Higher education (HE)

Keeping it Real

The Keeping It Real conference at Stirling University on 26 April 2017 celebrated Service User and Carer Involvement in Professional Education and the difference it makes.

This was about showcasing good practice, sharing ideas and future ambitions, and discussing key challenges.

Sara Hitchens spoke eloquently (see attached presentation), reflecting back on the first national conference at Stirling University in 2013 (Real Lives: Real Difference) and the learning journey. She identified three essential ingredients for effective service user and carer involvement:

Shaping the future

Making a successful transition from student to social worker

What's it like for a student leaving university and making the transition into the world of work?

Iriss teamed up with Glasgow Caledonian University, SSSC, the Scottish Association of Social Workers and the Scottish Government to find out. About 120 final year students as well as newly qualified social workers gathered at GCU on 22 January 2015 to share information and experience with aim of helping to shape the future direction of social work.

Improving access to research for the social services

Can higher education digital repositories help?

Higher education repositories are on-line spaces where university staff can deposit their research outputs, making them available for anyone to access for free. This report explores the potential for higher education repositories in Scotland to make a greater contribution to improving access to research for the social services.

SWAPBox

SWAPBox is a digital repository that brings together open educational resources - social work and social policy learning and teaching materials - that can be freely used and repurposed for use with students in the classroom or in working practice. Examples of some of these materials includes handouts, exercises, podcasts and videos.

Referencing

practical guidance on how to get referencing right

The ability to relate one's own work to existing knowledge is an essential skill for practitioners and students alike. This interactive learning resource provides practical guidance on how to get referencing right.

Key Capabilities in Child Care Protection website

Following the successful completion of the Key Capabilities in Child Care and Protection (2006) developed by the University of Dundee Centre for Child Care and Protection and SIESWE. The Child Care and Protection Training and Development Project aimed to track and enhance the process of embedding key capabilities across social work qualifying programmes by identifying and sharing innovative practice, and this project was concluded in 2008.

Service user and carers group

This film explains how the Service User and Carer Group at Dundee University was established. It explains how member's help to influence Social Work Education and the impact carer's and service user involvement has on student development.

New degree, new standards?

A project investigating the Alignment of the Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE) to the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). This project shines a spotlight on the social work qualifying degrees in Scotland with a particular emphasis on the relationship between the SiSWE and the SCQF.