Is there a shared social work signature pedagogy cross-nationally? Using a case study methodology to explore signature pedagogy in England, Israel, Finland, Spain and Sweden

ABSTRACT

While there is an international definition of social work as a profession, little is known about whether there is a shared pedagogy in social work cross-nationally. To our knowledge, this paper is the first empirical study which aims to fill this gap by applying the concept of signature pedagogy in social work education to explore the commonality of social work pedagogy across countries. The study uses a multi-site case study (six universities in five European countries) through applying a ‘critical teacher-researcher’ approach in generating the data, followed by a two-phased thematic analysis. The study evidenced a shared principle of social work pedagogy which nurtures social work students to think and perform like a social worker and develop the professional self through developing relationships and dialogue, professional practice, group work, self-reflection and critical thinking. It is argued from, this exploratory study, that even between countries which have different welfare ideology as well as social work history and education systems, there is some common ground in social work pedagogy where one can learn from another through the use of ‘teacher as researcher’ methodologically.

ABSTRAKT

Det finns en internationell definition av socialt arbete som profession men vi vet mindre om huruvida det finns en gemensam pedagogik i hur socialt arbete lärs ut mellan länder. Utifrån vår kännedom är detta det första paper som genom en empirisk studie utforskar vad vi har gemensamt i hur vi lär ut socialt arbete. Studien använder en multi-site case study (sex universitet i fem europeiska länder) genom att använda ”critical teacher researcher” som metod för att samla in data som sedan följs av en tematisk analys i två steg. Studien visade ett gemensamt förhållningssätt i den pedagogik som lär ut socialt arbete där vi alla fokuserar på att ge studenterna en förmåga att tänka och verka som socialarbetare och utveckla det professionella ”jaget” genom att utveckla relationer och dialog, professionell praktik, grupparbete, självreflektion och kritiskt tänkande. Det finns, utifrån den här utforskande studien, grund för att påstå att även länder som inte har en gemensam välfärdsideologi, historik eller utbildningssystem, ändå har några gemensamma principer i pedagogiken i socialt arbete där vi kan lära från varandra genom att använda ”teacher as reasercher” metoden.

KEYWORDS:

• Signature pedagogy
• education
• teacher as researcher

NYCKELORD:

• signature pedagogy
• utbildning
• ’teacher as researcher’

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgement

We would also like to thank Dr Linda Lill and Dr Jonas Christensen of Malmö University, Sweden, for their contribution to this text. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by the peer reviewers who made valuable comments on an earlier version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by European Association of Schools of Social Work.

Notes on contributors

M. Wallengren-Lynch

Michael Wallengren Lynch holds a doctorate in social work from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He researches in the area of social workers in schools, and social work pedagogy. He teaches at the University of Malmö, Sweden.

H. L. Chen

Henglien Lisa Chen, PhD, is a social worker, gerontologist, lecturer and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research at the University of Sussex in the U.K. Lisa’s research profile is centred on the policy and practice of long-term care, particularly in the forms of community and institutional care of older people including people with dementia and their in/formal carers and caring professionals. Lisa has many publications of cross-national research in social policy and social care practice on ageing care. They include quality of life of older, care service evaluations and development, the care workforce, the wellbeing of formal and informal carers and policy and practice within the long-term care system

H. Muurinen

Heidi Muurinen, D.Soc.Sc, holds a position of team manager in the adult social services in the City of Espoo, Finland. Her research is focused on experiment-driven and collaborative approach in designing social services, knowledge production related to practical experiments and pragmatist philosophy in social work research. Muurinen has also worked as a part-time teacher in the University of Helsinki.

E. Segev

Einav Segev, PhD is senior lecturer at the School of Social Work, Sapir College, Israel. She is a social worker and her interests of research include: identity development, gender, social work education, qualitative research methodology and intergenerational relationships in families coping with trauma, loss, and chronic illness of a family member. Dr. Einav Segev received her PhD from Ben- Gurion University of the Negev in 2008.

K. Hollertz

Katarina Hollertz is PhD in social work, with a MA in Comparative European Social studies. She holds a position as assistant professor at the department of social work, Gothenburg university, Sweden. Her main research interests are in the field of social work, activation policies and pedagogy in social work education. Her teaching is concentrated around international supervised field placements, social work at community level, international social work and social policy.

A. R. Bengtsson

Anna Ryan Bengtsson is a doctoral student at the Department of Social work, University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Her teaching experiences are mainly from the advanced level course in community work, part of the B.A. programme in social work at the Department. Besides her interest in pedagogic issues, her research is focused on collective mobilisation and contemporary resistance in human service organisations, from a critical theoretical perspective.

R. Thomas

Roma Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Studies at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK. She is Course Coordinator for a Masters in International Social Work and Social Development. Roma teaches research methods and other subjects across the discipline of childhood and youth studies. She is currently completing her doctoral studies at the University of Sussex, focusing on marginalized young masculinities. Her teaching and research interests include the affective realm in pedagogy. Past research includes work in a large-scale study of communication and engagement skills in child and family social workers.

M. B. Carrasco

Marta Blanco Carrasco holds Doctor of Law from the Faculty of Law of the Complutense University of Madrid. She works at the Department of Civil Law of the University School of Social Work. For several years, she has been a family mediator of the Family Meeting Point and family mediator and lawyer of the Family Support Center, both social services of the Madrid City Council. She is a board member of the Complutense Mediation Institute, IMEDIA. She has published in the field of mediation and protection of minors. She is currently the vice-Dean of International Relations of the Faculty of UCM Social Work.