Patricia E Higham – författare

'Comprehensive and user-friendly. The book is helpfully constructed around a number of key themes, starting with a good attempt to define social work from historical and international perspectives and moving on to address key issues concerning the practice, knowledge, values and skills required from contemporary social work in the UK. I believe social work students, newly qualified and experienced social workers will find ths a valuable resource, especially when one is confronted by challenges in practice' - Professional Social Work

'Social Work is a good overview that should refresh learner and tutor alike. Pratice assessors may find this book a useful update for their work with students and also a neat refresher. It is a well-written and up-to-date text, with a good sense of where future challenges lie for the social work profession in the UK. Higham is confident enough to voice the profession's uncertainties as well as mapping the changing organisational landscape that social workers might populate. [This book] is likely to appear on many social work reading lists. [It has] the potential to provide good learning opportunities for post-qualifying as well as pre-qualifying training' - Health and Social Care in the Community

`The unique aspect of this book which distinguishes it from other competitors is that it is constructed explicitly around the key roles and benchmark statements... this book will offer something new and interesting to the growing field of social work education literature and is likely to be relevant to both students and practitioners in the UK and elsewhere' - Dr Caroline Skehill, Queens University Belfast

What is the role of social work? What does it mean to be a social worker? What are the changes affecting social work training?

Social Work: Introducing Professional Practice addresses these questions and provides an understanding of the knowledge, values, and skills requirements of professional social work. The author has played a key role in constructing the subject benchmarks for the social work degree and offers a reflective and thoughtful commentary upon training, education and practice. Written in a lively and readable style, the book captures the essence of the changes sweeping through social work and engages the reader in these debates.

Key features of this book include:

-Comprehensive content structured around the guidelines for training and practice

-Bridges the gap between theory and real-life practice

-Student-friendly features such as case-studies, discussion questions, further reading and a glossary

This exciting publication will be a core textbook for trainee social workers as they progress through the qualifying social work degree, or as they begin their practice as newly qualified workers seeking to consolidate their learning.

"A valuable resource for all those engaged in post-qualifying social work practice, … It is impressive in its coverage of contemporary social work practice across the four countries of the UK"

Professor Jackie Powell, University of Southampton

"The PQ landscape is complex and changing fast, so the reader will be grateful to Pat Higham and her colleagues for this clear and comprehensive analysis of PQ"

Professor Mark Doel, Sheffield Hallam University.

" a comprehensive introduction to social work education at post-qualifying level. It identifies the key issues qualified social workers need to consider in contemporary practice and enables them to engage in critical reflection through the development of their post-qualifying expertise."

Professor John Harris, University of Warwick

This core textbook provides an authoritative overview of the post-qualifying awards in social work. Written in response to recent policy and training guidelines, the book will enhance social workers' post-qualifying knowledge, skills and values within specialist areas of practice.

The book will:

-Use critical self-appraisal to construct different ways of thinking about and doing social work

-Encourage reflection on their practice

-Enable social workers to build confidence in their professional identity

-Move from competence to increased capability and to expertise

-Help social workers to explore values dilemmas

-Increase social workers' knowledge for practice

-Promote learning and career development.

This book examines core assumptions about post qualifying practice - that values and relationships (including partnerships with service users) are essential to good practice, that social workers will work in diverse organisational structures and that social workers in the United Kingdom should become aware of European models of social work.