Writing in professional social work practice in a changing communicative landscape (WISP)
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Wellbg, Educ & Lang Sci(WELS)
Abstract
The production and use of written texts is a high stakes activity in professional social work, playing a central role in all decisions about actions and services for people and at the same time used to evaluate social workers' professional competence. Writing of all kinds pervades everyday social work practice, from more formal writing, such as assessment reviews stored and shared via large ICT (Information and Communications Technology) systems, to more informal writing, such as note-making during a telephone call, brief emails, text messages and personal notes. Attention to professional social work writing is often minimal in formal education programmes and professional training initiatives. Yet social work writing (often under the label of 'recording') is frequently the target of criticism in formal reviews and public media reporting of social work practice, hitting headline news when a case of extreme abuse or death occurs.
Little empirical research has been carried out to date on the writing demands and practices of everyday social work and their changing nature given the range of technologies being used. The proposed study seeks to address this gap in the existing knowledge base by answering the following interrelated questions: what are the institutional writing demands of contemporary social work? what are the writing practices of professional social workers? how are the how are writing demands and practices shaping the nature of professional social work?
To answer these questions, the project focuses on three local authorities in the UK, exploring the range of written texts required and the writing practices of 50 social workers. It uses an integrated language methodology, including ethnographic description, discourse analysis using corpus software and the detailed tracking of the production of texts, in order to: map the types of writing that are required and carried out during the course of everyday practice; quantify the amount of writing that is being done and explore how writing is being managed alongside other commitments; identify the technologies mediating specific writing practices and the extent to which these enable or constrain effective writing and communication; track the trajectories of texts relating to specific cases; identify the writing challenges that social workers face, the problems identified and solutions adopted.
Little empirical research has been carried out to date on the writing demands and practices of everyday social work and their changing nature given the range of technologies being used. The proposed study seeks to address this gap in the existing knowledge base by answering the following interrelated questions: what are the institutional writing demands of contemporary social work? what are the writing practices of professional social workers? how are the how are writing demands and practices shaping the nature of professional social work?
To answer these questions, the project focuses on three local authorities in the UK, exploring the range of written texts required and the writing practices of 50 social workers. It uses an integrated language methodology, including ethnographic description, discourse analysis using corpus software and the detailed tracking of the production of texts, in order to: map the types of writing that are required and carried out during the course of everyday practice; quantify the amount of writing that is being done and explore how writing is being managed alongside other commitments; identify the technologies mediating specific writing practices and the extent to which these enable or constrain effective writing and communication; track the trajectories of texts relating to specific cases; identify the writing challenges that social workers face, the problems identified and solutions adopted.
Planned Impact
Beneficiaries of the research
The economic and societal impact of this research is its potential to develop highly effective writing practices which will significantly contribute to efficient and cost effective social care provision. Social care is costly (calculated at 27 billion pounds annually in the UK, Audit Commission 2013) and problems arising from errors, unnecessary repetition and ambiguities in writing significantly increase the cost of provision, as well as the risk of harm to service users. There are eight key groups of user beneficiaries: 1) professional social workers: 2) service users and carers; 3) social work agencies; 4) social work education and training providers; 5) social care inspection bodies; 6) policy makers on health and social care at local, national and international levels; 7) professional workers in other sectors where there are significant writing and recording demands, e.g. health, policing; 8) the general public. Key stakeholders have been involved in establishing the research focus including consultations around the project proposal and will play a key role throughout the life of the project (see Pathways to Impact).
How identified groups will benefit
Social workers will benefit from the research by being better informed about the specific writing demands of their profession and taking greater control over discourses and genres. This will be achieved through guidelines developed in consultation with the Impact Advisory Committee, workshops and conference presentations co-delivered with participating agencies, articles in professional magazines, the project web page, blogs and the use of social media. The overall impact will be improved recording practices in social work which will in turn benefit service users and carers who will receive a more targeted and effective service provision, in particular the timely identification of need and risk.
Social work agencies will benefit by adopting an integrated approach to writing and recording practices, taking account of the immediate demands social workers face and available resources (technological, human, discursive and material - e.g. time). Through collaboration with the Impact Advisory Committee and with participating agencies, specific guidelines and frameworks to support agencies' evaluation of existing writing practices will be generated, as well as helping to inform debate about what constitutes 'effective recording'.
