How do social workers lead?

The overall aim of the project is to evaluate the contribution of Adult PSWs to improving social work practice and the recruitment & retention of the professional workforce, and to identify enablers and barriers to PSWs achieving the impacts expected in national guidance.

The research will seek to answer the following questions:

What is the theory of change through which the PSW role is expected to contribute to improving quality of practice and developing the workforce?

How is this theory of change implemented within local authority areas and what impacts are seen to be achieved?

What are the enablers and barriers to the PSW role working effectively?

What organisational and developmental support would better enable PSWs to achieve the expected impacts?

The research will begin by developing a ‘theory of change’ for the PSW role – this will map out the current context in which PSWs work, the impacts they are expected to achieve, and the activities which are though to lead to these impacts. This will be developed through speaking to national stakeholders with an understanding of the role and holding a workshop with current PSWs and the Project Advisory Group.

We will then undertake research in six local authority areas (case sites) to explore how the PSW role has been implemented and supported and how this has helped or hindered PSWs in achieving the expected impacts. The case sites will be selected to reflect the different roles and organisational seniority of PSWs and different types of local authority area. Through focus groups and interviews, we plan to speak to around 40 people in each case site including people with lived experience, social workers, team managers and senior leaders in the local authority and partner agencies such as the NHS.

Robin Miller, University of Birmingham

Sharanya Mahesh, University of Birmingham

Catherine Mangan, University of Birmingham

Amy Lynch, University of Warwick

Lisa Smith, Research in Practice

The Advisory Group for the research will be chaired by Graeme Betts and includes people with lived experience, social work practitioners, PSWs, and other social care practice, education & policy stakeholders

The project has designed a series of impact activities to strengthen social work professional leadership at the:

Individual level (including developing learning materials for current and future PSWs)

Organisational level (report on local practice and reflective workshop for participating local authorities)

System level (national policy report and accompanying blogs and webinars).