[ONLINE] Social Work Networks: Past, Present and Future

PLEASE NOTE: We hope that it will be possible to join this meeting remotely via MS Teams, but there is some doubt about this.

Recent social work reforms in England can’t be separated from the network of people and organisations behind them. This web of influence includes a select few professionals, but is overwhelmingly made up of non-social workers, many whose experiences rests more in politics, management consulting, finance or media. This network transcends traditional political and national boundaries, as well as the boundaries between public and private sectors, making it all the more influential, but also far more opaque.

At the same time the vast majority of professionals are increasingly being excluded and report feeling disenfranchised by the reforms being imposed on the profession. These reforms seem never ending, and rarely produce the positive impacts promised. Those behind them rarely face accountability for this, but instead move on to the next reform or opportunity, secure and protected by the network around them.

This event will challenge the perception that “this is just how policymaking is done” by analysing the influence of policy making on the profession in the past, present, and with a view towards the future. A key emphasis will be on how policymaking has evolved over time, and how we’ve reached a point where global management consultancy firms seem to have more influence over the direction of policy reform than the social work profession itself. Speakers will be:

Joe Hanley, The Open University – Introducing research and theory around networks, and identifying some of key players as illustrative examples of how contemporary policymaking works, how we got here, and where we are likely going as a profession.

Jane Tunstill – Reflecting on the differing role of research in policy making over time, and the influence of network connections on what research is allowed to be influential on policymaking.

James Blewett – Examining how social work educators and university social work programmes have been increasingly marginalised in the policymaking process over time, and who has filled this void.

The event will be chaired by June Thoburn.