pra_1 Supporting social work learners: practice educator refresher (England) Supporting social work learners: practice educator refresher (England) About this free course This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course . This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University –https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/supporting-social-work-learners-practice-educator-refresher-england/content-section-0 There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

First published 2026. Unless otherwise stated, copyright © 2026 The Open University, all rights reserved. Intellectual property Unless otherwise stated, this resource is released under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence v4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en. Within that The Open University interprets this licence in the following way: www.open.edu/openlearn/about-openlearn/frequently-asked-questions-on-openlearn. Copyright and rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons Licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Please read the full text before using any of the content. We believe the primary barrier to accessing high-quality educational experiences is cost, which is why we aim to publish as much free content as possible under an open licence. If it proves difficult to release content under our preferred Creative Commons licence (e.g. because we can’t afford or gain the clearances or find suitable alternatives), we will still release the materials for free under a personal end-user licence. This is because the learning experience will always be the same high quality offering and that should always be seen as positive – even if at times the licensing is different to Creative Commons. When using the content you must attribute us (The Open University) (the OU) and any identified author in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Licence. The Acknowledgements section is used to list, amongst other things, third party (Proprietary), licensed content which is not subject to Creative Commons licensing. Proprietary content must be used (retained) intact and in context to the content at all times. The Acknowledgements section is also used to bring to your attention any other Special Restrictions which may apply to the content. For example there may be times when the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Sharealike licence does not apply to any of the content even if owned by us (The Open University). In these instances, unless stated otherwise, the content may be used for personal and non-commercial use. We have also identified as Proprietary other material included in the content which is not subject to Creative Commons Licence. These are OU logos, trading names and may extend to certain photographic and video images and sound recordings and any other material as may be brought to your attention. Unauthorised use of any of the content may constitute a breach of the terms and conditions and/or intellectual property laws. We reserve the right to alter, amend or bring to an end any terms and conditions provided here without notice. All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University Welcome to Supporting social work learners: practice educator refresher (England), a course designed to support practice educators (PEs) in England. Designed for PEs with lapsed currency, this course will enable you to update your knowledge and skills in supporting and assessing social work students and apprentices in their practice placements. You should note that this course is not designed to teach you how to become a practice educator; you should be a qualified and registered social worker who has completed certified practice educator training in the past. This course will ensure you have refreshed your learning ready to support a social work student or apprentice in their placement. Badge and declaration While studying this course, you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge.This course is not moderated and the digital badge you receive for completing the course and its associated activities relies on self-assessment. If you are using this course to refresh your knowledge and to enable you to support students on their placements, you may want to discuss the content of your self-assessment within supervision or with a trusted colleague; this would also enable you to record the activity as continuing professional development (CPD) with Social Work England, including a peer discussion. To obtain your badge you will need to: select ‘Yes’ in the Declaration at the link below read all sessions of the course score 50% or more in the end-of-course badge quiz. Access Declaration now.

Supporting social work learners: practice educator refresher (England) course badge

Learning activities The course includes learning activities throughout, and you should complete all of these. Your responses and answers will be anonymous in the course, however you should ensure that care is taken to anonymise them if discussing them with a colleague. You should also ensure that your answers reflect your social work values and professional standards. Many of the learning activities will be relevant to PEs working in other nations but the course is mapped to Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) (BASW, 2022) and Social Work England (SWE) requirements for PEs. A note about terminology Within this course, the term ‘learner’ is used when referring to social work students and apprentices. We recognise that some organisations (such as Social Work England) refer to ‘students’, whereas others refer to ‘learners’. In this course, we have chosen to use learners because this is the terminology used within the refreshed PEPS Standards. Activity preparation: Working with a social work learner As part of the final activity within this course you are asked to confirm that you have received feedback on your practice in working with a social work learner. There is flexibility here to be creative with the way that you capture this feedback, and the learner with whom you work. The goal of this activity is to enable you to consider how you could implement this refreshed learning in your practice, and to receive feedback. You should start to think about how you might complete this task now so you can arrange to work with a social work learner during completion of this course and before you reach the final activity. After studying this course, you should be able to: understand the current context of practice education apply messages from people with lived experience of using services to the design of learning and assessment processes demonstrate skills and knowledge mapped to Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) identify actions for continuing learning as a practice educator. The Practice Educator Professional Standards were revised by The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) in 2022. You may have completed your own PE training prior to the updated standards being released, so it is important to ensure you are familiar with the revised standards. Activity 1 Practice Educator Professional Standards Allow approximately 1 hour Familiarise yourself with the refreshed Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS), taken from the BASW website. Are there any significant changes from previous versions that you notice, or areas you would like to focus on in your learning? Are there any specific issues that you want to keep in mind as you work through the course? Having familiarised yourself with the updated PEPS guidance, you will now have the opportunity to engage in an audit of your own knowledge and skills. You will repeat this exercise at the end of the course so that you can self-assess your progress. This contributes to the assessment of your learning and progress in the course. Activity 2 Self-assessment of your skills and knowledge as a practice educator Allow approximately 30 minutes The four domains shown in Tables 1–4 set out what is expected of you as a practice educator. Work through each of the four domains and consider the descriptors. You should rate how confident you feel in your PE role against each standard on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means you need to focus on this as you refresh your skills and knowledge and 5 means you feel confident in this standard. Note down your score and add examples or make notes relating to each standard in the boxes below. You will then repeat this activity at the end of the course to help you reflect on how you have progressed. Table 1: Domain 1 – Working with others to organise an effective learning environment

