Welcome to the Greater Manchester Social Work Academy (GMSWA) – Teaching Partnership

Raising Standards in Social Work Education,
Teaching and Practice across Greater Manchester

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"Raising Standards in Social Work Education,
Teaching and Practice across Greater Manchester"

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What is a Teaching Partnership?

The GMSWA is a teaching partnership for social workers across Greater Manchester, which involves collaboration between partner organisations, where together they develop and deliver curriculum’s, informed by social work practice to benefit and address the needs social workers and students.

What is a Teaching Partnership?

The GMSWA is a teaching partnership for social work, which involves collaboration between partner organisations, where together they develop and deliver curriculum’s, informed by social work practice to benefit and address the needs social workers and students.

Who we are?

In our partnership we work with our Ten Local Authorities across Greater Manchester, these include; Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. Our partnership has Four Universities whom we collaborative with which are; University of Bolton, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester and University of Salford. The partnership benefits from having a Public Involvement Board, having members who have lived experience of social work and social care, whom we collaborative and consult with on aspects of teaching and practice.

Who we are?

In our partnership we work with our Ten Local Authorities across Greater Manchester, these include; Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. Our partnership has Four Universities whom we collaborative with which are; University of Bolton, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester and University of Salford. The partnership benefits from having a Public Involvement Board, having members who have lived exeperience of social work and social care, whom we collaborative and consult with on aspects of teaching and practice.

Our Partnerships

Public Involvement

The GMSWA’s Public Involvement Board (PIB) is a mechanism for people with lived experience of social work to feed into the process. It aspires to include voices from different groups of people who have experience of social work; so they can bring ideas and experiences from those groups into the GMSWA and so that those members can go back into their groups and share the ideas and information from the GMSWA.

The Public Involvement Board was set up in March 2017 by the Greater Manchester Social Work Academy in order to assist in the development of the Greater Manchester Social Work Academy

Our Public Involvement members all have experience of Social Care system within Greater Manchester either through being a Service User, Carer or Care Leaver. The composition of the Board is represented by Adults, Children’s and Mental Health Service Users and Carers to ensure we are able to have a broad range of experience and contribution.

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October 2024

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Race and Inequality

How is racism understood in literature about the experiences of...

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How is racism understood in literature about the experiences of black and minority ethnic social work students in Britain? A Conceptual review.​

Dr Dharman Jeyasingham and Dr Julie Morton (Social Work Education, 38 (5), pp 563-575)

Abstract

This article presents findings from a study which explored the everyday ways race works on social work programmes in England. The study focused on how race was spoken about and conceptualised, how people were categorised and ordered according to race and the social interactions where race was understood by participants to be significant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight social work lecturers and nineteen black social work students at two universities in England, to explore the following topics: classroom-based and practice learning, assessment and feedback, interactions between students and between students and educators, and university and practice agency cultures. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and the following themes identified: the routine interpellation of black students and communities in terms of absolute cultural differences, black students’ everyday experiences of marginalisation, hostility and othering, and the racialisation of black students in judgements made about their academic and practice performance. The article concludes that social work education must engage more deeply with contemporary theorisations of race and culture, and that social work educators need a reflexive understanding of how notions such as diversity, equality and universal academic standards are put into practice in ways that marginalise and devalue black students.

Link to Research Article:
https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/64217/?template=banner

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Children’s social workers agile working practice and experiences beyond the office

Dr Dharman Jeyasingham, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 49, Issue 3, April 2019, Pages 559-576, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcy077

Abstract

Agile working (flexibility around practitioners’ roles and the location and time of work) is increasingly common across local authority social work in the UK but there is little evidence about the practices it entails, with the small amount of existing research concerned largely with its impact on office environments. This article presents findings from a qualitative exploratory study of eleven social workers’ practices and experiences when engaged in agile working away from office spaces. Data were generated through practitioner diaries, photographs elicited from practitioners and semi-structured interviews, and were analysed using a grounded theory approach. The study found practitioners engaged in agile working in a wide range of domestic, leisure and formal work environments across the public–private continuum. This gave them superficial control over how they worked, in particular the freedom to work in solitude and establish distance between themselves and perceived demands from service users and other practitioners. However, agile working also involved a wider range of material practices and affective experiences for practitioners. These changes provoke questions about data security, increased visibility and unanticipated encounters in public spaces, and the shifting relationship between information-management work and elements of practice involving face-to-face interaction with others.

Link to Research Article: Seeking Solitude and Distance from Others: Children’s Social Workers’ Agile Working Practices and Experiences beyond the Office | The British Journal of Social Work | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Dr Dharman Jeyasingham of University of Manchester was the lead the ESRC funded project “Becoming agile in local authority children’s safeguarding social work services: examining organisational and individual change in public sector social work”. Details on this project can be found here: GtR (ukri.org)

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Not Ageing Out of Violence? Older Mens Biographical Narratives of Their Abuse and Violence in Intimate Relationships With Female Partners

Bellamy, C. Struthers, M and Green, L (2023) Cited in Bows, H. (ed) Not Your Usual Suspect: Older Offenders of Violence (Feminist Developments in Violence and Abuse), Emerald Publishing limited, Bingley, pp. 105-119 https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-887-620231008
Abstract
Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories, experiences and motives of these men. Four key areas are highlighted, which will be subject to closer scrutiny in relation to extant literature: (i) gender, particularly notions of masculinity, power and entitlement; (ii) attitudes relating to the use of violence both within intimate relationships and generally (iii) critical junctures in the life course which triggered attempts to desist; and (iv) an exploration of maturation and completion of treatment programmes in relation to their use of violence, future risks and efforts towards desistance.

Link to Research Article: Not Ageing Out of Violence? Older Men's Biographical Narratives of Their Abuse and Violence in Intimate Relationships With Female Partners | Emerald Insight

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Exploring health and social care professional initial perceptions of caring for trans patients.

Kirlew MI, Lord H, Weber J (2020) Exploring health and social care professionals’ initial perceptions of caring for trans patients. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11383

Link to Research Article Resource: https://journals.rcni.com/nursing-standard/evidence-and-practice/exploring-health-and-social-care-professionals-initial-perceptions-of-caring-for-trans-patients-ns.2020.e11383/abs

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