SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH STRATEGY 2006 2020

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SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH STRATEGY 2006 - 2020

• Professor Paul Bywaters
• Emeritus Professor, Coventry University

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Development and Key Messages The Aim of the
Strategy

• To promote a step change in the quality and
  quantity of social work research activity in UK
  higher education institutions (HEIs) in order to
  
• maximise the HEI contribution to social work and
  social care service improvement
• develop a strong evidence base for social work
  and social care services
• build a workforce capable of using evidence
  critically and effectively
• Practice and policy focused research including
  research by
• practitioners and managers

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Key Principles

• All social work academics in HEIs should be
  actively involved in research
• Requires a general levelling up and networks or
  centres of excellence
• Collaboration across HEIs and outside, including
  other disciplines
• 4 country and international approach
• Research priorities should be established by
  dialogue between service users, service
  providers, the wider public, government and
  researchers.

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4 Targets for Action

• increasing resources for social work and social
  care research
• increasing the research capacity and capability
  of the workforce
• enhancing formal recognition for social work as a
  research discipline and improving governance
  arrangements
• increasing the visibility and impact of social
  work and social care research

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Action This Year Includes

• Implementation group established
• Research Development Initiative bid to ESRC
  successful
• Second RDI bid co-ordinated and submitted
• Bid submitted to ESRC for short term audits
  agreed in principle
• Nuffield Foundation agreed programme to develop
  funding models
• Bid to ESRC for mid term strategic development
  and Capacity Building Initiative
• Participation in Social Care RD groups in
  Scotland and Wales
• Meetings held with ESRC, DH, DfES, UK Social Care
  Research Group
• Strategy presented at EASSW conference in Parma
• Articles outlining the Strategy and the
  underpinning arguments accepted for publication
  by the BJSW

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RESOURCES FOR SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH

• Professor Peter Marsh
• Dean of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield

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The current expenditure on social work research

• Social care research expenditure in the UK 40m
  pa
• Major finance from DH, DfES, Research Councils,
  HEFC, and charities.
• Health services research expenditure in the UK
  4,500m pa
• a similar total workforce, eight times the
  expenditure of social care
• Around half of the expenditure on research from
  the pharmaceutical industry
• As a percentage of service expenditure around
  0.3 for social care, and around 5 for health.
• The Governments target for expenditure on
  research is 2.5 of turnover.
• There needs to be an eightfold expenditure
  increase within social care to meet this target.
• All data are from Marsh, P and Fisher, M (2005)
  Developing the evidence base for social work and
  social care practice London Social Care
  Institute for Excellence

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Social work research

• The discipline of social work does not do well
  within the limited expenditure in social care
  despite
• The central role for evidence in practice
• and social work researchs central role in
  developing that evidence
• HEFC expenditure of 8,000 per social work
  academic, as compared with 26,000 per academic
  in general practice.
• Government expenditure (centrally funded research
  programmes) which should in part be designed to
  provide evidence for practice
• 1,500 spent per GP per year
• 60 spent per social worker each year.

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The resources problem

• An absolute, and stark, shortage of expenditure
  on research to support social care
• An even worse shortage of expenditure on social
  work research
• despite its history, in straightened
  circumstances, of an important role in policy
  research and a central role in practice research
  in social care.
• There is a need to highlight the specific
  benefits of social work research to service
  development and delivery, and to explore new
  funding avenues for social work research
• alongside the welcome development of discussions
  with Government, and funding from the ESRC
• Possible funding avenues private sector funding,
  a policy levy model, local government
  partnerships, hypothecated funding within other
  funding streams..

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The resources group 2006/7

• Developing engagement and collaboration
• Care Councils, ADCS, ADAS, Director General of
  Social Care, Director General Children, Young
  People and Families Directorate and Options for
  Excellence (300 practitioner-researchers) and the
  Platt Review (inquiry into funding models).
• An inquiry into funding models
• The collaboration of the ESRC, the DfES and DH
  research staff, and of ADCS and ADAS has all been
  agreed. The Nuffield Foundation has agreed to
  consider a request for funding the enquiry which
  would produce a range of ideas in the summer of
  2008 and a final report in early 2009.
• Supporting the review of academic staff research
  qualifications, and of research teaching on
  social work programmes, and engaging in PQ
  discussions with the Chief Exec of GSCC, ADCS,
  ADAS and others.
• 2006/7 Prof P Marsh (Sheffield, and Chair of the
  group), Dr. D Forrester (Brunel), Prof A Kendrick
  (Strathclyde), Prof D Shemmings (Middlesex), Dr.
  R Smith (De Montfort).

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Social Work Research StrategyBuilding capacity
and capability

• Jackie Powell, University of Southampton
• Joan Orme, University of Glasgow

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Context

• Circle of resistance
• level and content of qualifying training
• social work educators in HEIs
• Creating a virtuous cycle
• Increase the proportion of social work educators
  in HEIs with post-graduate research
  qualifications to a minimum of 80 by 2020
• Establish a minimum of 300 social work practice
  posts across the 4 countries of the UK with some
  responsibility for undertaking research included
  in their contractual duties by 2012.
• Building links and creating alliances

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ESRC Researcher Development Initiative

• SWoRD Increasing the confidence and competence
  of social work researchers
• Advanced research training workshops
• Training the trainers
• Postgraduate research student events
• Using other ESRC initiatives and resources

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Building skills, abilities and resources
(individual/collective)

• Establishing a continuum of learning and research
  expertise
• Across the professional life course qualifying,
  post-qualifying and CPD
• Across and within practice (statutory, private
  and voluntary sectors) and academic settings
• creating networks in local, national and
  international contexts

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ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE IN SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH

• Lena Dominelli 1 Louise Hardwick 2
• Margaret Holloway 3 Annie Pullen 4
• David Stanley 5
• 1 University of Durham 2 University of Liverpool
• 3 University of Hull 4 Coventry University
• 5 University of Northumbria

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The current recognition problem

• Social work research lacks governance structures
• Many small-scale local research projects, student
  and practitioner research
• Poor funding base
• Low overall research capacity/limited expertise
  in the profession

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R G sub-group activity

• DH social care REC working group (new guidance)
• Workshop Ethical Scrutiny and Governance ESRC PhD
  training
• Paper Ethics and Governance in Social Work
  Research
• Revision of the Butler (2002) Code of Ethics
  (ongoing)

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Objectives

• Representation in all key research
  decision-making bodies and funding organisations
• Audit of current arrangements for research
  governance in the profession
• Engagement of service users fully in research
  processes
• National research ethics service for social work
  research

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Visibility and Impact

• Issues of
• Message Messenger and Publics
• Andy Pithouse, University of Cardiff

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Ignore the complexity?

• The many purposes of research evidence
• Methodological strengths and weaknesses
• Research priorities unwanted abundance
• Front-line, backroom, org, aggregate
• Complicated partnerships
• Real world mediations (stat, perf, change)
• Messy politics of many publics interests
• Spoilt identities / image repair / same agenda?

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message and medium?

• Research as industry-relevant knowledge?
• See staff as knowledge workers and focus on
  front-line work public interest here?
• USP is well-being, safeguarding, choice,
  emancipation, equity, civic cohesion?
• Regional partnerships to agree system
• features of dissemination and utilisation?
• Private voices about public problems involving
  the user and carer?
• Professional voices that popularise whose?

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Short-term aims

• Promote training in media strategies
• Get research findings to public as well as
  professional audiences
• Promote events, publicity about the distinctive
  benefits of social work research
• Directory of expertise for print electronic
  media