Birmingham's social work academy 

The background

The government improvement notice that still hangs over Birmingham's children’s services department is a salutary reminder that when things go wrong, they go horribly wrong in this area of social work.

Khyra Ishaq’s death (pictured left) after repeated visits from both education services and children’s social workers prompted an outcry in the city similar to that following the Baby P case in London. It also resulted in a similar amount of departmental soul searching.

Last year, all the children’s social workers in the city were forced to reapply for their jobs with many not retaining their jobs. The entire senior management team has been replaced with specialists in turning failing departments around. These professionals include Eleanor Brazil, the strategic director, and Mark Gurrey, the newly appointed service director of social care and integrated services.

One of the first areas Gurrey turned his attention to after taking up the job in January last year was the training and continuing professional development (CPD) of social workers in the city. This is why an academy of social work was created.

Why an academy of social work?

Birmingham’s academy is certainly not the first, but it is the first to be open to all social workers, not just those who are newly qualified. Gurrey says he particularly wanted something to address the needs of experienced practitioners because they are often the group that gets missed in training.

“They need something that challenges and stretches them, instead of coming off a course feeling they’d already seen it, done it and had now wasted a day. Locally, we also had an issue with retention of experienced staff. Caseloads was part of that - and they are now coming down significantly - but it was also the extent to which they felt properly understood and valued.”

How does the academy fit with Munro?

Gurrey admits that Professor Eillen Munro’s (pictured left) second interim report had just been published when they were forming their ideas and “there was a connection not to be missed”.

“There is an academic and intellectual element needed when working out what’s going on with troubled families. We need social workers who think, not by rote, but by being able to call on all the resources, including their own experience, research, and analytical skills. I want and expect our social workers to know when is the right time to follow practice guidance and when not.”

Sue White, professor of social work at Birmingham University, agrees: “The whole point of the academy is to start to weave the academic and the practical sides of social work together. This will help the university understand the issues people are having in practice and give students a more realistic idea of what life is like. But it’s also about growing a workforce who are more critically engaged in policy and practice developments and are not just passive recipients.”

How will the academy work?

The academy is essentially a re-routing of existing council money spent on training and education for social workers. This will now be done in partnership with and through the University of Birmingham.

While it has a head office in Park House, Edgbaston, it is also designed to be a virtual academy with a planned website that will allow mobile access to texts, research and training details for academy members.

What do social workers think?

May Porter is a senior social worker in Birmingham who was a children’s guardian for 14 years and has recently returned to frontline practice.

“I have already done a masterclass through the academy and it’s been very helpful. Sometimes you are so bogged down with the day-to-day work that it really helps to listen to an academic and think about what cases I could have done differently in light of the theories or research being talked about. It just sharpens your thinking a bit and allows you time to reflect back.

“Having been a guardian for 14 years, it’s been stimulating to come back to frontline practice, but I’ve realised that while I’ve got experience I’m able to pass on to colleagues, I also have a lot of gaps, which has been eye-opening - particularly around large sibling groups and permanency planning.

“I would love to get more involved in research if I had the time. But I also think that having a student is a very good way to prick the conscience about your practice because they are constantly asking why you did that or how you did that. It’s also really helpful to have another person’s observations on a situation. I would be keen to have more students.”

How will it affect you?