Higher Education providers of social work programmes and post qualifying training initiatives will benefit from the generation of datasets of authentic texts and detailed descriptions of practices which they will use to support evidence based training and teaching. Co-produced case study material and workshop activities will be made freely available on the project website and advertised via education and training networks. A training workshop open to up to 30 HEI providers will be co-delivered with the HEA.
The research will benefit policy makers at local, national and international levels, both in specific relation to recording and as part of developing best practice in social work in general. The research will influence policy development through consultations and briefings targeted at the Local Government Association, relevant UK ministers for health and social care and ministers working on Europe's 2020 strategy, as well as relevant professional networks such as Social Services Europe.
Findings will benefit practitioners, trainers and educators in similar public facing sectors, such as health workers and the police, by offering frameworks for characterising the range of writing demands in their specific domains and evaluating problems and solutions.
The public will benefit as providers (tax payers) and users of social care services through more efficient and cost efficient recording practices and will be involved in the project through the project webpage, press briefings and social media
The economic and societal impact of this research is its potential to develop highly effective writing practices which will significantly contribute to efficient and cost effective social care provision. Social care is costly (calculated at 27 billion pounds annually in the UK, Audit Commission 2013) and problems arising from errors, unnecessary repetition and ambiguities in writing significantly increase the cost of provision, as well as the risk of harm to service users. There are eight key groups of user beneficiaries: 1) professional social workers: 2) service users and carers; 3) social work agencies; 4) social work education and training providers; 5) social care inspection bodies; 6) policy makers on health and social care at local, national and international levels; 7) professional workers in other sectors where there are significant writing and recording demands, e.g. health, policing; 8) the general public. Key stakeholders have been involved in establishing the research focus including consultations around the project proposal and will play a key role throughout the life of the project (see Pathways to Impact).
How identified groups will benefit
Social workers will benefit from the research by being better informed about the specific writing demands of their profession and taking greater control over discourses and genres. This will be achieved through guidelines developed in consultation with the Impact Advisory Committee, workshops and conference presentations co-delivered with participating agencies, articles in professional magazines, the project web page, blogs and the use of social media. The overall impact will be improved recording practices in social work which will in turn benefit service users and carers who will receive a more targeted and effective service provision, in particular the timely identification of need and risk.
Social work agencies will benefit by adopting an integrated approach to writing and recording practices, taking account of the immediate demands social workers face and available resources (technological, human, discursive and material - e.g. time). Through collaboration with the Impact Advisory Committee and with participating agencies, specific guidelines and frameworks to support agencies' evaluation of existing writing practices will be generated, as well as helping to inform debate about what constitutes 'effective recording'.
Higher Education providers of social work programmes and post qualifying training initiatives will benefit from the generation of datasets of authentic texts and detailed descriptions of practices which they will use to support evidence based training and teaching. Co-produced case study material and workshop activities will be made freely available on the project website and advertised via education and training networks. A training workshop open to up to 30 HEI providers will be co-delivered with the HEA.
The research will benefit policy makers at local, national and international levels, both in specific relation to recording and as part of developing best practice in social work in general. The research will influence policy development through consultations and briefings targeted at the Local Government Association, relevant UK ministers for health and social care and ministers working on Europe's 2020 strategy, as well as relevant professional networks such as Social Services Europe.
Findings will benefit practitioners, trainers and educators in similar public facing sectors, such as health workers and the police, by offering frameworks for characterising the range of writing demands in their specific domains and evaluating problems and solutions.
The public will benefit as providers (tax payers) and users of social care services through more efficient and cost efficient recording practices and will be involved in the project through the project webpage, press briefings and social media
Organisations
- The Open University (Lead Research Organisation)
- British Association of Social Work (Collaboration)
- Health and Care Professions Council (Collaboration)
- Social Work England (Collaboration)
- Unison (Collaboration)
- Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (Collaboration)
- Aberdeen City Council (Collaboration)
Publications
Lillis T
(2017)
The importance of the written word
Lillis T
(2017)
Imagined, prescribed and actual text trajectories: the 'problem' with case notes in contemporary social work
in Text and Talk
Balkow, M.
