Table Of ContentSOCIALWORK, CRITICALREFLECTION ANDTHE
LEARNINGORGANIZATION
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Social Work, Critical Reflection
and the Learning Organization
Edited by
NICK GOULDand MARK BALDWIN
University of Bath
©Nick Gould and Mark Baldwin 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Nick Gould and Mark Baldwin have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Gower House Suite 420
Croft Road 101 Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT05401-4405
Hants GU11 3HR USA
England
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Social work, critical reflection and the learning
organization
1.Social work education 2.Social workers - Supervision of
3.Self knowledge, Theory of 4.Organizational learning
I.Gould, Nick II.Baldwin, Mark, Dr
361.3'071
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Social work, critical reflection, and the learning organization / edited by Nick
Gould and Mark Baldwin.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-3165-6 – ISBN 0-7546-3167-2
1.Social work education. 2.Organizational learning. 3.Experimental learning.
4.Social workers–Supervision of. 5.Social service–Evaluation. I. Gould, Nick.
II. Baldwin, Mark, Dr.
HV11S5873 2004
361.3'068'4–dc22
2003062844
ISBN 0 7546 3165 6 (Hbk)
ISBN 0 7546 3167 2 (Pbk)
Typeset by Bournemouth Colour Press, Parkstone, Poole
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPGBooks Ltd, Bodmin.
Contents
Contributors vii
Introduction:The Learning Organization and Reflective Practice
– the Emergence of a Concept 1
Nick Gould
1 Supervision, Learning and Transformative Practices 11
Martyn Jones
2 Social Work Supervision: Contributing to Innovative Knowledge
Production and Open Expertise 23
Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski
3 Critical Reflection: Opportunities and Threats to Professional
Learning and Service Development in Social Work Organizations 41
Mark Baldwin
4 Critical Reflection and Organizational Learning and Change:ACase
Study 57
Jan Fook
5 Multi-professional Teams and the Learning Organization 75
Imogen Taylor
6 Sustaining Reflective Practice in the Workplace 87
Hilary Sage and Mary Allan
7 Using ‘Critical Incident Analysis’to Promote Critical Reflection
and Holistic Assessment 101
Judith Thomas
8 Evaluation for a Learning Organization? 117
Ian Shaw
9 Reflecting on Practice: Exploring Individual and Organizational
Learning through a Reflective Teaching Model 129
Bairbre Redmond
10 Living out Histories and Identities in Organizations: ACase Study
from Three Perspectives 143
Harjeet Badwall, Patricia O’Connor and Amy Rossiter
11 Conclusions: Optimism and the Art of the Possible 161
Mark Baldwin
Bibliography 177
Index 199
v
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Contributors
Mary Allan worked for Stonham Housing Association for 15 years. For much of
that time she managed an offender project before taking up the newly created role
of Practice Development Adviser for the West Region in 1999. Mary completed the
Diploma in Social Work on a part time basis in 1998, having previously gained the
Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW) Practice
Teacher Award and subsequently went on to gain her degree at the University of the
West of England while continuing to work full time. She is involved in union
activities and holds the National Learning Representative role. Much of her current
work involves training other professionals in social care. She also continues to
practice teach social work students in placement.
Harjeet Badwallhas been practising social work for several years. She has worked
in the areas of youth, women’s issues, anti-violence, HIV/AIDS, with ethno-specific
communities and larger community activism. Harjeet has worked as an anti-racism
and anti-oppression facilitator in organizations and academic settings. She has
lectured in university settings on critical reflective practice from an anti-oppressive
framework. Currently, Harjeet is working as a Sexual Assault Counsellor in a local
hospital in Toronto.
Mark Baldwin is senior lecturer in social work at the University of Bath. He is
interested in the part that professional practitioners play in the development of
policy through the use of discretion. He is currently investigating how this is
affecting the introduction of integrated services in the health and social care field.
He has worked with co-op erative inquiry groups within statutory and voluntary
organizations to investigate the possibilities for developing good practice. He is
committed to the importance of service user involvement and has worked with the
Wiltshire Service User Network for a number of years to bring their perspective into
social work education.
Jan Fookhas taught social work students for most of her career. Her most abiding
interest is in practice, particularly how it is best researched and developed from the
perspective of the practitioner. In her current position as Professor/Director of the
Centre for Professional Development at La Trobe University, a major role is
providing continuing education for human service professionals in the area of
critical reflective practice. She is known nationally and internationally for her work
in this area, and is regularly invited to speak in the UK and other parts of Europe.
She has published eight books and over 40 journal articles and book chapters. Her
first book, Radical Casework (Allen &Unwin, 1993), is one of the most widely
vii
viii Social Work, Critical Reflection and the Learning Organization
used social work texts in Australia, and The Reflective Researcher(Allen &Unwin,
1996) is used by many different professional groups. Her most recent book is Social
Work: Critical Theory and Practice(Sage, 2002).
