts from practitioners who use them in different contexts.

About the authors

Carolyn Cousins (MSW, MEd (Adult), Dip. Mgt) is a social worker and adult educator who has worked across the statutory, voluntary and health sectors both in the UK and Australia. She is currently the Assistant Director of Education and Training at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Fountain Trust. ccousins@tavi-port.org

Biri Yaya, (PhD, M.S.W) is an experienced qualified social worker and team manager . He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles. biriy@aol.com

Tags: advanced social work practice, caseload management, encouraging innovation, professional leadership in social work, professional practice, Social Work, social work reform board

http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination

Somehow, we have developed a culture that is gripped by the fear of failure. Now is the time to change and to make things happen differently.

http://shirleyayresconsulting.co.uk/advanced-practice-social-work-network/50000-social-workers-join-the-advanced-social-work-practice-network-on-linkedin-in-2010

I also recommend Romancing Your Soul Absolutely Brilliant! a powerful must view youtube video ~ watch it to the end for maximum impact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hds3jvjZY-Y

Tags: advanced social work practice, culture of fear, Harvard, JK Rowling, linkedin, managing change, Romancing Your Soul, the benefits of failure, the importance of imagination, YouTube video

“Do not wait for leaders. do it alone, person to person.”  ~ Mother Teresa

Help to make it happen
It is free to join LinkedIn. Promote the group by encouraging your friends and colleagues to join the Advanced Social Work Practice Network on LinkedIn. Start discussions and contribute your thoughts and ideas, share your research and examples of good practice, post interesting events locally, nationally and internationally. Suggest sub groups for special interests.

LinkedIn is a professional networking tool whose purpose is to provide its members with a a way to search and connect with other people. Unlike the social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, LinkedIn is primarily focused on professional communities of interest.

“The insurmountable difficulties of today are the solved problems of tomorrow.”  Cardinal Heenan

The Social Work Task Force called for a a new programme of action on public understanding of social work. The phenomenal growth of social media and LinkedIn over the last few months offers us unprecedented opportunities to engage with the public debate today. Over 15 million people worldwide log on to LinkedIn every day! If you are new to LinkedIn this brief guide provides a useful overview . LinkedIn for beginners I look forward to connecting with you on LinkedIn!  http://uk.linkedin.com/in/shirleyayres

If you work with children and young people in care you may wish to join this group on LinkedIn

Interesting Resources
Managing on the front-line
Social Work Focus 
Supporting and Promoting Advanced Social Work
Social Work Task Force

Tags: a new voice for social work, advanced social work practice, be inspired, leadership, linkedin, Social Work

So why not join and start having a look round – you’re welcome to connect with me http://uk.linkedin.com/in/shirleyayres. I look forward to connecting with you.

Technology knows no bounds! You can also follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/shirleyayres.  Twitter helps people communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent, 140 character messages.

Tags: advanced social work practice, be inspired, professional networks, Social Work

ASWPN aims to:
• Facilitate employers to become learning organisations which recognise the value of advanced practice for promoting excellence in social work.
• Encourage employers to support Continuing Professional Development opportunities at advanced level
• Engage employers and other stakeholders in the training needs of their advanced social work practitioners and the development of advanced level PQ programmes
• Advocate for improved funding structures for Post Qualifying (PQ) education in general, and the higher level awards in particular, to support the professional development of advanced practitioners
• Support the development of advanced practice positions such as Consultant Social Workers, particularly in the new Children’s Trusts and health and social care partnerships.
• Develop the research capacity of advanced social work practitioners through partnerships with the Social Care Institute for Excellence, Research in Practice and Making Research Count to embed research and advanced practice in social work
• Promote the recommendations of the Social Work Task Force, the children and adults workforce development agenda, the Social Work Reform Board. and innovative policy initiatives including Every Child Matters and Transforming Adult Social Care.

Join ASWPN to share information about advanced social work policy initiatives, reports, practice guidance, practitioner research and interesting events. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments about the policies, research and practice which are really making a difference to the promotion of excellence in social work practice.

If you are new to LinkedIn the following post will be helpful – Is social work ready for the social media revolution? How to become LinkedIn

If you work with children and young people in care you may also like to join this group on LinkedIn

Tags: advanced social work practice, Leadership and Management, Learning and Development, linkedin, post qualifying awards, research, Social Work

A brief roundup of some of  the topics we will be featuring in 2010 

The Advanced Practitioner – managing your career

“Find It Here” – the launch of the first comprehensive Directory of online resources for people supporting children and young people in care

The Big Ideas survey – share your thoughts about how we can improve social work and social care 

Integrated Working – what stops care and health working together?

The e-Learning revolution and social media – a new approach to improve the skills and knowledge of staff in the care sector?

What makes a good employer? A simple audit tool which reveals whether your employer demonstrates that staff really are the most important resource in the organisation.

New Partnerships – Shirley Ayres Consulting will be joining up with a number of organisations who are committed to driving up standards in social work and social care.

Leadership and Management in Social Care – has the investment paid off?

An undervalued and unrecognised resource? - the launch of an exciting new website for grandparents.

Introducing Blastbeat Education UK a not for profit company that has developed a fun & exciting Music & Multimedia Business progamme offered to young people and schools around the world. Blastbeat promotes and encourages young original songwriters & musicians, supporting youth communities on a local & global level, empowering young people to create social enterprises creating community and social capital to help bring about change for the good of society.

Quality Assuring Training  – do the increasing number of quality marks and standards really make a difference to the unregulated training in the care sector?

Stress busters – See life from a different angle.

BASW and the new National College for Social Work

“The insurmountable difficulties of today are the solved problems of tomorrow.” ~ Cardinal Heenan

Tags: advanced social work practice, be inspired, care sector, elearning, encouraging innovation, integrated working, Leadership and Management, Learning and Development, quality assurance, Social Work, Stress busters, training