(2019)
Social Work Writing and Bureaucracy: A Tale in Two Voices
in Centre for Welfare Reform. www.centreforwelfarereform.org
Lillis T
(2020)
Time, the Written Record, and Professional Practice: The Case of Contemporary Social Work
in Written Communication
Lillis T
(2020)
'If it's not written down it didn't happen' Contemporary social work as a writing-intensive profession
in Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice
Leedham M
(2020)
Exploring the core 'preoccupation' of social work writing: A corpus-assisted discourse study
in Journal of Corpora and Discourse Studies
Lillis, T.
(2021)
Writing as a critical moment in professional discourse
in Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice
Lucy Rai
(2021)
Writing for social work
Leedham M
(2021)
Creating a corpus of sensitive and hard-to-access texts: Methodological challenges and ethical concerns in the building of the WiSP Corpus
in Applied Corpus Linguistics
Lillis T
(2021)
Writing as a critical moment in professional discourse
in Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice
Description | Original impact statement written in 2019 The key societal impact goal of the WiSP (Writing in professional social work professional practice in a changing communicative landscape) project is to increase the effectiveness of public services, specifically to enhance the quality of social care services. To meet that overarching goal, findings from the WiSP project have been used in the following ways: 1. To inform key stakeholders about professional social work writing drawing on findings from WiSP, the first UK-based empirical study. Findings of direct relevance to different stakeholder groups include: the amount and range of writing carried out as part of everyday professional social work practice; the challenges social workers face in meeting writing requirements; the impact of writing on the quality of services provided to service users and the public. The sharing of information with key stakeholders has been achieved in the following ways: • The establishment of an advisory committee involving representatives from the following organisations and sectors: the British Association of Social Workers (BASW); the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC); learning and development managers from 2 local authorities; the Service User and Carer Participation Advisory Group (SUPA); the Higher Education Academy (HEA); social workers and social work managers from 4 local authorities; the Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC); UNISON; 3 UK universities. The advisory group held 3 formal meetings during the period of data collection and analysis: May 2016 at the Open University; February 2017 online; March 2018 at the Open University. • Joint presentation with the research team and social workers at a conference aimed at social worker educators: 'If it's not written down it didn't happen': Social worker perspectives on contemporary writing and recording demands. Paper presented at JSWEC 2016: Joint Social Work Education and Research Conference, 15th July 2016, Milton Keynes. http://oro.open.ac.uk/58536/ • Co-authoring with the PI and a social worker of a paper on the impact of bureaucracy on social worker best practice: Social work writing and bureaucracy: A tale in two voices to be published Autumn 2019, Centre For Welfare Reform, www.centreforwelfarereform.org. • The creation of a website with ongoing details about the project, events and activities www.writinginsocialwork.com. Google analytics indicate that during the period August 2018 to October 2019 there were 3566 unique visitors, making 4009 visits/sessions and visiting 6199 pages. • Series of publications and alerts via websites and social media about WiSP progress and findings: Twitter handle: @OUWISP (172 followers); publication in Impact 'The importance of the written word'. Science Impact Ltd. Bristol. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sil/impact/2017/00002017/00000009/art00021; project announcements and discussions via Open University sites- http://www.open.ac.uk/creet/main/research-themes/language-and-literacies/writing-professional-social-work-practice-changing: http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/researching-education-and-language/?p=289, http://studenthublive.open.ac.uk/biography/maria-leedham ; project summary in British Association of Applied Linguistics BAAL news, https://baal.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/2016_107_108_baalnews5.pdf. • Final reports to the five participating authorities on key findings from WiSP (October 2019). 2. To involve key stakeholders in decisions about how WiSP findings can be used to provide practical support to student social workers, social workers, social work educators and trainers. The involvement of key stakeholders in decisions about developing practical support has been achieved by: • Formal meetings with the advisory panel (details in 1 above). • Series of meetings with the PI and chair of Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in relation to the changes in the regulation of professional social workers and the high incidence and nature of 'issues with recording' in fitness-to-practice cases (May 2017 to April 2019). • Meeting with PI and the Service User and Carer Participation Advisory Group (SUPA) centring on recording issues of concern to service users and carers: these included concerns about how service users are represented in written records; access to records; the truth quality of records; the challenges of writing 'non-judgemental' reports (December 2017). • Establishment by the chair of the impact advisory committee of a JISC email list with higher education providers of social work education and training, to create a space for discussion and consultation on social work writing with the higher education sector - 45 subscribers