World Social Work Week CPD events

Each year the GMSWA collaboratively hosts a series of events linked the International Federation of Social Workers themes. All events are open to social workers, practitioners, academics and students across Greater Manchester and provided by the GMSWA partners and collaborators.

World Social Work Day was 19th March 2024, and following on from the success of our previous year’s World Social Work Week events, GMSWA hosted our 2024 event from 18th March – 22nd March 2024 with a series of online workshops for students/ social workers and academics across the partnership.

The theme for 2024 was “Buen Vivir: Shared Future for Transformative Change” –  World Social Work Day 2024 – International Federation of Social Workers (ifsw.org)  #WSWD2024 The theme is explained in more detail on the website above, key messages are:
  • Emphasises the need for social workers to adopt innovative ways of working with communities.
  • Community led approaches – communities in practice.
  • Transformative role social workers play in driving positive change
  • Fostering communities that thrive on mutual respect and sustainability.
  • Working co productively with communities who inform our practice.
As a teaching partnership we aspire to continue these annual events to celebrate social work, the difference and change we make in local communities and provide an opportunity for reflection and learning.

Each year the GMSWA collaboratively hosts a series of events linked the International Federation of Social Workers themes. All events are open to social workers, practitioners, academics and students across Greater Manchester and provided by the GMSWA partners and collaborators.

World Social Work Week 2023

Details to be shared soon

World Social Work Week 2022

– “Leaving No one Behind”

GMSWA together with their partners hosted 18 focussed online sessions linked to the theme of inclusion, sharing knowledge and skills. We had a focus on well being and emphasises on support for our social worker community managing complex demands during the Covid-19 pandemic.

All session were well attended and received well across our partners agencies. As a teaching partnership we aspire to continue these annual events to celebrate social work, the difference and change we make in local communities and provide an opportunity for reflection and learning.

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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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