Standard	Rating (1–5)	Examples
(A1) Establish an effective collaborative working relationship with learners and manage the power and authority in the educator/assessor role skilfully.
(A2) Devise an induction programme that considers learners’ needs and their previous experience.
(A3) Create reflective spaces for learners’ growth and development and provide regular reflective supervision.
(A4) Ensure all those involved in supporting the student have clarity and understanding of each other’s roles.
(A5) Work openly and cooperatively with others in the planning of learning opportunities and key activities at all stages of learning and assessment.
(A6) Consider student confidentiality and ensure all student information is maintained in a secure environment according to General Data Protection Regulations.
(A7) Contribute to the learning and development of the agency as a learning organisation. This may include encouraging the student to make links with others in the team by working alongside, making presentations and contributing to team resources. It may also include showing leadership by helping to review and improve the provision, policies and procedures of the learning organisation and identify barriers for learners.

Table 2: Domain 2 – Teaching, facilitating and supporting learning and professional development in practice

Standard	Rating (1–5)	Examples
(B1) Demonstrate informed expertise in their practitioner role, e.g. an applied knowledge of contemporary issues in research and relevant policy, legislation and practice.
(B2) Using a range of learning methods, including modelling good social work practice. Teach and support the learning of relevant social work knowledge and research, and the integration of theory and research in practice. Knowledge taught should include the powers and duties, and policy and procedures of the agency.
(B3) Help students to understand their own learning processes and to develop different models and strategies for critical reflection and analysis.
(B4) Discuss and plan with the student the learning and assessment programme, the student’s particular needs and capabilities, and how best the learner can derive further support for learning.
(B5) Make sound reasoned judgements about the level of work the student can be allocated, and the support required to achieve both learning and the work goals.
(B6) Demonstrate an understanding of, and critical engagement with, learning theories, to make professional educational judgements about students’ needs and how to meet them.

Table 3: Domain 3 – Managing the fair and transparent assessment of students in practice

Standard	Rating (1–5)	Examples
(C1) Ensure that holistic assessment decisions are the outcomes of informed, evidence-based judgements, drawing on evidence, which is relevant, valid, reliable and sufficient from a range of sources, including direct observation. Clearly explain the decisions to students.
(C2) Encourage students to self-evaluate and seek service users, carers and work-based colleagues feedback to develop their performance.
(C3) Provide timely, honest and constructive feedback on student performance in an appropriate format. Review student progress throughout the assessment process, identifying strengths and any areas requiring improvement, making clear to students how they may improve to meet the acceptable standard.
(C4) Ensure that all assessment decisions, and the supporting evidence, are documented and recorded according to the required standard. Provide holistic assessment reports which demonstrate clear evidence for decisions. Demonstrate ability to work well with others in the assessment process, particularly if learner’s practice is marginal or failing.
(C5) Engage students in the design, planning and implementation of methods to assess students’ performance against the appropriate standards.
(C6) Extend the development of all students including those who already have strong skills or are experiencing difficulties. Ensure that disagreements about assessment judgements and complaints made about the assessment process are managed in accordance with agreed procedures.

Table 4: Domain 4 – Developing knowledge and continuing performance as a practice educator

Standard	Rating (1–5)	Examples
(D1) Seek feedback from students on their experience of being assessed and the consequences of the assessment programme for them. Incorporate the feedback into future assessment activity.
(D2) Show understanding of, and the ability to apply, models and theories of supervision, knowledge and research on assessment, teaching and learning, and critical reflection.
(D3) Establish and maintain effective resources for their own support and supervision in respect of their role in workplace learning. Demonstrate the ability to consult and work with others in contentious and challenging contexts such as dealing with struggling students and formal appeals and complaints.
(D4) Demonstrate critical reflection on their own development as practice educators, including the use of feedback from direct observations, colleagues and HEI tutors and other assessment sources.
(D5) Apply learning to subsequent practice education experience using a range of methods.

In this section you will reflect on what is meant by learning in social work practice before considering the role of a practice educator. Learning in social work practice Social work practice learning takes place in diverse places and with varying configurations in team structure. For example, some learners will have an on-site practice educator within their team or placement agency, whereas others will have an external or offsite practice educator and a workplace supervisor in place. It is always essential to negotiate a robust learning agreement that shows what the different roles and responsibilities of those in the practice learning team will be. Your role as practice educator is central to the support, development and, importantly, the assessment of learners in practice. You have already explored some of the important skills and knowledge that you can bring to the role in Activity 2. As a practice educator, your role in supporting social work learners is a complex process. You are required to work with learners in increasingly diverse services and contexts. For example, social workers work with people across the lifespan and in different focused services and integrated teams. The tasks of social work can be notoriously hard to articulate (Moriarty et al., 2015; Ferguson and Sicat, 2024) which means that supporting learners is also complex. Understanding what it is like to learn as a social worker in direct practice involves recognising the unique and extraordinary work of the profession (Ferguson, 2022). Figure 1 shows the intricate web of physical and emotional elements that social workers navigate in places, spaces and tasks whilst in the workplace (Ferguson, 2021).