from more than 30 HEI institutions and related organisations. (January 2018) • Meeting with PI, chair of advisory committee, a social work trainer and a senior social work practitioner in one local authority to discuss issues identified as significant for training (February 2018); • Meeting with chair of advisory committee and members of the Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC) to discuss where responsibility for the development of professional social work lies and the value of developing an online repository of resources (February 2018). • Meeting with PI and union representative (UNISON) to discuss the significance of writing/recording in conditions of service and capability issues, and the potential use of project findings (March 2018). • Meeting with PI and senior social worker to discuss policies and practices relating to 'professional voice', language choices and 'cultures' around writing (March 2018). • Meeting with PI and senior social worker to discuss policies and practices relating to 'professional voice', language choices and 'cultures' around writing (March 2018). • Series of meetings with PI and senior social worker to discuss current team training on the challenges of producing accurate and insightful description and analysis in written records (March 2017- April 2019). • Series of meetings with Co-I and senior social worker to discuss training and materials on producing court reports and on addressing the child in writing (December 2017-July 2019). • Series of meetings with PI and social work manager around challenges of recording and of evaluating recording practices (December 2017- September 2019) 3. To deliver writing support and guidance aimed at student social workers, social workers, social work educators and trainers. This has been achieved through: • Workshops led by the research team and impact advisory chair with social work students, social worker educators and social worker managers : 1) seminar with 30 postgraduate social work students, Brunel University by the PI and a social worker (December 2018) ; 2) workshop led by chair of impact advisory committee with the London Practice Educators Consortium, 20 participants (June 2019) ; 3) workshop led by led by chair of impact advisory committee with ASYE / early career social workers and line managers / trainers for Camden Social Services, 25 participants (September 2019). • The publication of a book using WiSP data to offer guidance and practical advice to educators and trainers on how best to support the professional writing development of students and newly qualified social workers. This book, Writing for social work practice, to be published by Sage in 2020, is authored by the impact advisory chair, with contributions from the PI. 4. To design and build an evidence-based, open-access online resource which provides support for professional social work writing and encourages professional debate about the role of writing in contemporary social work. A 2- day workshop involving 12 key stakeholders was funded by The Open University to begin to design an evidence-based (using findings and data from WiSP) open-access online resource aimed at student social workers, social workers, social work educators and trainers. Following the workshop, 4 social workers and one representative from Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC) continued to work with the research team on the design and production of specific resources. • The resource WiSPER designed by the PI and chair of the impact advisory committee includes 10 key areas (e.g. Different kinds of writing, Using professional language, Legal and organisational) each with a series of interactive activities including video and audio material with professional social workers and educators, using data and findings from WiSP. • The WiSPER resource is in final draft stage, will be completed by November 2019 and piloted from January- March 2020. 5. To work specifically with the new body governing social work registration and professional and educational standards, Social Work England (SWE) to shape policy and practice around writing. This has been achieved through: • Meetings with the PI, chair of the impact advisory committee and key members of SWE: 1) with Lord Patel, chair of SWE (November 2018); 2) with Sarah Blackmore, executive director of standards, SWE (March 2019); 2) with Andrew Fellows, continuing professional development and quality assurance manager, SWE (August 2019). • The submission of a report to SWE on Key findings from the WiSP study of relevance to the professional standards (May, 2019). Ongoing engagement with relevant stakeholders will continue the impact work outlined above in three key ways: • Instrumental: influencing the development of policy, practice or service provision, shaping legislation, altering behaviour. This will be achieved primarily through ongoing discussion and debate with SWE about acknowledging the centrality of writing to best practice in professional social work and the implications for developing standards (professional, educational and training). • Conceptual: contributing to the understanding of policy issues, reframing debates. This will be achieved through ongoing discussion with all key stakeholder groups about professional writing in social work paying particular attention to the following debates: the amount of writing required in contemporary social work and the extent and specific ways in which this impacts on services to the public; where, when and how social workers are/should be offered support to develop the range (and complexity) of writing required to develop best practice; the role of ICT systems and the extent to which they enable or constrain the kind of writing produced and services to the public; professional voice in social work writing and recording. • Capacity building: through technical and personal skill development. This will be achieved through the open-access WiSPER resource listed in 4 above and in the development of a series partnership activities with training departments and senior practitioners in local authorities. Additional impact - written in Feb 2022 Please see additional items listed under 'engagement' for this award. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Title | WiSP Dataset |