Nick Gould is professor of social work at the University of Bath, and fellow in
social care with the National Institute for Mental Health (England) and Social Care
Institute for Excellence. A qualified social worker, he has worked in generic and
mental health settings. He has published widely in the fields of professional
learning, social informatics and research methodology. His most recent book, edited
with Ian Shaw, is Qualitative Research in Social Work(Sage, 2001).
Martyn Jones is associate professor in field education at RMITUniversity
Melbourne and was previously acting Director of Social Work at Deakin University,
Australia. He has previously been employed in social work education and practice
in the UK. He has engaged in a number of collaborative research projects concerned
with the professional identity, knowledge and organizational change. His teaching
interests include the place of critical reflection and reflexivity in professional
development. Currently, he is working on a book (with Heather D’Cruz) entitled
Social Work Research: APolitical and Ethical Practice?, to be published in 2004.
Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski is professor of social work at the University of
Helsinki, Finland. Earlier she has worked in the universities of Kuopio and Turku.
She is a qualified and practising social work supervisor and has also done
developmental work on the training of social work supervisors and practice
teachers. She has written on reflective practice in social work and on the theory of
supervision, and she is engaged in research on social work research and
epistemological issues and issues of expertise and knowledge production.
Patricia O’Connorhas a career as a social worker which spans 30 years and a wide
variety of positions – child welfare, neighbourhood centre work, community
education and local service planning. She has been involved in undergraduate social
work education for many y ears as a teacher and as a field instructor. She currently
is a front-line worker in a community health centre in downtown Toronto, where she
continues to be challenged and stimulated by the complexity of the work and the
diversity of the people and tasks. Writing this chapter with Harjeet and Amy was a
much welcomed opportunity for reflection and growth.
Bairbre Redmondis Director of Social Work Training in the Department of Social
Policy and Social Work at University College, Dublin; she has also worked as a
senior social worker in the intellectual disability services. Her research interests
include the development of better relationships between health service professionals
and service users. She has a particular interest in developing new, innovative
teaching approaches to professional training and development at university level.
She is the author of Reflection in Action(Ashgate, 2004).
Amy Rossiter is a professor in the School of Social Work at York University in
Contributors ix
Toronto. She is interested in critical approaches to social work theory and practice,
with particular emphasis on postmodern perspectives. She explores the possibilities
and contradictions of critical approaches in the context of social work education.
She is also working on the effects of corporate globalization on the social work
profession. Amy has two terrific adult children, a dysfunctional cat, and a garden
that is the result of her enthusiastic but sadly untalented ministrations.
Hilary Sageis practice learning co-ordinator and tutor for the social work course at
the University of Bristol. She has written about, and evaluated the use of, portfolios
for the assessment of practice and professional development. From her previous
experience as a social worker and care manager in Gloucestershire she has
developed an interest in, and carried out research into, the housing context for the
delivery of health and social care services and inter-agency work. She is currently
developing enquiry-based learning units to link with a greater variety of practice
settings for the new postgraduate social work award.
Ian Shaw is professor of social work at the University of York, England. He has
spent most of his career working in Wales at Cardiff University. His interests
include developing social work research methodology, in relation to evaluation,
action research, qualitative methods and practitioner research. He writes on issues
at the borders of health and social care, and publishes in social work, housing,
education, sociology and health journals. He is author or editor of 10 or so books.
He has led on the development of eLearning packages in social work practice and
community care, and co-edits the journal Qualitative Social Work.
Imogen Taylor joined the University of Sussex as professor of social work and
social care in 2001. Prior to this she was a Senior Lecturer at the University of
Bristol where she completed her doctorate. She is also Co-Director of the UK
Learning and Teaching Support Network Subject Centre in Social Policy and Social
Work. Imogen qualified as a social worker in Toronto where she practised before
joining the Faculty of the School of Social Work there. Her research interests
include: learning for profes sional and interprofessional practice; gender in learning
and practice; non-traditional learners; and, critically reflective learning. Her book,
Developing Learning in Professional Education: Partnerships for Practice(SRHE
and Open University Press, 1997), was an outcome of these interests. More recently
she has become interested in the learning organization. She is a member of the
Editorial Board of Social Work Education. In recognition of her work, Imogen was
awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2003.
Judith Thomasworked in residential work with children, also as a specialist mental
health social worker, then as a training officer and practice learning organizer in
various local authorities. Over the past 10 years Judith has worked closely with
social services agencies to develop practice teacher training and is now programme
leader for the BSc(Hons) Social Work at the University of the West of England,
Bristol. Judith is particularly interested in exploring creative ways of looking at the
connections between research and practice, and how we can all make the most of