Figure 1 Learning in the workplace as a complex web (Ferguson, 2021, p. 154) Learning experiences as a complex webThe diagram shows 7 circles linked with black arrows on a background of a spider's web. The first circle shows an icon of a figure walking with a stick and backpack. The text Journey of the self is shown under the circle. The second circle shows a silhouette image of a maze. The words Navigating landscape and place are shown below the circle. The third circle shows 4 jigsaw pieces, three which are joined up with the fourth set apart. The words Navigating tasks is shown underneath. The fourth circle shows an icon of a person's upper body linked to 5 circle nodes. The words Learning through the body are shown underneath. The fifth circle shows 3 icon figures of people heads and shoulders. The words Learning through others is shown underneath. The sixth circle shows a blank signpost pointing in two different directions. The words Practices and conceptions of learning is shown underneath. The final circle shows dice underneath another dice, both faces showing six dots. The words Learning by chance are shown underneath.

Irrespective of setting, social work practice learning must equip learners for working in dynamic contexts and develop their capacity to undertake statutory tasks. ‘Social work learning is usually understood to include the development of skills and competences which enable practitioners to undertake a role which is rooted in human rights and social justice, where ethical practice needs to be negotiated within a work role where there are competing moral, legal, organisational and policy demands.’ (Ferguson, 2021, p. 20) Social Work England sets the requirements for practice learning in qualifying education programmes and there are several that are of importance to you as a practice educator. You will look at these in more detail in Activity 3. Activity 3 Rules, regulations and guidance Allow approximately 45 minutes Have a look at the guidance on practice placements published by Social Work England. While university programmes and agencies are responsible for setting up placement arrangements, the practice educator is often the lynchpin in negotiating a robust learning agreement with the social work learner and other parties at the start of placement. Read through the guidance and, as you do, note down any particularly important aspects. Whilst accessing the guidance, to avoid losing your place in the course, if you are studying on a desktop you should open the link in a new tab or window by holding down Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) when you click on it. If you are studying on a mobile device hold down the link and select to ‘Open in New Tab’. There are a lot of details in the guidance, but important aspects include: 2.2 Provide practice learning opportunities that enable students to gain knowledge and skills necessary to develop and meet the professional standards. 2.3 Ensure that while on placements, students have appropriate induction, supervision, support, access to resources and a realistic workload. 2.4 Ensure that on placements, students’ responsibilities are appropriate for their stage of education and training. 4.8 Ensure that assessments are robust, fair, reliable and valid, and that those who successfully complete the course meet the professional standards. 4.10 Provide timely and meaningful feedback to students on their progression and performance. 5.4 Make supportive and reasonable adjustments for students with health conditions or impairments. You might have identified several other key points from the guidance, and your experience will link with some of the information that you have read. For more information about professional learning for social workers, please see the references and further resources recommended at the end of this course. Linked with the role of the practice educator is the importance of fair and ethical assessment. The assessment process is significant for the learner as it determines their progression towards achieving their qualification. As a practice educator, you have a key role in modelling ethical assessment for future practice. Through the supervision relationship you build with the social work learner, you will provide them with a model for professional practice and service user relationships.

A row of light bulbs glows from within, their filaments spelling out the words of foundational values: Integrity, Ethics, Respect, and Honesty

The term assessment means different things to learners, so it is important to be clear about what this involves in social work practice learning. Assess is a form of the Latin verb assidere, to ‘sit with’. It is something therefore that you do with and for the learner, not something you do to them. An assessment is a comprehensive multifaceted analysis of performance; it must be based on evidence drawn from authentic practice tasks. Activity 4 Ensuring fair and robust assessment Allow approximately 20 minutes List some methods and approaches you might use to ensure that your assessment of a learner is a fair one. Describe how these methods and approaches would lead to fair assessment. You might have noted that it would be important to be clear, and for the learner to know when and how they are being assessed. You might also have thought that giving clear feedback at different stages might give the learner a fair chance to build on their practice. Considering whether you are planning for a learner’s specific way of understanding might also be important. As a practice educator, you are making a judgement, but the assessment judgement needs to be related to the requirements you are assessing the learner on. It is essential therefore to understand these and to have discussed these with the learner. You might also have reflected on your previous experience as a practice educator and how the assessment process felt. Power Reflecting on the power inherent in your role as a practice educator is an essential part of your approach. What are the power dynamics in practice education generally? What are some specific issues of potential power imbalance in any individual learner/practice educator relationship? How can you bring these power dynamics into your discussion as a practice educator? At the end of this course there are links to reading material, which can help you consider issues of power in practice learning. Ethical assessment Ethical assessment is always about being clear and framing feedback in relation to the standards you are assessing against. Setting out the ways in which you will gather evidence and provide feedback should be clearly negotiated in the practice learning agreement and woven through your practice education. If you are interested, you can read research from Jo Finch and Prospera Tedam (2023) on issues relating to learners who are not progressing to meet the requirements in practice learning. Often practice educators are concerned about when learners or apprentices are not progressing well, but having a clear plan and pathway through the stages of your role can help support a fair assessment process. It is important to plan for the different stages of the practice education process. In the interactive below you can see a list of actions needed at each stage of the process. There may also be some additional actions you think should be added. For example, think back to when you previously worked with a learner on their placement. What were the things that were important to plan for? In the activity that follows, you can add to and adapt the resource to suit your preferences, style and the specific issues that you want to plan for. This can also help you review how things have gone when you reflect on the practice learning experience from your perspective. A downloadable version of the list of actions is also available for you to refer to. Activity 5 A pathway through practice learning Allow approximately 15 minutes Think about the stages of practice learning. Are there any other things you would add to any stage in your planning? Note down what your own plan would be. Before a learner/social work student is allocated:
When a learner is matched:
As the start of the placement:
In the early stages of placement
At the interim or mid-point stage:
Towards the end of placement and afterwards:
It was not until 2013 that the national (England) requirements were set out for practice education with the Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) being launched by the College of Social Work following recommendations from the Social Work Reform Board. The PEPS are currently provided as a ‘good practice’ guide that learning providers and social work agencies supporting placements have embraced whilst the regulator decides on their approach for quality assuring programmes and annotating the Register for those who are qualified. The PEPS have been revised and updated over the years with the most recent ‘refresh’ being in 2022. This review of the standards was informed by the importance of embedding anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice into the guidance.

