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Social Work
A Companion to Learning

Edited by:

Other Titles in:
Social Work & Social Policy

March 2007 | 320 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
`In recent years, social work has been devalued by politicians and the media. However it requires practitioners equipped with key skills to empower individuals and communities and rooted in values which stimulate them to promote social justice. It is heartening that social work educators are at the forefront of equipping social workers with the skills and values to promote a better society. This book will open hearts and minds to achieve these ends' - Bob Holman, former Community Worker and Professor of Social Policy

Social Work: A Companion to Learning is an exciting and definitive new book that will equip readers with the core knowledge and skills they need to successfully complete their social work training, and go on to be an effective practitioner. The text takes a holistic and critical approach, not only enabling students and practitioners to understand how to practise social work effectively, but also how to locate this practice within its societal context.

Written and edited by leading experts in the field, each chapter skilfully explores key themes, issues, and concepts underpinning social work theory and practice in an engaging, authoritative and accessible way. The selection of topics serves to establish: the contexts through which social work education can best be understood; the core requirements and processes that characterise social work courses; the issues involved in continuing professional development. The chapters comprise a wide range of key issues, such as communication skills, partnership working, the values of social work, supervision, management, law, and research mindedness, as well as two unique chapters written exclusively from service users' perspectives.

Case studies, interactive questions, key points and further reading sections are used throughout the book to bring the material to life and aid readers' understanding. Social Work: A Companion to Learning will be a core text for students and practitioners at all levels, providing the most up-to-date and comprehensive companion they will need to help them progress in their careers.

Mark Lymbery has taught social work at the University of Nottingham since 1995. He is the author of Social Work with Older People (2005), also published by SAGE Publications. Karen Postle is a registered social worker with a background in counselling and family and neighbour mediation. She now teaches on the social work programmes at the University of East Anglia.

 
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Mark Lymbery and Karen Postle
Social Work in Challenging Times
 
PART 2: CONTEXTS
Bill Jordan
The Political, Societal and Economic Context of Practice
Richard Hugman
The Place of Values in Social Work Education
Jan Fook
Uncertainty: The Defining Characteristic of Social Work?
Kaeren Harrison and Gillian Ruch
Social Work and the Use of Self
On Becoming and Being a Social Worker

 
Advocacy in Action
Why Bother? The Truth about Service User Involvement
Beth Humphries
Research Mindedness
Colin Whittington
The Rise and Rise of Interprofessional Education?
Steven M Shardlow
Social Work in an International Context
 
PART 3: REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESSES
Robert Johns
Social Work Law
Jonathan Parker
The Process of Social Work
Assessment, Planning, Intervention and Review

 
Juliet Koprowska
Communication Skills in Social Work
Paul Bywaters
Understanding the Lifecourse
Malcolm Payne
Partnership Working: The Interdisciplinary Agenda
Vicky Harris and Martin Gill
Practice Learning In Context
Jackie Rafferty and Jan Steyaert
Social Work in a Digital Society
 
PART 4: THRIVING IN PRACTICE
Mark Lymbery
Social Work in Its Organisational Context
Helen Gorman and Mark Lymbery
Continuous Professional Development
Tina Eadie
Professional Development in the Workplace
Peter Beresford, Fran Branfield, Munir Lalani, Brian Maslen, Anna Sartori and Jenny, Maggie and Manny, All Service Users from Shaping Our Lives
Partnership Working
Service Users and Social Workers Learning and Working Together

 
Jeremy Peach and Nigel Horner
Using Supervision
Support or Surveillance?

 
Vicky White and John Harris
Management
Karen Postle
Value Conflicts in Practice
 
PART 5: CONCLUSION
Karen Postle and Mark Lymbery
Opportunities and Threats: Social Work in The 21st Century

`a comprehensive account of the issues related to social workers' personal development and latest developments in social work practice. I have no doubt that this book will provide an invaluable reference guide for social workers who are interested in the development of the profession' - Social Policy and Social Work (SWAP)

`[An] excellent book, abounding with conceptual insights, bursting with research and evidence-based reasoning, and pretty comprehensive in the spread of topics. [It] contains plenty of though-provoking material in nice sized chunks that challenged me to think about my practice in different ways and also made me want to find out more. The range of contributors is impressive and students could do a lot worse than digest and reference their work in assignments' - Professional Social Work

`[This] book is put together in an accessible and engaging way, which serves to stimulate the reader by posing questions, and creating opportunities for reflecting on the key learning points of each chapter. [It] should be an essential reading item on the book list of every social work student and act as a training resource to those training future social workers, and those already established within the profession' - Health & Social Care in the Community

`In recent years, social work has been devalued by politicians and the media. However it requires practitioners equipped with key skills to empower individuals and communities and rooted in values which stimulate them to promote social justice. It is heartening that social work educators are at the forefront of equipping social workers with the skills and values to promote a better society. This book will open hearts and minds to achieve these ends' - Bob Holman, former Community Worker and Professor of Social Policy


The book covers most of the essential topics social work students must learn from.

Miss LINDA MALATJI
SOCIAL WORK, UNIVERSTIY OF LIMPOPO
January 9, 2012

Very good reading and knowledge resource for our Practice Competence and Advanced Practice Competence Modules

Mrs Marie Ramsden
Social Work , Hull University
November 16, 2009

Sample Materials & Chapters

PDF of Chapter One


Mark E F Lymbery

Mark has been employed at the University of Nottingham since 1995, initially as a Lecturer in Social Work. He was made Senior Lecturer in 2004 and Associate Professor in 2006. A qualified social worker, he was employed in Social Services Departments for 18 years, working in residential child care, staff development and training, policy development, and in the implementation of community care. He has teaching and research interests in. He has published widely in social work with older people, community care, inter-professional working and the involvement of service users in the delivery of social work and its education. More About Author

Karen Postle

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ISBN: 9781412920025
£48.99

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