Practitioners as Rule Using Analysts: A Further Development of Process Knowledge in Social Work

Sheppard, Michael; Ryan, Kate

doi:10.1093/bjsw/33.2.157

Cited by 53 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As background to the changes introduced by the Department of Health, Wallis-Jones and Lyons (2003), building on theirearlier studies Lyons, 1996, 2001), had surveyed Another focus has been on the different kinds of knowledge applied in practice and the process of knowledge acquisition. Nähri (2002) undertook a post hoc exploration of knowledge used by practitioners in Finland, while Sheppard and Ryan (2003) attempted to discern the process of applying knowledge in practice among UK social workers. Strikingly, and consistent with Carpenter's (2005) concerns, only one study (Fook et al, 2000) is based upon a longitudinal evaluation-of Australian students' progression through a degree programme, and subsequently into practice.…”

Section: Evaluating Social Work Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What (a) Difference a Degree Makes: The Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England

Orme¹,

MacIntyre²,

Lister³

et al. 2009

British Journal of Social Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/9811/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. SummaryAfter many years of debate in the UK about the need for a degree-level qualification in social work, the arguments for a minimum degree-level qualification were accepted. The requirements for the degree in England were developed drawing on work from a number of sources, including a benchmark statement for undergraduate degrees in social work and focus groups with stakeholders. The new degree in England, launched in 2003, involves one extra year's study; improvements in the qualifying standard for social work; and specific curriculum and entrance requirements. At the time of launching the degree, the government department responsible for funding (Department of Health) commissioned a three-year evaluation of the implementation of the new degree to establish whether the new qualifying level leads to improvements in the qualified workforce. The aim of the evaluation is to describe the experiences of those undertaking the degree, collect the views of the various stakeholders about the effectiveness of the degree and measure the impact of a degree-level qualification on those entering the workforce. This article, written by the team undertaking the evaluation of the England degree, explores the reasons for the methodological approach adopted and the issues that have arisen in setting up the research.

show abstract

Section: Evaluating Social Work Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What (a) Difference a Degree Makes: The Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England

Orme¹,

MacIntyre²,

Lister³

et al. 2009

British Journal of Social Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Complex situations are too complicated to reduce to programmatic formats because the human dimension of the situation is often, although not always, involved (Lipsky 1980). Previous social work research has recognized that practitioners put high trust in experience and professional judgment when it comes to dealing with the complex situations encountered in daily practice (Healy 2009;Munro 2011;Sheppard & Ryan 2003). Establishing routines and habits through learning from experience is certainly one way to cope successfully with the daily flow of events while maintaining a sense of security and stability in life (Giddens 1984).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Practice as Processes of Muddling Through: a Study of Learning and Sense Making in Social Work

Avby

2014

Vocations and Learning

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using an ethnographic approach, the aim of this study was to explore how social workers learn and make sense of experiences in their daily practices. Five events that took place during an ordinary day of child investigation work are described and serve as the basis for the analysis. The findings imply that investigation work is largely a social rationalization process and that the interaction between different actors in work is a strategy to enhance the level of knowledge and contribute to learning among the professionals. Thus, learning is embedded in daily activities, for example, consulting colleagues, framing problems and building relationships. Furthermore, the findings suggest the possibility of assuming a contextualized view of reasoning, a so-called contextual rationality, which maintains that practitioners need to make judgments in a way that is sensitive to and relevant for their own contextualized settings. Contextual rationality is a reasonable strategy to deal with complex problems in daily practices that cannot be completely analysed or solved. Contextual rationality is thus not about accuracy, rather it engages individuals to find meaning and order in the complexity of modern organizations where norms, values and expectations provide frameworks for explanations. Besides offering an explanation for the basis of practice, the study identifies a variety of learning opportunities in everyday practice that could potentially be used in efforts to organize a more reflective practice to facilitate improved workplace learning.

show abstract

“…The emphasis upon engaging in reflexive processes about the 'use of self' corresponds to a central emphasis within contemporary social work literature upon the social worker as an 'active critical thinker' self-examining the knowledge and assumptions underpinning their practice (Sheppard, 2000;Taylor and White, 2000;Sheppard and Ryan, 2003). The process of reflexivity explicitly specifies that social workers recognise that they are social actors who actively influence the process and outcomes of a socially situated context (the social work interview) with service users who are in a social context themselves (Sheppard, 1998;Sheppard, 2000).…”

Section: Reflexivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialist Communication Skills for Social Workers

Ross¹

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Practitioners as Rule Using Analysts: A Further Development of Process Knowledge in Social Work

Cited by 53 publications

References 7 publications

What (a) Difference a Degree Makes: The Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England

What (a) Difference a Degree Makes: The Evaluation of the New Social Work Degree in England

Professional Practice as Processes of Muddling Through: a Study of Learning and Sense Making in Social Work

Specialist Communication Skills for Social Workers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About