Service Users In and Out of the Academy: Collusion in Exclusion?

Abstract

This paper considers service users' experiences of social exclusion, focussing on ways in which patterns of exclusion outside the academy may be replicated and amplified—or challenged—within the academy. Traditionally service users have been left out of the process of theorising and understanding their experiences, echoing their wider absence from the academy and processes of knowledge production. More recently, service user involvement has been prioritised in social work education and courses have included the contributions of service users as classroom teachers and assessors. Here we discuss service users' relationship with the academy as a site for learning, teaching and research about service user involvement in social work and social care research.

The paper draws on an innovative project where undergraduate students, service users, carers, and university lecturers learnt from each other about how to involve service users in research. It describes some of the activities that supported a more inclusive debate about social exclusion, central to which were issues of access. We conclude by arguing for the development of inclusive educational practices in close association with those in marginalised groups and for inclusion in the academy of those service users who wish to register as students.

Keywords:

• Social Exclusion
• Social Inclusion
• Service Users
• Carers
• User Involvement
• Social Work Education
• Social Care Research

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the long‐ and short‐course students, members of Words and Actions working with the Sheffield‐based company Dead Earnest Theatre, and staff in Learning and Teaching Services at the University of Sheffield for their respective roles in the development, running and evaluation of the Researching Together course: without their contributions this paper would not have been possible.