Illustration of three heads painted using acrylics.

As a qualified social worker, you will be demonstrating your values as guided by the British Association of Social Workers. It is important that you are familiar with the PEPS guidance in relation to your values as an educator too. Whilst you have already reflected on the domains in Section 2 of this course, you will now reflect on your values as an educator. Activity 6 Reflecting on values in the PEPS domains Part 1 Values in the PEPS Domains Allow approximately 15 minutes Read the Values statements (page 6–7) and Domains (page 18–22) in the PEPS and then answer the questions below. Table 5 Value statements

Questions	Answers
How are the needs and interests of people with lived experience represented in the Values statements?
Value statement 5 refers to the need for PEs to identify and question their own values. Which PCF Domain is this aligned to?
In Value 6, the requirement to accept and respond to the needs of learners is highlighted.  What ways might this be achieved?
Value statement 8 requires PEs to take responsibility for their own work and development.  How is it suggested they do this?
Which Domain statement requires PEs to ensure an effective collaborative relationship with their learner?
Being critical about your own development as a PE is vital. Which Domain statement refers to this?
Which Domain refers directly to the role of people with lived experience with social work learners?

Table 5 Value statements (completed)

Questions	Answers
How are the needs and interests of people with lived experience represented in the Values statement?	Value 4 refers to the requirement for PEs to ensure that those with lived experience should play an active part in assessing those being accepted onto and undertaking training in practice education.
Value statement 5 refers to the need for PEs to identify and question their own values. Which PCF Domain is this aligned to?	Domain 3
In Value 6, the requirement to accept and respond to the needs of learners is highlighted. What ways might this be achieved?	Those involved in practice education should recognise and build on learners’ strengths, consider individual learning styles and use a range of assessment methods (including those preferred by the learner).
Value statement 8 requires PEs to take responsibility for their own work and development. How is it suggested they do this?	Critically reflect on their own practice and identify development needs in order to improve their own performance, raise standards, and contribute to the learning and development of others.
Which Domain statement requires PEs to ensure an effective collaborative relationship with their learner?	A1
Being critical about your own development as a PE is vital. Which Domain statement refers to this?	D4
Which Domain refers directly to the role of people with lived experience with social work learners?	C2 – encourage learners to seek the views of people with lived experience.

Part 2 Reflecting on Domain C Allow approximately 30 minutes Following on from the list you came up with in Activity 4 of methods and approaches you might use to ensure that your assessment of a learner is a fair one, reflect specifically on how it helps you to evidence meeting Domain C and importantly how that then links to evidencing your values as a practice educator. (In Table 6 the terms student and learner have been used interchangeably.) Table 6 Domain C

Domain C Descriptor	Evidence in your own practice as an educator	Links to the specific Values statements 1-8
(C1) Ensure that holistic assessment decisions are the outcomes of informed, evidence-based judgements, drawing on evidence, which is relevant, valid, reliable and sufficient from a range of sources, including direct observation. Clearly explain the decisions to students.
(C2) Encourage students to self-evaluate and seek service users, carers and work-based colleagues feedback to develop their performance.
(C3) Provide timely, honest and constructive feedback on student performance in an appropriate format. Review student progress throughout the assessment process, identifying strengths and any areas requiring improvement, making clear to students how they may improve to meet the acceptable standard.
(C4) Ensure that all assessment decisions, and the supporting evidence, are documented and recorded according to the required standard. Provide holistic assessment reports which demonstrate clear evidence for decisions. Demonstrate ability to work well with others in the assessment process, particularly if learner’s practice is marginal or failing.
(C5) Engage students in the design, planning and implementation of methods to assess students’ performance against the appropriate standards.
(C6) Extend the development of all students including those who already have strong skills or are experiencing difficulties. Ensure that disagreements about assessment judgements and complaints made about the assessment process are managed in accordance with agreed procedures.

As you have already explored in Section 4, in your role as a PE you have responsibilities to ensure a fair and ethical assessment of learners in practice. This should be guided by the structures in place to ensure you are providing the best possible learning environment for that to happen. Furthermore, as this activity has shown, this needs to be underpinned by the values of the social work profession in this educative context. Culturally competent practice in social work can take different approaches. Sue et al. (2016) believe that cultural competence is accomplished when cultural awareness is combined with skills, knowledge and a developmental perspective. This approach therefore fits with professional development and is an ongoing developmental practice. Cultural competence operates a values-based framework to working with people with lived experiences of services and colleagues. This framework allows you to be intentional in relationship building and understand the individual’s experience of their culture, rather than attempting to learn generic aspects of each person’s culture (Laird and Tedam, 2019). There are different models of cultural competency available. Not all of them will be suitable to every situation and it is helpful to test what works in any specific situation. Laird and Tedam (2019) suggest different methods, including: Developing a culturagram and cultural web Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS (Burnham, 2013) Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor model (Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor, 2016) MANDELA model of practice learning (Tedam, 2013) You may already be aware of some of these models, or you may use others. The MANDELA model is particularly helpful for practice educators as it is developed for working in that role with learners. If you’d like to revisit any of these methods in more detail you can find links in the References section at the end of this course. Another important focus for practice educators is adapting and responding to the different ways that people learn. The next section explores neurodiversity and practice learning.

