Practising for social work practice: Integrating knowledge and skills for social work with children and families

The UK Government has categorically stated in its Knowledge and Skills Statement for Children and Family Social Work (DfE 2014) what social workers need to know and be able to do when responding to concerns about children. The Hope for Children and Families modular systemic interventions programme provides evidence informed responses for targeting harmful parenting and the associated impairment of children. The training resources, developed by Bentovim et al (2013), apply the 'common elements approach' (Chorpita et al 2005, Barth et al 2011,) and are aimed at qualified practitioners. However there also appears to be scope for their use in social work qualifying programmes. This paper will review the development of an undergraduate children and families module using the materials. It discusses how these resources were incorporated into a learning, teaching and assessment strategy which aims to develop and test the interpersonal components of knowledge and skills alongside technical/procedural knowledge. The outcomes indicate that these resources have contributed significantly in closing the gap between study and practice by providing an applied starting point from which learners can critically engage in the complexities of what they need to know and be able to do to be effective practitioners. Further use of these resources across programmes is recommended.