Anna Fairtlough - Professional Leadership for Social Work Practitioners and Educators

Never has it been a more important time for social work to foster and demonstrate leadership that enables sustainability of the profession. Anna Fairtloughs book offers an excellent framework and rich source of knowledge, research evidence and practical ideas for practitioners to develop their leadership that speaks to the very heart of practice. An essential read for all those involved in practice education and learning partnerships.

Trish Hafford-Letchfield, Middlesex University, UK

Anna Fairtlough

First published 2017

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Anna Fairtlough

The right of Anna Fairtlough to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Fairtlough, Anna, author.
Title: Professional leadership for social work practitioners
and educators / Anna Fairtlough.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016022166 | ISBN 9781138220157 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781472467539 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315413778 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Social service. | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HV40 .F226 2016 | DDC 361.0068/4dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022166

ISBN: 978-1-138-22015-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4724-6753-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-41377-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Part 1
Values and knowledge for professional leadership

Part 2
Leading social work in different contexts

Many people have made this book possible. I would like to thank the service users and carers, students, practitioners and educators who were students on or contributed to the development or teaching of the MA in advanced social work practice education. Thanks too to the many MA and BA in social work students I have worked with over the years. You have all taught me many things. Thanks are due to all my colleagues at Goldsmiths, University of London and our partner social work agencies for their personal support and commitment to learning together about how to lead excellent social work practice, education and research. I am particularly grateful to Linda Crawford for her belief in what I was trying to do for social work practice education and professional leadership locally.

Thank you to everyone who contributed examples of and talked to me about their experiences of professional leadership. In addition to those named in the text I would like to thank Kate Bardsley, Debbie Dean, Ben Feder, Jane Frain, Nimal Jude, Yasmin Nariman, Mthoko Ngobese, Emma Rodriguez, Jane Royes, Trud Shaw and Cordwell Thomas. Thanks to my parents, Lisa and Gerard, who always believed in me. Gerard introduced me to the ideas of heterarchy and responsible autonomy. I wish you were still here to continue those conversations. Many thanks to all the people who have read parts of the book and provided such helpful feedback. Thanks to all my friends and family who have encouraged me in writing this book. Tyra Till designed the diagrams I appreciate your skill and insight in helping me put my ideas into visual form. Finally, thanks to Shelagh Doonan, from whom I have learned so much.

Anna Fairtlough is a registered social worker with more than thirty years experience of social work practice, management and education. Her research and publications are in the fields of professional and organisational development, equalities and social work, and parenting in different contexts. As a practitioner, front-line manager and trainer she developed policy, practice and training in the areas of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, supervision and practice education. She has wide experience of teaching on qualifying and post-qualifying social work programmes. At Goldsmiths, University of London, she has been involved in developing a number of new social work programmes, in particular the MA in advanced social work practice education. She has contributed to national working parties developing requirements and guidance on the Practice Educator Professional Standards and Continuing Professional Development. She was one of the researchers on the first national qualitative study examining diversity and progression amongst social work students in England. She has led a number of projects evaluating training for practitioners working with parents and is currently researching the use of the Solihull Approach as a method for working with families in a small local authority.