There is growing evidence that more people in the workplace are identifying as living with neurodivergence or as neurodivergent. Neurodiversity can be thought of broadly as the range of different ways individuals’ brains function across a population. An individual whose brain may function differently from the population norm can be thought of as neurodivergent. Common forms of neurodivergence include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, autism, dyscalculia, developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia and developmental language disorder. In response, employers and universities are exploring new ways to support people, and colleagues are becoming increasingly aware of the different skills neurodivergence offers that may complement a team. The important point to remember in supporting neurodivergent people is that there is a legal requirement to offer a reasonable adjustment to support work or learning. This may involve linking in with human resources, Access to Work services or the university student support team (or all three depending on the issue, and the permission that the learner gives in sharing this personal information). Understanding neurodiversity is a fast-developing area in social work and education, which is being shaped by people’s lived experience of being neurodiverse. You will find links for resources on neurodivergence to explore and to help inform you at the end of this course. Exploring these resources might reframe what you previously understood. It may be helpful to take some time to think through how you would approach addressing support needs with a learner or consider how your own learning style will influence your role as a practice educator. It is important to explore any adjustments neurodivergent learners need in social work practice learning arrangements, support and supervision. The neurodivergent learner is being assessed as well as managing learning and practice. It may be that new mechanisms and/or additional support are needed, compared to other settings they have been learning or working in. You will be an important support in identifying this help, as well as being part of the assessment. You can find details of some further resources at the end of this course. Activity 7 Identifying actions for your future practice Allow approximately 15 minutes Now you have considered your role and responsibilities as a leader for social justice and inclusive practice learning, identify three action points for your future practice. The objective of this activity is to help you think outside of your current role and to consider the interface between yourself and a learner. By modelling to the learner how they may approach this interaction in their work with people with lived experiences, you can help the learner consider both the barriers and benefits of the approach.

In England, the involvement of service users and carers in social work education has been a requirement since 2002 (Department of Health, 2002). This was upheld by the regulator, Social Work England, stating that ‘social work courses must be governed, resourced and managed using effective and transparent processes in collaboration with employers and people with lived experience of social work’ (SWE 2020).

Two blue arrows painted on paving slabs pointing twoards each other.