Description | The dataset was uploaded for sharing/archiving to the UK Data Service repository (ReShare). It includes a range of data organised into the following 5 datasets: a) 4,570 texts of social worker writing (casenotes, assessment reports, emails and miscellaneous 'other') collected constituting a corpus of just under 1 million words. A list of the most 100 frequent words, a word cloud of key semantic domains and selected concordance lines are also provided. b) 81 semi-structured interviews undertaken with 65 social workers and 6 managers focusing on the core participant interview questions. Interviews with a further 8 additional participants - with service managers and directors, a welfare rights worker and a student social worker - focusing on specific issues were also recorded and transcribed. c) 10 weeks of researcher observations comprising fieldnotes of social workers' activities ('daily observation chronologies'). d) 483 days of social worker writing activity logs detailing writing and other activities undertaken. e) 42 text clusters. Each of these gives a summary of a social worker case plus associated texts (casenotes, emails, assessment reports). A portion of the project data could not be shared due to the risk of re-identification or due to participants' requests not to share specific texts. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | See engagement activities and publications. At this stage no other researchers have accessed the data so there is no additional information on its impact. |
Description | Prof Theresa Lillis - Collaborating as expert advisor on language in WARM project- Write right about me- convened by Aberdeen City Council https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/Aberdeen-Protects/improving-childrens-futures/write-right-about-me-aberdeens-multi-agency-records-improvement-work |
Organisation | Aberdeen City Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Aberdeen City Council |
Collaborator Contribution | Member of multidisciplinary/multiagency project WARM which aims to respond to criticisms about recording practices made by the Scottish Independent care Review, The Promise, by improving the recording practices of all services working with children and young people in care. |
Impact | In progress Multidisciplinary team- social work, health, education, applied linguistics Multiagency team- social work, police, health, housing, council services |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Social Work England (SWE) |
Organisation | Social Work England |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | WiSP is in discussion with Social Work England (SWE) about how findings from the WiSP research can usefully feed into the new social work professional standards. |
Collaborator Contribution | 1. Meeting held with Lord Patel, chair of SWE to map out specific initiatives. 2018 2. Discussions via a newly established the JISC mail group, constituted by educators, trainers and social workers about where/how writing could figure in the standards (Spring 2019). 3. Discussions/meetings with new leads of SWE to consider how to embed professional writing in new standards (2019) 4. Feedback and report provided by WiSP research team on draft standards (2019). |
Impact | WiSP has fed into discussions about the place of writing in the professional standards. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Theresa Lillis - Collaborating with BASW (British association of Social Work https://www.basw.co.uk/) on resources supporting professional standards |
Organisation | British Association of Social Work |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Learned Society |
PI Contribution | Collaborating with BASW to map the WiSPER resources against the PCF Professional Capabilities Framework (https://www.basw.co.uk/professional-development/p rofessional-capabilities-framework-pcf/the-pcf) |
Collaborator Contribution | BASW (British Association of Social Work) is the professional association for social work and social workers in the UK. BASW has a UK wide remit to promote and support professional standards in social work, one element of which is providing continuing professional development. BASW is ideally placed to highlight the complexity of professional social work writing and to work with WiSP on mapping the open access resources generated - WiSPER- against the PCF. |
Impact | In progress |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Theresa Lillis - Collaborating with Iriss (https://www.iriss.org.uk) to develop online course on 'Writing analysis in social care records' |
Organisation | Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | To draw on WiSP findings to collaboratively design an online course on 'writing analysis' in social care records aimed at social workers |
Collaborator Contribution | To provide a specification for the specific resources to be developed. To design and build the web resource that will be hosted on the Iriss website https://content.iriss.org.uk/writing-analysis-social-care/what-do-we-mean-analysis/ (2021 completed) Providing resources to IRISS for training of newly qualified social workers (2023) |
Impact | Open access course to be completed by April 2021 |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | WiSP Impact Advisory Panel |
Organisation | Health and Care Professions Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The development of an open access resource to be used by social work educators and trainers - WiSPER- in progress January 2019 |
