learning activity

Empowering practice : steps

This learning object is one of a set of exercises and activities taken from the book 'Modern Social Work Practice' written by Mark Doel and Steven Shardlow. This resource takes nine principles of partnership practice and asks the student to consider their relevance to a particular piece of work, and how they have been put into practice. The focus here is on empowerment and partnership as essential aspects of the student's anti-oppressive practice.

Values, parenting and professional roles

All of us who work with families carry into our work a whole set of beliefs and values about family life and how children should be cared for. This learning object is designed to make you aware of these personal values and how they might impact on your practice. This learning object explores the way that personal values can effect the way you deal with families and seeks to help make practitioners aware of the impact and implications that this can have. You will be asked to capture your initial thoughts relating to 3 case study images depicting different aspects of family life.

Advocacy : in my view

This learning object is one of a set of exercises and activities taken from the book 'Modern Social Work Practice' written by Mark Doel and Steven Shardlow. This resource looks at advocacy and presents seven possible 'hidden agendas' at a hospital ward round. The student wants to advocate for the client to return to his home, but each hidden agenda might explain the other professionals’ involved in the ward round reluctance to accept the student's view. The activity helps students to practise whether and how they might open up the hidden agendas.

The Law-Practice Relationship

This learning object is suitable for use in conjunction case studies once students have appreciated the basic framework of the legal rules. These materials raise awareness of: the complexity of the relationship between law and social work in practice; the breadth of legal knowledge necessary for effective practice; the fact that law cannot be seen in isolation from values, and must be subject to critical analysis; how different options for practice balance legal rules, moral rules and individual and collective rights.

Assumptions : making them explicit

This learning object is one of a set of exercises and activities taken from the book 'Modern Social Work Practice' written by Mark Doel and Steven Shardlow. This resource focuses on ways of expressing subtext - the kind of conversation we are accustomed to keeping inside our heads - openly and encouraging others to reveal theirs. This is important as often subtext and hidden assumptions influence our actions.

Attitudes and Images of Ageing

This learning object is about ways in which people's experience of ageing and mental health are shaped by society's attitudes to older people and later life. You will consider the way age-related images and ideas, displayed in the media and in everyday language, shape our perceptions; but also what we know about older people's own attitudes and aspirations. This object also contains a self-assessment section where you can test how far you have assimilated the key messages from this learning object.

How can your agency support you in accessing and using knowledge to be poverty aware?

It is now increasingly understood that there are different types of knowledge, all of which contribute to the ability of members of the children's workforce to do their jobs well. Understanding the types of knowledge that are available, and having access to this knowledge is an important aspect for anybody who is working with families that are living in poverty.