Connecting Community Participation with Entrepreneurial Thinking: A way forward?

Backing people not structures, and using business techniques to achieve positive change are features of the social entrepreneur movement. In the crisis facing social welfare in western democracies and indeed global living, this movement suggests solutions that go beyond conventional partisan positions. Traditionally those on the left see large governments and increased spending as solutions to human marginalisation while those on the right argue for small government to build human independence and capacity. Both positions prioritise structures and institutions ahead of people. Social entrepreneurship emphasises investing in people and community to strengthen individuals and families in all their diversity. It challenges taken-for-granted boundaries between business, government, community, self-help, and philanthropy.This paper traces the emergence of the concept of social entrepreneurship within the discourse of the Third Way. After identifying problematics attached to the concept, the paper documents the development of social entrepreneurship in a remote Australian context and explores whether this way of working is new. Drawing on an in-depth interview with a social entrepreneur the paper concludes that the concept opens up new possibilities for community practice. These possibilities are not attainable through linear 'cook-book' steps to be followed by anyone, anywhere. Rather they are contingent on the actions and reflexivity of value based practitioners located in time and space in relationship with others. Using the voice of a grounded practitioner, the paper explores how an 'ethics of care', as articulated in feminist literature, is integral to the use of social entrepreneurship in renovating and making relevant civil society at this time in the north west of Australia

(Re)presenting the creative potential of learning plans

Field education is central to social work education as it is here that students bring alive their classroom-based learning through supervised professional practice. An important part of structuring students’ learning on placement is the development of their learning plan. A learning plan links professional activities to be undertaken with learning outcomes to be achieved along with how these are to be assessed within a specific time frame. Whilst the benefits of a well articulated learning plan (sometimes referred to as a learning contract or learning agreement), for structuring teaching and learning on placement (practicum) are generally acknowledged, there is a paucity of research evidence of such benefits in the literature. This article reports on a small qualitative study undertaken with a cohort of fourth year social work students from a Western Australian university, who had completed their final placement. Utilizing a mixed method of textual analysis of student learning plans and focus interviews we sought to understand how students construct and utilise their learning plan in developing their knowledge, skills and values in and for professional practice. Drawing on the findings we conclude with ways to make learning plans a more effective tool for field education placements

The midwifery of power? Reflections on the development of professional social work in Western Australia

This paper explores the emergence of the social work profession in Western Australia from beginnings in the 1920s through to 1970 when the first local graduates gained employment. The authors illustrate how WA's history both connects with and diverges from patterns of the profession's development in more populous states, througt, the use of interviews conducted with pioneering social workers These oral histories illuminate how gender, class and other markings of privilege and power framed, and were framed by, the education, practice, sites of practice and career paths of social workers in the early years. Two interacting themes identified in this research were restricted employment possibilities for social workers in the State and a lack of locally available professional education until the mining boom of the sixties. The paper concludes by listing six lessons for current practitioners: the transcendent importance of reading contexts; identifying and developing relevant sites of practice; maintaining flexible boundaries of professional practice; being able to articulate a dynamic value base to drive practice; the importance of practitioners in shaping education, and continuing practitioner reflexivity

The interplay of evidence and knowledge for social work practice in a health setting

Aims: There is a growing body of research and scholarly literature addressing, from a range of philosophical views, the nature and effectiveness of evidence-based practice across health and human services. Influenced by developments in the USA and UK, there is an increasing requirement in Australia for evidence-based accountability from professional practitioners. Following Clifford Geertz’s dictum that to understand a practice it is necessary to study what it is that practitioners do, this interpretive study explores how experienced and reputedly effective social workers use knowledge in practice. Methods: The study was conducted in 2007/08 at a West Australian tertiary hospital. A purposive sample of four social workers, identified by their manager as experienced and effective practitioners, were interviewed on their practice in a case study of their choice. Interview data were transcribed and analysed thematically alongside official case notes to explore the ways in which evidence and knowledge interplay in shaping effective practice and the ways this is recorded for agency purposes. Findings: Practitioner thick descriptions on two cases revealed mediation and interaction with both empirical and reflective types of knowledge, with a dynamic interplay of evidence, knowledge and knowledge making, and practice wisdom. Conclusions: The authors argue that social workers are active agents who use and generate knowledge while they are making practice decisions based on their assessment of empirical knowledge, values, principles, and tacit knowledge. In this research project, researchers and practitioners examined and articulated effective social work practice to illustrate the ways in which multiple forms of knowledge are incorporated

The interplay of evidence and knowledge for social work practice in a health setting

Aims: There is a growing body of research and scholarly literature addressing, from a range of philosophical views, the nature and effectiveness of evidence-based practice across health and human services. Influenced by developments in the USA and UK, there is an increasing requirement in Australia for evidence-based accountability from professional practitioners. Following Clifford Geertz's dictum that to understand a practice it is necessary to study what it is that practitioners do, this interpretive study explores how experienced and reputedly effective social workers use knowledge in practice. Methods: The study was conducted in 2007/08 at a West Australian tertiary hospital. A purposive sample of four social workers, identified by their manager as experienced and effective practitioners, were interviewed on their practice in a case study of their choice. Interview data were transcribed and analysed thematically alongside official case notes to explore the ways in which evidence and knowledge interplay in shaping effective practice and the ways this is recorded for agency purposes. Findings: Practitioner thick descriptions on two cases revealed mediation and interaction with both empirical and reflective types of knowledge, with a dynamic interplay of evidence, knowledge and knowledge making, and practice wisdom. Conclusions: The authors argue that social workers are active agents who use and generate knowledge while they are making practice decisions based on their assessment of empirical knowledge, values, principles, and tacit knowledge. In this research project, researchers and practitioners examined and articulated effective social work practice to illustrate the ways in which multiple forms of knowledge are incorporated