Leads: Professor Robin Miller, Dr Jason Schaub, Mr Simon Haworth (Social Care), Prof Graeme Currie (Organisational Science)
Dates: January 2020 – July 2021
Background:
Leadership is recognised as making an important contribution towards the raising of the standard of social work in line with other professional disciplines. Numerous reviews of children and adult social services highlight that an absence of good leadership has been a factor in failing services which do not protect vulnerable children or adults. Whilst being encouraged by government policies and professional bodies, and included within professional capability frameworks, there remains a lack of clarity about what is distinct about leadership within a social work context and how it can be supported in practice.
Policy and Practice Partners:
This project was developed through consultation with ADASS, the British Association of Social Work, and the Chief Social Worker for England.
Co-Funding Partners:
TBC.
Aims and Objectives:
This study will provide greater clarity of what good leadership looks like in social work and the realities of leading within this professional context.
Methods:
The study will involve the following work packages:
- A review of current leadership of social work in England based on evidence review and national stakeholder workshops
- A policy review of leadership in each of the home nations through documentary analysis and interviews with social work stakeholders from practice, policy and academia.
Main Results:
Leadership is a frequently used term, but these uses include various definitions and applications; these uses are sometimes contradictory. This definitional vagueness can be a particular challenge for professions, including social work.
In comparison to other similar professions, there is a lack of leadership knowledge generation in social work
The organisational context in England has been challenging in recent decades, likely hindering development and application of leadership models.
There is a strong tradition in social work of engaging with compassion as an element of social work values- compassionate leadership may prove useful for social work practice and academia.
Conclusions:
All the nations of the UK have recognised the importance of positive leadership to create organisational cultures and climates which will facilitate quality social work practice.
There are good examples of leadership being encouraged in policy and practice guidance, embedded in professional competences, and supported through education and development.
Implications for Implementation:
There is still much more that can be done individually and collectively by the home nations to ensure social work leadership fully builds on its diverse strengths and grows throughout a professional career.
Social work should learn from evidence of leadership in other sectors and by critically considering other theory and models
The lack of evidence within the professional and organisational context of social work must be urgently addressed.
Social work can lead collaborative working across sectors and with communities but needs more confidence in its credibility as a leader of systems.
Outputs:
Miller RS, Geoghegan L. (Eds). Leadership and social work in the UK: Valuing its potential: A roundtable discussion. BASW/University of Birmingham; 2022.
Schaub J, Hewison A, Haworth S, Miller R. A leadership model for social work: Drawing on health care to inform social work leadership. Br J Soc Work. 2022; 52(5): 2911–30.