The Practice Educator Professional Standards also require that those involved in placements and practice education must: ‘Commit to the needs and interests of people with lived experience of social work when assessing the capability and skills of learners at all stages of the assessment process. As appropriate, those with lived experience should play an active part in assessing those being accepted onto and undertaking training in practice education.’ (BASW, 2022) Not only is this emphasis seen in social work education, but there is also a growing commitment to the validity of those who are ‘experts by their own lived experience’ in social work practice. Co-production is at the core of empowering approaches, particularly in adult social care whereby they ‘work in partnership by sharing power between people who draw on care and support’ (SCIE, 2022). Activity 8 Co-production in practice education Allow approximately 30 minutes Listen to Audio 1, which has been created by members of the Service User and Carer Group at The Open University. In this clip they discuss what co-production in the assessment of social work students means for them. Then answer the questions that follow. Audio 1 Co-production in the assessment of social work students SARAH: Hi, my name's Sarah Brown. I'm a staff tutor and regional academic at the Open University. I have been involved in practice and education in many different ways. I was lead on the PEPS refreshed guidance document in 2022. And in my role in the university, I'm committed to looking at how we can better do practice education and incorporate the voices of those who've lived experience of social work in that process. DANIEL: Hi, I’m Daniel, I'm one of the OU’s lived experience reps. We are an integral part of how the OU works these days, especially with the social work program. We believe wholeheartedly in co-production in everything we do, and we have people from all over the UK, including the devolved nations, who assist the university in doing this and I'm privileged. HAMEED: Hello. Hi, my name is Hameed Khan. I'm an ex-service user of mental health services. I'm a carer for my mum. And also, I have worked in community development teaching prior to becoming a full-time carer. SARAH Sarah: Thank you for being here, Hameed and Daniel, and taking the time out to talk about this really important topic. Hameed, I wonder if you could give me a little bit more information about the sorts of things that they have to do to get assistance for their placements? HAMEED: They are matched according to their suitability and requirements to a placement. Once that takes place, and they will be allocated a practice educator, they will know who… which placement they are going to and a learning agreement will be put together and signed by the practice educator and the student and also sometimes with the practice supervisor, to say what they will work towards in terms of achieving their PCFs, which is, I think known as Professional Competence framework [Professional Capabilities Framework] or social work domains, which are set out by Social Work England, that students need to work towards achieving competence in those areas. They will have an interim meeting during the placement to make sure that the placement is going well, that they're on top of what should be done, on top of how much work should be done halfway, they will have feedback from the service user around how they worked on their case or supported them. They will do a lot of critical reflection on the observations, usually applying the social theory reflection models. And finally, the placement portfolio will come to moderation at practice assessment panel. Where they will make sure that it's been marked fairly, consistently and that everything has been met by the student in terms of their academic and placement requirement. SARAH: Really helpful overview of complex behind the scenes work, if you like, that happens to make sure that practice placement work is rigorously looked at and assessed by this really diverse group of people. So, thank you for that. Daniel, I'm interested to know your thoughts on what you think the benefits of assessment of students are by people with lived experience? DANIEL: The benefits are huge and wide ranging. It's all about customer service these days. Whatever we do in every aspect of life, from the train that you catch to the broadband that we're working on today, to the social work services that we receive, everything is about delivering the best products for the client, for the customer, the service user, and social work is now no different. So, the fact that we as people with lived experience are involved in this process is just brilliant, we can pick up on things that an academic would pick up on but wouldn’t necessarily read so much into. So for example, a social worker or a trainee social worker rather could come in and use language that is not necessarily great, that is likely to offend or upset or make people feel belittled. I personally set the benchmark for this for each student when I work with, each student I interview, my benchmark is would I want them as my social worker, as someone with a sight impairment, or perhaps more pertinently at the moment, as my parent’s social worker, because my parents are both in their 70s and with various health conditions and disabilities, a time is going to come sooner rather than later where they need input, and if they’re warm and they're friendly and they come and they listen, and they're happy to sort of talk to people and listen to people and act on their views and everything else: they’ve passed that benchmark. If they don't, I will have no hesitation in very politely telling them and making sure that they carry that feedback forward and make practical use of it. SARAH: Hameed, could you tell us a little bit about your experiences of assessing students in their practice placement, work? HAMEED: In house OU Social and carers group - We're not involved directly in placement assessments. However, the service users and carers that the students will work with in placement will give feedback, will carry out an observation, will offer students feedback in terms of how they worked with them, in terms of supporting them in a professional manner and demonstrating their social work competency skills that they gain on placement. We are involved from the service user and carer engagement group from Open University in the practice assessment panels. So what happens, portfolios are handed in for placement. We receive a sample of those portfolios. I would read through to make sure sufficient supervisions took place, hours have been recorded accurately and met the full requirement over how many hours they need to do on placement days. And then we meet as a practice assessment panel, where all the practice educators who were involved in the placement, academic staff known as practice tutors or placement tutors, and myself or whoever is represented, social and carers will be at that meeting to discuss in detail anything that needs to be flagged up, any positive, things that we can recommend or anything that needs to improve or things that are not being met in a certain portfolio, why that portfolio is not going through at this stage as a pass. So, it's a great meeting because it means that everyone has a good stake in sharing their views. And it's a very level platform it's a fairer platform because not just academic staff, not just practice educator, not just service users that are making those decisions, but doing as a joint team. SARAH: What I've really taken away from what you've said is about how we need to hear the diversity of experiences of people lived experience with the social work learners so that we can get different perspectives, on the assessment of them. So that's really helpful. Thank you. It's a very strong case for hearing the voices of people who lived experience. What do you think the challenges are of doing this though? HAMEED: I would like to first of all change the language. Do not call it challenges; I would like to change that to opportunities of doing things differently. I think the problem we have is that sometimes we see things as obstacles and then we think, oh, we can't do this or we can't do that. I think we say, okay, there's opportunities here to try something different, do something differently. And one of the things I would recommend is that we need to understand that nothing stays the same. The world changes so does social work, the professional is changing with time because obviously everything in society changes and we need to start thinking about how we do things to engage people on a fuller scale by removing the challenges and seeing those as opportunities to try and work in different ways. So, as I would just echo what Daniel said, let's