Taking the next step – service users and the training
(2007) Social change and social professions- Abstract
- During the last decades, many new ideas about the proper ways to educate social workers
have been brought up by the profession and the social work research as well as by employers
and educational institutions. Lately though, a new voice has been heard – that of the client and
the service user. “We want to contribute to the education, we have a lot to teach the students”
they say. Social work education in the UK is now obliged to engage service users as coteachers.
The authors of this paper support this voice and claim that it is time to leave the competency
model behind (feed the student with as much knowledge as possible) for an advanced training
of professionals based on... (More) - During the last decades, many new ideas about the proper ways to educate social workers
have been brought up by the profession and the social work research as well as by employers
and educational institutions. Lately though, a new voice has been heard – that of the client and
the service user. “We want to contribute to the education, we have a lot to teach the students”
they say. Social work education in the UK is now obliged to engage service users as coteachers.
The authors of this paper support this voice and claim that it is time to leave the competency
model behind (feed the student with as much knowledge as possible) for an advanced training
of professionals based on critical reflection and the sharing of everyday life with the people
who are to become the students’ future clients. However, this takes more than simply
engaging clients as speakers. In this paper, we report from an experimental course at the
School of Social Work in Lund, Sweden and argue that this course gives a possibility to move
along the road towards widened diversity and integration by challenging the traditional
academic base of the education. However, this course also gives the education the chance to
play an active role in shaping the society on a broader base rather than simply bringing up
new social workers.
This paper is divided into four sections. We start by focusing on discourses and problems
within social work as a profession and its education. Then we report about initiatives that
currently are being taken to put users’ involvement in the education of social workers on the
agenda. Thirdly, we inform about an experimental course that we run and especially
concentrate on the pedagogy that is used. Lastly, we make implications for the future. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/564265
- author
- Denvall, Verner LU ; Heule, Cecilia LU and Kristiansen, Arne LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- Social change and social professions
- conference location
- Parma, Italy
- conference dates
- 2007-03-15 - 2007-03-17
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5683e804-c58d-4d27-9929-d560e7f72feb (old id 564265)
- alternative location
- http://www.newteam.it/socialwork2007/PDF/documenti/denvall_verner.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 14:36:59
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:21:19
@misc{5683e804-c58d-4d27-9929-d560e7f72feb,
abstract = {{During the last decades, many new ideas about the proper ways to educate social workers<br/><br>
have been brought up by the profession and the social work research as well as by employers<br/><br>
and educational institutions. Lately though, a new voice has been heard – that of the client and<br/><br>
the service user. “We want to contribute to the education, we have a lot to teach the students”<br/><br>
they say. Social work education in the UK is now obliged to engage service users as coteachers.<br/><br>
The authors of this paper support this voice and claim that it is time to leave the competency<br/><br>
model behind (feed the student with as much knowledge as possible) for an advanced training<br/><br>
of professionals based on critical reflection and the sharing of everyday life with the people<br/><br>
who are to become the students’ future clients. However, this takes more than simply<br/><br>
engaging clients as speakers. In this paper, we report from an experimental course at the<br/><br>
School of Social Work in Lund, Sweden and argue that this course gives a possibility to move<br/><br>
along the road towards widened diversity and integration by challenging the traditional<br/><br>
academic base of the education. However, this course also gives the education the chance to<br/><br>
play an active role in shaping the society on a broader base rather than simply bringing up<br/><br>
new social workers.<br/><br>
This paper is divided into four sections. We start by focusing on discourses and problems<br/><br>
within social work as a profession and its education. Then we report about initiatives that<br/><br>
currently are being taken to put users’ involvement in the education of social workers on the<br/><br>
agenda. Thirdly, we inform about an experimental course that we run and especially<br/><br>
concentrate on the pedagogy that is used. Lastly, we make implications for the future.}},
author = {{Denvall, Verner and Heule, Cecilia and Kristiansen, Arne}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Taking the next step – service users and the training}},
url = {{http://www.newteam.it/socialwork2007/PDF/documenti/denvall_verner.pdf}},
year = {{2007}},
}