Dialogue between those interested or engaged in qualitative research and practitioners is essential if practice is to respond effectively to the increasing needs of service users. However, this statement is underpinned by two linked assumptions-that the world of the practitioner and that of the researcher are separate, and that there is a policy audience receptive to qualitatively informed professional practice. This paper begins by questioning these assumptions, recognising that neoliberal managerialism remains dominant and is resistant to qualitatively inspired practice, determined that practitioners are 'siloed' into skills or competence-based approaches in the name of accountability, value for money and 'outcomes' consistent with neoliberal ideology. We emphasise the shared values and commitments between social work practice and social work research which include the recognition that people may be encouraged to understand and transform their world through the constant interaction of theory and practice, a view we promote through our teaching. For example, social justice and other social work values are highlighted through participatory, anti-oppressive and feminist research and emphasised though critical, emancipatory approaches to research questions. We include recent vignettes, demonstrating this approach, in which students have used innovative research approaches, which have provided the possibility of fully integrating research into ongoing practice. Feedback from students and practitioners concludes that this becomes possible if research teaching encourages partnership between students, practitioners, service users and organisations.
This paper explores the nature and quality of relationships between social work students and their practice educators and discusses how practice educators navigate their multifaceted and complex role in the context of practice learning in England. The data was drawn from individual interviews with 13 practice educators and two focus groups with first year MA social work students. The findings indicate that challenges associated with social differences, in engaging students in learning, and in initiating critical dialogue affect the nature and quality of practice learning relationships. Practice educators need to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to manage the complexities and different demands of their role. It is also important for practice educators to invest time to develop and sustain meaningful relationships with students, and to create a safe space for critical dialogue to take place. A trusting relationship is fundamental if students and practice educators are to raise and explore difficult issues.
Research is critical for effective and innovative social work practice, yet social workers do not always have time to engage with research and there are limited accounts of how practitioners can undertake research in practical and meaningful terms (Mitchell, Lunt, and Shaw 2010). Using a reflective, storytelling methodology (Beresford 2016), which centres experiential knowledge, we describe how one regional social work teaching partnership nurtured practitioner research over a three-year period. We introduce a regionally administrated 'hub', that connected social workers and academics and supported the development of seventeen research teams. The studies that resulted, focused on a range of important issues including child protection, young people in transition to adult services, adults in community and residential settings, lived experience-led provision, and social work education. In terms of limitations, our reflections are descriptive and illuminative, rather than critical, our findings are also not representative but rather reflect a snapshot of practice. Despite limitations, this commentary reveals the feasibility and value of proactively nurturing practitioner research and offers a blueprint for cultivating similar initiatives in other regions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.