Higher education institutions offer a range of programmes, some of which are professionally qualifying. Such programmes usually include a focus on the development of skills deemed necessary for the profession. This study took a participatory approach to work with undergraduate students who had experienced social work skills teaching in England with an aim of improving the value of this teaching from the student perspective. Findings indicate that whilst students found skills teaching helpful, they wanted it to be more creative, spontaneous and flexible, and working with others in groups could be more effective. These findings provide insight into how active skills teaching can be developed. They also demonstrate that a participatory approach to enable co-creation of skills teaching is likely to be powerful in ensuring the teaching is inclusive and students are empowered to construct their own learning. Providing students with the opportunities for co-creation contributes to their development as a social worker by modelling ways of practising that are underpinned by social justice which remains the core foundational principle of the social work profession.
Jane Pye (Fri,) studied this question.