Collaborator Contribution | The WiSP advisory panel working with the research team as a group, through 3 meetings and one workshop, contributed to the development of the design and content of an open access web resource. Specific members of the panel further contributed by designing and participating in interviews that will constitute key resources. |
Impact | In progress, WiSPER, open access resource on writing for use by social work educators, trainers and social workers. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | WiSP Impact Advisory Panel |
Organisation | Unison |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The development of an open access resource to be used by social work educators and trainers - WiSPER- in progress January 2019 |
Collaborator Contribution | The WiSP advisory panel working with the research team as a group, through 3 meetings and one workshop, contributed to the development of the design and content of an open access web resource. Specific members of the panel further contributed by designing and participating in interviews that will constitute key resources. |
Impact | In progress, WiSPER, open access resource on writing for use by social work educators, trainers and social workers. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Invited speaker at KCL London for presentation entitled '"Do I look like a lass with a degree in making tea?": A corpus analysis of how caring professionals are portrayed on TV' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited speaker in the visiting speaker series at the School of Education, Communication & Society, King's College London Presentation entitled '"Do I look like a lass with a degree in making tea?": A corpus analysis of how caring professionals are portrayed on TV' This study began by considering how social workers are depicted in the press (Leedham, 2021) and broadened this to consider how 8 caring professionals are portrayed in television transcripts. The departure point for the study was the WiSP project interviews in which social workers described how they felt they were portrayed negatively in the UK media. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited visit to a service user group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | The PI was invited to attend a SUPA meeting. The Service User and Carer Participation Advisory (SUPA) Group at the University of York is made up of carers and service users supported by an academic lead based in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. The project aims were introduced and the group discussed issues around recording and writing as they relate to the experiences of service users. Key issues discussed were: the challenges of writing factually and non-judgmentally; the importance of the accuracy and currency of records for example with regard to medication; the legal status of records, confidentiality and rights of access; the need for transparency; the unfairness and harm caused by current assessment procedures relating to PiP https://www.gov.uk/pip. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.york.ac.uk/spsw/supa-group/people/ |
Description | Meeting with Lord Patel Chair of Social Work England |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The PI and chair of the advisory panel were invited to meet in the House of Lords with Lord Patel, chair of the newly established regulatory body for social work, Social work England (SWE). The discussion centred on the potential of WiSP to be useful to SWE in the following ways; in informing the standards; in providing resources and frameworks for training and CPD; in opening up debate about more creative technologies for recording. Several actions were agreed including the setting up of a working group with social workers and social work educators on the role of writing in the standards. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Presentation to JUCSWEC Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The chair of the advisory panel Lucy Rai was invited to present details about the project and facilitate a discussion about the challenges raised around recording and writing for the education and training of social workers. Key issues discussed included: English language levels and expertise; concerns about presentation and grammar; debates around 'jargon' and appropriate style/register of social work writing; an interest in developing a digital repository of resources on writing and recording to be shared by HEIs and local authorities nationally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop with social workers, regulatory bodies, education/training providers, service users |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Resource/activity: 1.5 day workshop with an overnight stay and a total of 30 days consultancy for 10 participants (3 days each calculated to include time spent in preparation before and after workshop). Main aim: To explore how data, findings and analyses generated from the WiSP project can be developed to be used by educators, trainers, mentors and social workers as resources for supporting professional social work writing at different stages of learning and professional development and to inform recording regional and national policies and practices. Participants included social workers and social worker managers from three local authorities, a representative from a service user group, the chair of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), a representative from Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUCSWEC) and the academic lead in Health and Social Care from the Higher Education Academy (HEA). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.writinginsocialwork.com/project-news-and-updates/reflections-on-the-wisp-advisory-panel-w... |