think about how we can work in creating spaces and doing things in an inclusive manner. There will be challenges, but it's about changing them into opportunities to work in a new way. SARAH: And I absolutely take on board the phrasing of that and I like that. So, thank you for bringing that to our attention Hameed. So, thinking about what this might look like, when social work students are on placements, I wonder if you might share some examples of how feedback from you, or maybe somebody else with lived experience has impacted on the students learning and maybe their future practice. Daniel, did you have an example? DANIEL: Actually, I’ve got a wonderful example. Each year the OU runs an introductory residential weekend for our postgraduate diploma social work students. This is generally held in the February of each year, the first one to be delivered in person was February 2023, and we had some fantastic students with us that weekend and we had great fun working with them on communications skills. And Q&As about, life with, whatever challenges or issues we are facing. And we have quite a diverse range there. Many, many, many questions and so many different things shared and very special time. Four months down the line from that, I was standing on a platform at, a London Underground station, and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, excuse me, you're Daniel, aren’t you? And I said, yes, thinking how on earth does someone know me on a crowded platform at rush hour on the central line? And she said, you were at the OU, social work residential earlier this year. So, you talked to me about, you know, an experience that you had in your life and were able to be a huge help to be someone I was dealing with as a, as a, as client in my, my job and also something that I was able to carry forward into my learning and development as a social worker, as a full, fully qualified social worker. They were social work assistant at the time, and I was just dumbstruck because the fact that someone did recognize me on the underground was a big thing in the first place, with the fact that they then remembered that and said, wow, you taught me how to deal with. They never dealt with someone with the visual impairment before. They were making a few of the classic errors, it must be said, but rather than tell them off, I said, look, this is how you do it, and your client would appreciate this. And going forward, this is what you should do. And this is what I would recommend you do. They just about stuck them, and they said, I'm never, ever going to forget that. And I've mentioned it in one of my essays. So that was just wonderful. SARAH: Thank you. Daniel, I think that's a really important point. You have described co-production at its best, and I think that's what we should be striving for as educators in social work. HAMEED: I'm very proud. And I'm going to say this with great joy and pride. That we're very, very I've been privileged, first of all, to come and be part of spaces where we share our lived experience stories. And I'll just focus on one example, which is the residential that we have annually where students come together for the weekend. Some teaching takes place, but we as service users and carers come and share our lived experience. Also, we get involved with, supporting the academic staff with some of the teaching sessions. And one of the things that has come back positive from the students from our service user and carer involvement and engagement group, that they found it very useful, they found it very valuable. They gained a different kind of insight than what they would get from academic books, or from academic tutors or professionals that they hear from. Because we say as it is, we speak from the heart. There is no theories around it. There's no, kind of academic reference. It is just like; this is my individual story. And it doesn't just come as a fact, it comes with emotions. It comes with challenges. It comes with sadness. It comes with joy. It comes with hope. It comes with helplessness. So, they can see that so many different things can happen during a service user going through a particular crisis or being a carer and looking after someone they love and the challenges they face in the crisis. So overall, the lived experience element definitely gives students a wider insight into the real lives of real people on a real day, and the real challenges they face when it comes to dealing with traumas, crises, difficult times, and why it's important for social workers to have empathy, kindness, compassion and be anti-discriminatory, be anti-oppressive and promote inclusive and social justice. SARAH: Thank you so much for that, Hameed. And it's just hearing you talk about the reality of people's experiences and how that's so important for students to understand and how impactful that is, really highlights why we should definitely be hearing from people with lived experience when assessing students. So, thinking forwards, looking forwards, I wonder what you think are the best ways that service users and carers can be involved in assessing students, when they're on their practice placements? DANIEL: In short, communication keep communicating with us as people with lived experience to unbox that a little bit, basically, if a student has a problem, a question, a scenario, or whatever else, they shouldn't just be trying to solve it on their own, or they shouldn't just be going back to their practice educator and say, what would the person with lived experience say about this? The practice educator will be able to give them a practice educator’s answer. They'll be able to go on to YouTube and find a resource, because YouTube has a resource for everything that might give them the answer. There'll be something on an online reference library that can also give them the answer, there might also be something in professor So-and-so’s highly rated, very expensive, textbook. And whilst professor, so-and-so might be an absolute expert in his field, Professor so-and-so or YouTube or the internet or the practice educator is not us. They don't have the lived experience, or they're not me with my visual impairments. They're not my parents with their health conditions. They're not my upstairs neighbour with her three kids in a one-bedroom flat talking to us and be able to sort of have that first-hand experience, I think is really, really, really important. So yeah, going forward. Do that, keep the customer first if you like, or perhaps in social work parlance, a person centred approach. SARAH: Thinking about students who are on their social work placements and practice educators who are assessing them. What's one piece of advice you would give those practice educators in ways in which they can make sure the service users and carers are more involved in assessing their students? HAMEED: It's a very good question. In placements, there will be, people with lived experience, service uses and carers that the social work student is working with on a daily basis. Practice educators can involve them to gain feedback, to help, to find out how the students are doing, what students can do better, what students have done better. And I like to call it the PIP model. They should receive and encourage service using carers to give them positive feedback, areas of improvement and then finish with a positive of one thing that they learned and could go forward. They should be more like ending on a positive for both parties to service users and social work students. They can also involve them in terms of when they do observations. Encourage and ask if the service users would like to help and support in observing to gain some feedback, to give feedback to the social work student, because there's academic feedback, there's practitioner feedback, but service users will give feedback what they felt it would be like, or they felt like being a service user, receiving. I will say for myself that I need that service user- social worker chemistry to know that they that they're going to click with the service user, that they're going to do the best for the service user. And so it feels they can trust. Therefore, service users can give that that kind of additional, deeper feedback, what they felt the social worker did to make the service user feel comfortable, safe trust, be able to trust them. And in terms of engagement on a long term, thank you. SARAH: Well, Hameed and Daniel, I want to thank you for your insights today on not only why we should be working with people lived experience in the assessment of students on placement, but also some good guidance on how we should be doing it and what I've heard most in the conversations is about the importance of co-production and valuing the different perspectives of people when we're working with students. So, thank you.

