Using creativity, co-production and the common third in a communication skills module to identify and mend gaps between the stakeholders of social work education

Abstract

The involvement of stakeholders – academics, service users and carers, students and practitioners – is thought to improve the quality of social work education, although few approaches and strategies for achieving this have been articulated. Even service-user and carer involvement, which is firmly embedded within social work courses in the UK, would benefit from being better theorised and researched. This paper considers how creativity, co-production and the common third helped social work academics from an English university and service users and carers from a local user-led organisation to design, deliver and evaluate a communication skills module for social work students. In spite of some challenges, effective and supportive relationships have developed, with a range of benefits becoming increasingly apparent. However, the strengths of this partnership highlighted gaps in the relationships with other stakeholders. In a conscious effort to overcome paternalistic traditions of transmission-oriented teaching, some gap-mending strategies were developed to involve students in the module’s design, delivery and evaluation. It is proposed that social pedagogy, with its focus on social inclusion and social justice, might help fulfil a current aim of British higher education, to work with students as partners and increase meaningful involvement and collaboration.