DEVELOPING THE PARTNERSHIP SKILLS OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS MONDAY 10 TH MARCH 2008 Institute of Applied Social Studies Kathryn Farrow Joy Fillingham UB

Aims for the workshop Within this workshop we aim to:  Outline the context of developing the partnership skills of SW students and SW managers within our work at the University of Birmingham.  Experience (albeit briefly) some of the exercises we use with students in order to discuss their usefulness.  Explore how we assess the impact of our work with students. 2University Of Birmingham

Regulatory context of partnership  Department of Health Requirements for Social Work Training (2002): ‘All social workers will learn and be assessed on partnership working’(p16).  Both the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers (2002) and Quality Assurance Authority (QAA) Benchmark Statement (1999) specifically mention cross-professional collaboration and engagement with service users and carers.  Our own Institute commitment to collaboration. (Taylor, I, Sharland, E. Sebba, J Leriche, P. with Keep, E and Orr, D. (2006) The learning, teaching and assessment of partnership skills in social work education, Bristol: SCIE/Policy Press ). 3University Of Birmingham

What we have been doing at Birmingham University  Since the beginning of 2005 all our MA and BA social work students have undertaken a module which specifically focuses on ‘working in partnership’.  Since 2006 we have run a ‘Creating and maintaining effective partnerships’ module as part of our ‘Developing Managers’ programme for managers in Social work.  Our focus is on partnerships with other workers and also service users and carers.  All of these programmes combine a mixture of theory, inputs from service users and practitioners and experiential sessions which encourage reflection and the development of improved partnership skills.  We evaluate their learning through a group presentation and an individual assignment. 4University Of Birmingham

So what skills are we talking about?  Using communication skills to support collaboration, for example, active listening, body language, summarising and paraphrasing.  Developing a shared focus for work and ‘ground rules’ on process.  The ability to see imbalances in power between participants.  Dealing constructively with conflict and differences of opinion.  Negotiating and advocating on behalf of a specific interest group. For the purposes of this workshop we are focusing on the last two of these. 5University Of Birmingham

Dealing constructively with conflict and differences of opinion.  Students get a pack which includes a questionnaire that explores their typical responses to conflict. They complete and score this to identify their own use of constructive and destructive strategies (included in workshop pack but there is not time to complete).  We ask participants to then undertake the ‘Fallout shelter exercise’ (Johnson and Johnson, 2006). We are going to do this today –briefly!  They then complete the post decision questionnaire before we give out the ‘right’ answers.  Using observer feedback and the post group questionnaire we ask each group to produce their view on the constructive management of controversy.  Examples of these combined lists are included within your pack.  Feedback from the students is generally very positive. They enjoy the session and learn a lot about their own style of dealing with conflict. 6University Of Birmingham

A taster exercise – the nuclear shelter  In groups of 4 complete the fall out shelter exercise – instructions in your pack.  Initially select the 7 items you personally would take into the nuclear shelter, then as a group agree those 7 items.  After hearing the results discuss the process of agreeing – and this method as a way of learning. 7University Of Birmingham

 To practise the skills students have developed to date including negotiation and communication.  To see different perspectives of the key players in the allocation of money to Third Sector Organisations (TSOs).  To try to establish factors which influence the decision making process in forming partnerships between TSOs and local authorities. We then ask the students to role play a funding exercise 8University Of Birmingham

How does the funding exercise work?  The students are given the scenario and details of the role they are asked to undertake.  Scenario - The Local Authority have decided to hold an informal enquiry day in which different TSOs can discuss their ideas for fulfilling some of the requirements of ‘Community Capacity’ and so seek to access some or all of the funding.  We ask them to try to understand each others perspectives but to negotiate for as good a deal as possible from the viewpoint of their role. 9University Of Birmingham

Roles and process Roles  A Local Authority Finance Officer.  A Local Authority Service Provision Manager (LAM).  Two Social Workers, each from different areas of special interest who have worked in the local community for over five years.  Two or three representatives from different local Third Sector Organisations. Process  Short strategy discussion in groups to discuss what they want from the funding meeting  They go into the role play to exchange ideas and negotiate in relation to the initiative with the Local Authority manager chairing the meeting.  The LAM and Finance Officer meet privately to allocate resources. Their decision is given to the group with reasons.  Each group records the funding allocation on a flip chart and ONE thing they have learnt about the process. Results differ! 10University Of Birmingham

Examples of some of the things they say they learn about the process…  Strong focused arguments, including evidence and statistics to back up your claim help you to get funding.  A willingness to ask for more than you need; to negotiate and be flexible.  Every one has their own agenda – whether this is overt of not!  This can feel like a complex but relatively arbitrary process.  Some service users and community groups may be very disappointed by the funding decisions reached. 11University Of Birmingham

Assessment of the module and their learning Presentation  Students are asked to work in groups on a case study over a number of days to produce a presentation of how they would work together to resolve the issues of concern.  This is both an experiential learning opportunity and a method of assessment. Students demonstrate very varied partnership skills. Assignment  Students are asked to produce a 2,000 word assignment which brings together theory and reflection of working in partnership with others. They are asked to evaluate their own experiences on placement and also their contribution during module exercises and also in the presentation. 12University Of Birmingham

Exercise using the case study  In groups of four, discuss how you might work together in order to answer this case study.  How would you allocate tasks?  (If there is time) explore how you develop your answers to the case study into a presentation.  From your experience during this exercise – comment on this as a learning opportunity. 13University Of Birmingham

How we assess the impact of our work with students through the presentation  Presentations – panel of assessors including lecturers and service users.  Make judgements on the basis of; structure, presentation methods, content and use of material, strategy for working in partnership with users and carers, engagement with audience and overall impact.  We don’t formally judge how well they work together in groups but this is often apparent in the quality of the presentations! 14University Of Birmingham

What have we learnt?  Students readily sign up to a notion that collaboration is a ‘good thing’ but that we need to enable them to get beyond this as rhetoric.  It is not realistic to assume that SW students will learn to collaborate effectively on placement. All too frequently they learn the ‘agency perspective.  People often see problems in collaboration as being the fault of others. We encourage students to see their own part in this.  Practising partnership skills within a safe setting gives scope for feedback, reflection and learning to take into the practice arena.  This is very much ‘work in progress’ and we are keen to develop our expertise in this area. 15University Of Birmingham