Social Work Education

1
Social Work Education

• Growing Critical Thinkers or Ticking Boxes?

2
Ticking Boxes

• Key role, unit and element descriptors
• Managerialism business ethics
• Risk and accountability (risk averse proformas
• Efficiency and effectiveness measurement
• Technical and economic rationalism

3
Growing Critical Thinkers

• Reflective and reflexive practice
• Critical engagement with evaluation
• Narratives of lived experiences and practice
• Professional artistry

4
Benefits of Critical Practitioners

• Raises profile of profession Masters/PQ level
  abilities
• Gives value to reflection, managing tensions and
  dilemmas, retrieving situations where things go
  wrong
• Creates greater accountability
• Gives rise to unintended outcomes
• Creative outcomes for service users/carers
• Less stressed workforce

5
Critical Thinking Research

• 2004 23 respondents BASW at MMU
• 3 elements a critical learning event
• dilemmas and learning
• growth and future practice
• Led to creation of 7 theme critical framework
  
• Highlighted surface rather than deep learning
  

6
New horizons

• Research pointed the way for..
• use of professional artistry
• lateral thinking
• creativity
• innovation
• Not for the teaching of content knowledge

7
Drivers for CT

• A critical pedagogy for adult learning
• Shifting style of HE away from lectures
• Use of new technology incl global possibilities
• Concern with what students learn rather than with
  what lecturers teach
• Assessment of thinking, argument, problem
  posing, uncertainty revealing rather than
  knowledge acquisition

8
Leading to .

• Reflective approach -
• uniqueness, multiple LOs, student
• gaze,
• peer persuasion/critique, creativity.
• Discursive approach
• preparedness, deep learning, argument
• construction and analysis, question
• posing, formative narrative potential.

9
Blockers to CT

• A technical rational approach through
• marketisation of social care
• business ethic
• politicisation of the individual as self
  
• responsible (or not)
• emergence of a litigious culture
• the management of risk
• regulation of the profession
• some agency cultures

10
Promotion of Strategic Thinkers

• From Philosophy because theory is our bedrock
• Kolb and Reflective Practice
• Bourdieu and Habitus
• Aristotle and Virtue Ethics
• Kant and Agency
• Bronfenbrenner and Chronosystems

11
And moving forward through

• Aspirational techniques
• Future basing
• Virtuous spirals
• Different ways of knowing
• Diverse perspectives of the ordinary

12
And finally

• Using critical questions to promote student
  learning by-
• promoting the use of fundamental, connecting,
  hypothesis and critical questions
• seeing the process as important rather than
  the outcome
• accepting that there may be several answers
• sharing power
• making learning fun

13
Some references

• Anderson, L. (2003) Critical Reflection the
  Hallmark of Masters Education. A Case
• Study
• Conference
  Proceedings, Education in a Changing Environment
• 17 18
  September 2003
• Brookfield, S. (2005) The Power of Critical
  Theory for Adult Learning and Teaching
• OUP. UK
• Denis, L. (1997) Kants Ethics and
  Duties to Oneself
• Pacific
  Philosophical Quarterly
• Vol 78,
  Issue 4 pp 321 348
• Fook, J. (2006) Social Work- Critical
  Theory and Practice
• Sage, London
• Kolb, D.A.(1984) Experiential Learning
  Experience as a Source of Learning and
• Development
• Englewood
  Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall. U.S.A.
• Ladd, P. (2003) Understanding Deaf
  Culture In Search of Deafhood
• Multilingual
  Matters, Clevedon, UK.
• Lymbery, M. Postle, K (2007) Social Work a
  Companion to Learning
• Sage, London
• Web pages