Annual of social work, Vol. 29 No. 2, 2022.
Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/ljsr.v29i2.444
EXPERIENCES OF SERVICE USER INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND SLOVENIA
Joanna Fox
orcid.org/0000-0003-3462-2978
; Anglia Ruskin University, School of Education and Social Care, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Petra Videmšek
orcid.org/0000-0001-5092-0225
; University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Work, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
In this article we discuss the nature of service user involvement in Higher Education (HE) social work programmes in both England and Slovenia. This discussion is based on our experiences of supporting such programmes alongside evidence derived from the literature. Firstly, we present a discussion of the effective development of service user involvement in the respective HEIs in our two countries. Secondly, we explore how the involvement of experts-by-experience in HEIs benefits the learning of social work students. Thirdly, we investigate how the emergence of Covid-19 has influenced the delivery of social work education and the involvement of service users in our respective social work programmes. We conclude by noting that our social work programmes have been forced to adapt to the needs of students in an online community and have embraced inclusive education. As a result of this, we suggest that the needs of experts-by-experience should inform the development of social work education and that they should be consulted on how they choose to be involved in educational practice.
Keywords
experiential knowledge; expertise-by-experience; service user involvement; England; Slovenia
Hrčak ID:
292635
URI
Publication date:
31.1.2023.
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