Janet Williams, Peter Nelson,

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European collaboration to Internationalise the
Practice Learning Curriculum.

• Janet Williams, Peter Nelson,
• Sheffield Hallam University

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This is what we will cover

• Socrates Erasmus possibilities
• SWIPE
• who we are what we did
• aims and outcomes
• Globalisation and internationalising the social
  work curriculum
• Using the audit for practice learning
• Evaluation
• Information web sites and conference

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Socrates

• The Socrates-Erasmus Action encourages
  co-operation between universities across Europe
  and supports mobility of students and staff in
  higher education, the development of joint
  programmes, courses and the development of
  thematic networks.

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SWIPE 2 year CD project - outputs

• Audit of practice learning in each country
• A Common Module
• A core curriculum and menu of LTA materials
  college and 'on site'
• Bibliography
• Dissemination locally, nationally and
  internationally
• Web site
• Conference

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Funded Activities

• Regular local network meetings
• Four meetings of all partners
• Seminar programme - related to social
  problems/globalisation
• Dissemination activities
• Reporting back to Socrates/EU, visits to
  Brussels
• Conference - 19 September 2006

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History

• Germ of an idea practice learning
• Finding the funding for European project
• European Union (E U) promotes work force
  mobility, through education, training and
  technology.
• Convergence of educational systems Bologna
  Agreement modules and courses can be used
  across Europe.

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Context - globalisation

• Social work responding to globalisation locally
• cross-national social problems e.g. movement of
  people, ideas and capital
• Empowerment of the marginalised
• Learning from other social work traditions
• and learning about being comparative
• Communicating across cultures at local and
  international level
• Is social work an international activity?

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Internationalising social work

• UK Academic Benchmark statements include
  reference to policy, practice and research from
  outside the UK beyond the USA?
• E U agenda
• Worker and student mobility promoted through
• exchanges, learning from each other
• Life long learning
• Social cohesion/inclusion, addressing
  cross-boundary social problems migrating people,
  trafficked persons, sexism, racism etc.

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Why internationalise the curriculum?

• How do different societies deal with similar
  social problems and what can we learn from this?
• Evidence based practice whose evidence?
• Shaking ethnocentric/Eurocentric views
• Accessing wider range of research and ideas about
  social work
• Employment in Europe
• Benchmark statements

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Practice Teaching in Europe

• Literature about practice learning in other
  countries only descriptive
• Cross-national practice theory not developed

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SWIPE mirroring processes of dealing with
difference

• Language, terminology, communication
• whose English and false friends?
• whose take on social problems
• where to start and what questions to ask?
• Organisational arrangements doing similar
  things in different ways?
• Fun for progress time together, group work
  skills

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Curriculum content?

• Skills- cross-national comparisons
• Value and policy base in response to social
  problems
• what works elsewhere- policy into practice
• roles of social professionals
• relevance of international data bases.

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'Products
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Learning Outcome 1

• Reflect on and understand the relationship
  between personal, professional and cultural
  values and how these impact upon social work in
  different countries
• Knowing own values and culture before making
  cross-national comparisons

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Learning outcome 2

• Reflect, understand and compare the relationship
  between practice and policy and its impact on
  marginalised service users in different countries
• Global/international policy, welfare regimes and
  social policy and its differential impact on
  service users

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Learning outcome 3

• Identify how power may operate systematically,
  culturally and individually within services,
  within different countries, and how this affects
  both professionals and marginalised service users
  
• Comparative analysis based on power issues within
  services

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Learning outcome 4

• Engage with the theory, values and skills of
  empowering practice with marginalised groups in
  an international context
• Empowerment and what it means with those
  marginalised due to globalisation

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Learning outcome 5

• Identify the processes for effective
  communication across different language, national
  and cultural contexts.
• Communication, can be from on-site learning or
  done more theoretically e.g. interviews

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Learning in class and on placement
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Teaching exercises

• Approached very differently
• Starting point theory/practice skills/job/..
• Committed to their standpoint
• power
• values
• gender
• Module, Sheffield Hallam University version
  accepted (?)

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Why the audit?

• Differences definitions of practice
  learning, terminology, arrangements
  for practice
• Consensus values, ethics, knowledge and
  skills
• Database/reference tool ...

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Exercise

• Using the audit pages
• How is her previous experience of practice
  learning different?
• What are the implications of this for you
  providing her with a placement?
• Would it be different if she came from Utrecht?
• Is there anything else that you need to find out?

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International placementPros and cons

• Different sort of learning when they return
• Provides new perspective on home policy and
  practice
• Skill development, communication etc.
• Resilience
• Less UK focussed practice experience
• One part of the greater whole...

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How do we know it is a good thing?

• Heal (1990) identifies four reasons to support
  international content
• The educated person's perspective
• The increasing level of global inter-dependence
  and its effects on local social work practice
• The use of international knowledge to deal with
  domestic social work problems
• The opportunity to contribute professional
  experience to global issues

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Evaluation

• Heal's reasons for action provide a template for
  evaluation which goes beyond student experience.
• At present evaluation focuses on the educated
  person as the student
• There is a need to include the service user and
  the educator
• Does SWIPE go beyond creating an educated person?
• Do international initiatives make a difference
  and for whom? Caragata and Sanchez (2002236)

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Added Value?

• Student Mobility - Placements
• with identified and prepared partners
• hands on work possible
• Communication skills- English speaking but...
• same/or part of curriculum as home students
• personal growth independence, different
  challenges, self management of learning

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Wider contributions

• Staff mobility
• extending teaching and learning
• potential to be involved in projects such as
  SWIPE
• Our professional development e.g.
• Lithuania
• Practice teaching Lund, Sweden
• Research projects

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• Tartu 3rd meeting
• 
  Vilnius 2nd meeting

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SWIPE

• Conference
• 19 September 2006, Sheffield
• Contact r.chilese_at_shu.ac.uk
• From mid July all LTA materials, module, audit
  and conference details on web-site
• http//extra.shu.ac.uk/swipe

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Information about EU projects

• Good places to start
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/index_en.html
  
• Socrates, Leonardo and Youth TAO
• http//www.socleoyouth.be

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• For information on all the Actions
  http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/soc
  rates/download_en.html
• or
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/education/index_en.htm
• 1 Erasmus for HEIs UK (staff and student
  mobility, intensive visits etc.)
• http//www.erasmus.ac.uk/
• applying for projects http//www3.socleoyouth.be
  /static/en/overview/erasmus_overview.htm
• 2 Erasmus Mundus - master's programmes for
• international students
• http//www.socleoyouth.be/static/en/info/eras_mu
  ndus.htm