International Conference Research and social work practice - mutually beneficial endeavour or uneasy bedfellows?

European Research Institute for Social Work (ERIS) conference 13-14 October, 2014

ProposalforPresentation

Contactdetails

Maincontactperson:Adi Staempfli

Position:Lecturer in Social Work, convener of the MA in Practice Education

Organisation:Goldsmiths, University of London and

University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland

Address:Goldsmiths, University of London

Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies

New Cross

London

SE14 6NW

Email:

Telephone: (work) 0207 717 22 78

Mobile:0785 521 39 73

About my proposal

1.Towhichoftheconferencethemesdoestheproposalrelate?

  • What have been the tensions and positive effects in this relationship?
  • How can we best combine the interests and best elements of research and practice, and by what means, to increase effectiveness?
  • How has research aided in the positive development of social work?

2.Titleofpresentation:The "Key Situations in Social Work" model: fostering good co-sleeping of research and practice.

3. Summary(300words)

The "Key Situations in Social Work" model ( was developed and evaluated at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland (UASA FHNW). It offers theoretical and practical answers to the challenges of integrating practice and research anda situated perspective on knowledge management: Knowledge co-constructed in communities of practice (CoPs)in a structured reflection process on situations is documented on a virtual platform and is thus made accessible for discourses on best practice in social work.

With its focus on individual and organisational learning it opens up new ways to relate knowledge and practice in and across settings such as universities and practice organisations. Theoretically it isbased amongst other concepts on learning in and across communities of practice (Wenger, 1998).

Purely technical solutions for the integration of research and practice are fraught with difficulties and cannot replace co-operation in CoPs (Seely Brown & Duguid, 2000). The current discourse on knowledge management in social work points therefore to socio-technical solutions (e.g. Jang, 2012), which are based on community management and social and communicative processes. Building on the reflection model (Tov, Kunz & Staempfli, 2013), the authors are currently developing the platform and establishing a network of practice with CoPs , consisting of practitioners and academics in German speaking countries. The project #Schlüsselsituationen was launched in January 2014 and is funded by the Gebert Rüf Foundation in partnership with the Rector's Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences and Art and the UASA FHNW.

In this presentation participants will have an opportunity to get an insight into this innovative and dynamic project and see how we have developed responses to the challenges of integrating theory and practice, social work science and the profession. I will outline the conceptual framework and tools for educators, researchers and practitioners.

4. References

Jang, K (2012) An Understanding of OptimalKnowledge Management forSocial Work Practice: Based on aProcess-Oriented Conceptualisationof Knowledge Integration. British Journal of Social Work (Advance Access published 2012). 1–20

Seely Brown, J. & Duguid, P ( (2000). The Social Life of Information. Harvard Business School Press.

Staempfli, Adi; Kunz, Regula & Tov, Eva (2012). Creating a bridge between theory and practice: working with key situations. European Journal of Social Education, 22/23, p. 60-78.

Tov, Eva; Kunz, Regula & Stämpfli, Adi (2013). Schlüsselsituationen der Sozialen Arbeit. Professionalität durch Wissen, Reflexion und Diskurs in Communities of Practice. Bern: hep

Wenger, Etienne (1998) Communities of practice. Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press

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