Developing a systemic, relationship-based pedagogy in social work education
type: CreativeWork
description: This covering document provides a narrative account detailing the context and rationale for my body of work in the public domain at the time of writing. The body of work contains ten peer-reviewed papers published between 2014 and 2018. The central argument underpinning the papers asserts the need for a systemic, relationship-based pedagogy in the teaching of social work students in England. This contention arose following a plethora of recommendations stating that social workers should build relationships with their service users and colleagues. I argue that there should be coherence between the approach social workers are taught from and the relationship-based approach they would need to practise from to fulfil these recommendations. Despite the proposals relating to social work practice, currently there is no requirement in social work education to teach from a relationship-based approach. My body of work sets out the principles upon which a relationship-based teaching of social workers should be built, my ethical ponderings and the methodologies I have used in undertaking relational inquiries. I focus the inquiry lens on myself in order to identify how I could effectively adopt a systemic, relationship-based approach to my teaching. This covering document outlines the meaning of systemic practice. It also examines the research trio of ontology, epistemology and methodology that underpins the body of work. I discuss how the epistemology is situated from the perspective of my-self as a black female (I use the term ‘my-self’ as it relates to the use of self). From my argument for the need for a systemic, relationship-based pedagogy for social workers, two key issues emerged: firstly, research that inquires into relationships should utilise qualitative research tools that have a systemic, relational aspect to them; and secondly, there is a need to understand how the culture and identity of both the educator and the students could impact on this relationship-based te…
abstract: This covering document provides a narrative account detailing the context and rationale for my body of work in the public domain at the time of writing. The body of work contains ten peer-reviewed papers published between 2014 and 2018. The central argument underpinning the papers asserts the need for a systemic, relationship-based pedagogy in the teaching of social work students in England. This contention arose following a plethora of recommendations stating that social workers should build relationships with their service users and colleagues. I argue that there should be coherence between the approach social workers are taught from and the relationship-based approach they would need to practise from to fulfil these recommendations. Despite the proposals relating to social work practice, currently there is no requirement in social work education to teach from a relationship-based approach. My body of work sets out the principles upon which a relationship-based teaching of social workers should be built, my ethical ponderings and the methodologies I have used in undertaking relational inquiries. I focus the inquiry lens on myself in order to identify how I could effectively adopt a systemic, relationship-based approach to my teaching. This covering document outlines the meaning of systemic practice. It also examines the research trio of ontology, epistemology and methodology that underpins the body of work. I discuss how the epistemology is situated from the perspective of my-self as a black female (I use the term ‘my-self’ as it relates to the use of self). From my argument for the need for a systemic, relationship-based pedagogy for social workers, two key issues emerged: firstly, research that inquires into relationships should utilise qualitative research tools that have a systemic, relational aspect to them; and secondly, there is a need to understand how the culture and identity of both the educator and the students could impact on this relationship-based te…
author: Walker, Sharon (Social Work Educator)
keywords: 360 Social problems & services; associations
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:54:33Z
provider: London Metropolitan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: London Metropolitan University