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Continuing Professional Development, Masterclasses and events, News

Practice Educator Conference April 23 2018

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The Sheffield Hallam University Social Work Practice Educator Conference is now an established annual event. This year’s conference brought together over 160 Practice Educators.  Keynote presentations and workshops were planned in response to feedback from past conference delegates that identified areas of focus for professional education and practise.

The first part of the 2018 conference included four keynote presentations:

Mark Doel, Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Sheffield Hallam University, considered professional social work identity and storytelling through Social Work in 42 Objects;

Pete Nelson, Principal Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, presented findings from recent research which considered whether child obesity is a child protection issue;

Suzannah Rockett and Wendy Zayne, Practice Development Manager and Child Protection Conference Chair at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, reminded participants of the importance of safeguarding in professional Social Work practise;

Steve Chu, Chief Executive at Age UK Sheffield, promoted the contribution of social work to third sector organisations.

During the second part of the 2018 conference, workshops provided Practice Educators with opportunities to meet researchers who shared their work and facilitated discussion about specific aspects of supporting the practise education of students.

Dr Marelize Joubert (Sheffield Hallam University) led the workshop on Social Work students’ perception of their readiness for practice and to practise.

Chrissie Edmonds (Sheffield Hallam University)’s workshop focused on direct observation and its vital role for the practice educator.

Throughout the day, participants were encouraged to network with fellow Social Work professionals from across the sectors, sharing everyday experiences and debating common challenges faced and how these are being met by Social Workers.

Feedback from the day:

“I found it beneficial to hear the guest speakers, attend the workshop (although I would have liked to do both!) and also found it useful to hear and learn from the experiences of other practice educators”.

“Enjoyed the good mix of key note speakers and the workshop topics were particularly relevant to Practice Education “.

“I really enjoyed the conference and benefitted from attending“.

Continuing Professional Development

Advanced Practitioner Framework

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A NEW BROCHURE FOR 2018/19  WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY. TO REGISTER FOR UPDATES, PLEASE CONTACT US AT southyorkshireteachingpartnership@Sheffield.gov.uk

Our Advanced Practitioner Framework is modular based and supports continuous professional development across four strands:

  • Social work practice – modules that are designed to develop your skills and knowledge, and to help support and enable you to deliver first class services
  • Practice education – Stage 1 and Stage 2 Practice Educators awards
  • Leadership and Management – modules to support aspiring/new managers and mentors, plus the opportunity for experienced managers to undertake a PG Certificate in Leadership and Management in conjunction with the University of Sheffield’s Management School (which is in the top 1% of business and management schools worldwide).
  • Research and evidence-informed practice– as a partnership, we are committed to embedding research mindedness across all areas of social work education and practice. Social work requires compassionate, thorough assessment through empirical engagement with the lives of individuals and families and complex analysis to generate knowledge and understanding. In these core respects social work is very similar to research and requires a similar skill set. In support of this, we:
    • Include modules on research and evidence-informed practice in our qualifying and post-qualifying training
    • Support social workers to undertake work-based research projects which address practice issues/challenges
    • Ensure that social workers understand how cognitive biases and professional cultures can affect the ways they make sense of the world
    • Ensure that our social workers can develop and use their research skills within their practice, for example to support effective information gathering, assessment processes and analysis.

All modules are accredited and social workers can therefore build up credits towards a range of postgraduate qualifications including a Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership and Management or an MA in Advanced Professional Practice.