Service User Involvement in Social Work Education

In 2006, Social Work Education produced the first special edition (vol. 25, no. 4) on service user and carer involvement in social work education, with all of the articles coming from the United Kingdom. In 2015, a mixed group of service users and social work academics wondered how, and if, the field had moved on since 2006. This publication confirms that it has.

Since 2006, service user and carer involvement in social work education has become embedded internationally – this book contains contributions from Australia, Israel, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, the Republic of Ireland and Sweden, as well as all four nations of the United Kingdom. Many of the contributions are jointly written with service users and carers, highlighting the innovative practices which challenge social work academics, students, social workers and managers to think how we can all benefit from learning with, and from, service users and carers. This book ably demonstrates that service users and carers can be effectively involved in social work curriculum planning, delivery, assessment and management. This is not to say that these issues are not without their tension, challenges or struggles, but working with these helps to ensure that the social workers and managers of the future can practice more effectively, meeting service user and carer priorities and needs.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a double special issue of Social Work Education.

Hugh McLaughlin is Professor of Social Work at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research interests include keeping service user involvement in social work education and research honest, critical professional practice and the co-creation of learning organisations. He is editor-in-chief of Social Work Education: The International Journal.

Joseph Duffy is a Lecturer in Social Work at Queen’s University, Belfast, UK. He is particularly interested in the development of innovative approaches to advancing user- and carer-based knowledge in helping students understand challenging curriculum topics such as the impact of conflict, social work values and international social work.

Brendan McKeever is an independent user researcher and comes from a user background. He has been involved in user involvement issues for over 20 years and has written extensively on issues impacting families of disabled children.

June Sadd is an independent survivor consultant in research, training, education and user involvement/co-production. She works with many social work programmes in England, and with national organisations such as the Social Care Institute for Excellence and Mind, using long-term personal experience as a survivor, and 23 years of work experience in health and social care as a survivor activist.