A group of social workers from Japan recently visited to learn more about the extended teaching partnership between the University of Greenwich and local London Boroughs. Jackie Yaskey and Dr Tessa Godfrey gave a presentation to the Japanese delegation on the University’s collaboration with the London Boroughs of Bexley and Lambeth, along with Hestia Housing & Support, and fostering the relationship between higher education and social work practice.
Child welfare representatives from Nakano City, Sendai City, Yokohama City, Kyoto City, and the prefectures of Nagano and Okayama were in attendance, along with members of the Nippon Foundation and the National Training Center for Prevention of Child and Neglect.
For our students, the partnership provides practical experience in statutory social work within adult and children’s services that prepares students for practice, as well as improving social work recruitment and retention to meet the future workforce requirements of employers and be responsive to community needs. This is achieved through a variety of ways, including social work practitioners delivering teaching sessions on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, statutory placements in adults and childrens services, and practitioner involvement in student admissions interviews and practice panel meetings
For practitioners, the social work programme delivers the Practice Educator professional standards programme to qualified social workers. Continuous professional development (CPD) courses are also provided for social work practitioners, with modules on equality, diversity and domestic abuse amongst others.
For more information, please contact Jackie Yaskey, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Academic Portfolio Lead for Social Work, and Dr Tessa Godfrey, Lecturer in Social Work and Programme Leader for the MA Social Work.