What are the benefits of co-production in practice education?
What are the barriers of co-production in practice education?
How might you address these challenges as a practice educator?

Input into assessment by people with lived experience is far reaching and potentially very impactful. In their research around this topic, Pearl et al. (2018) highlighted not only the benefits of constructive service user feedback but specifically the importance of the practice educator role in decoding this and making links to the development of learners’ practice. Co-production can also involve collaborative work with the learner, creating a space for shared learning and knowledge exchange. Traditionally for qualified social workers, supervision is used to plan work, ensure accountability, and reflect on the emotional impact of practice. It also provides an opportunity for organisations to understand how effectively their policies and procedures operate, through dialogue between colleagues and across hierarchies. While learners share some of these supervision needs, they also have additional requirements. These include learning about the work they are involved in, developing a professional identity, and having a safe space to explore resilience as they process new and unfamiliar experiences. Supervision for learners is therefore primarily a learning environment (Gregory et al., 2025; Tsui, 2005). As a practice educator, it is your responsibility to ensure this space is supportive and safe, enabling the learner to explore different approaches and integrate academic learning with feedback from the experiences of people who use services. Supervision can be an organisational and pedagogical tool to build resilience for social work learners. Secondary trauma from new and challenging experiences can be reflected on and additional supports identified. Learners can experience challenges to not only their emerging professional identity, but also their personal identity if a negative incident on placement compounds something difficult that has happened in another area of their life. Again, the practice educator should be open to identifying these aspects with the learner, understanding them through their new developing professional lens and enabling them to gain support (Ahmed, 2023, Tedam, 2013). Optional resource Listen to this Research in Practice resource in which Clenton Farquharson talks about ‘working together and learning together’. Audio 2 Working together, learning together: A lived experience guide to co-production This is a Research in Practice podcast, supporting evidence-informed practice with children and families, young people and adults. CLAIRE: Hi everyone, I'm Claire from Research in Practice. I'm a research and development officer. I have led on the Involving People topic for 2020-2021 programme and this has included various resources such as the strategic brief on ‘Co-Production and Strength-Based Working.’ This briefing had some key messages for leaders and managers and it talked a lot about the theory and how managers and leaders can create a culture and encourage co-production within their organisations. So, we hear a lot about co-production in our sector, but I feel, and I'm sure many people do, that the discussion is still quite theoretical, and I'd like to know a bit more about how it can work in organisations and especially for people with lived experience of services. So, today I'm talking to Clenton Farquharson who is our expert in co-production. He's going to help us to get to the bottom of what co-production is. So, we'll have a little think about some of the challenges and how they can be overcome, with a bit of focus, maybe, on how practitioners can work with people that they're supporting to think about where there are opportunities to use co-production. And Clenton has a very impressive CV. He is the chair of the Think Local Act Personal partnership board, he's a trustee of the Race Equality Foundation, he's an ambassador for disability rights and he also has lived experience of Social Care services, amongst various other accolades. So, hello Clenton, welcome, how are you today? CLENTON: I'm great, thank you Claire. Thank you for that massive introduction, thank you. CLAIRE: Oh very good. So, can you tell us a little bit about your background in this area and why co-production is important to you? CLENTON: My background in this area, as I describe myself as a black disabled person who uses Health and Social Care and I employ my own personal assistant and I basically stumbled across what we call co-production and personalisation and I stumbled across it through what I call the two tribes. And the tribes are NHS Health England and Social Care, because both talk in different languages so to speak. So, I initially assumed everything was in place for disabled people, and this is basically my journey. I realised co-production isn't just about, like you introduced, about the theory, which I call the head. How do we connect the head and the heart to the actual doing, the hands bit, the practitioner level? And that's what I try to do. CLAIRE: Brilliant, okay. So, as you say, we've got a lot of information on the theory, like in our strategic briefing, which we'll share, you know, useful for leaders and managers to get them thinking about the benefits of co-production. But how would you explain what co-production is in really basic terms? And I've got a second part to that question, which is, do you like the term co-production? CLENTON: Ooh. Okay. We'll start with the term co-production. I think to be honest, co-production the term is quite 'jargonistic' and in plain language it's not really easy to describe. How I'd describe co-production, and this is how my brain works, I describe it is 'working together, learning together'. That's how I describe co-production. Because we can all learn from each other. I hope that answers your question. And for me, the issue of how I talk about co-production is together is better. Alone is harder, and what I mean is, this is part of the culture of what we've created in Health and Social Care of people doing to you and for you. What co-production is trying to do is introduce the lens of doing with and alongside, if that makes sense. CLAIRE: Yes, exactly. When we spoke previously, you mentioned the song by Salt-N-Pepa. I wondered if you could just share that lovely analogy with people listening. CLENTON: Okay. I thought you'd forgotten about that. Yes, but the analogy that I use, because I think we need to engage with dialogue what co-production isn't, if that makes sense. And I use this analogy, and I love music and when I was trying to describe what co-production isn't, it reminded me of the song by Salt-N-Pepa. And the first line talks about, 'Let's talk about sex.' And I'll tell you why and what that means. And that means to me often people talk about co-production is like teenage sex. Everyone talks about it, but nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it. So, that's how I describe, because everyone says, 'Oh yes, I'm doing co-production,' you know, and when they start digging deeper, you realise, no. CLAIRE: I really like that, love it. Yes, so we have talked a little bit about, when we chatted last time, these three levels of co-production and I wondered if you could explain to everyone what they are. CLENTON: Yes, I can explain those levels. But I just want to try and put that into context and talk a bit about personalisation because personalisation, for me, fits hand in glove with co-production, and there are seven principles when I'm talking about personalisation. The first one lends itself to co-production through ‘nothing about me without me’. And that lends itself from the disability movement. So, co-production and personalisation, you know, you can't do just to and for people, you have to do with and alongside. But also, to remember, everyone is unique, that's a fundamental principle for me in co-production and personalisation. And the third one I would talk about are the principles how you communicate and interact with people impacts on our self-worth, dignity, aspirations, opportunities to live their life. The other principle, the one I talk about is, everyone can do something to achieve personalisation, however little. And remember, little things can make a big difference in personalisation. We always look for this transformational change, big bang theory, but little things can make a big difference. And also, the principle that we all are equal and deserve mutual respect and all have skills, knowledge and experience that we can bring to the discussion. Okay, so what I actually mean by that is, to move away from just having insider conversations to bringing outsiders in who can bring in a different perspective. And then my last principle is empowerment works both ways. So, it's not about trying to empower people who use services, it's also about empowering practitioners and the workforce. So, remember them as the core elements of personalisation and co-production. And one of the guiding, or ‘North Stars’ for me on this is, if you stick to the convenient, you will never find the unexpected. That's what co-production is. Co-production is a way of opening up dialogue, not debate. Debate is framed as wrong and right. So you end up having more heated arguments. But if you frame it as dialogue, that's a different, you know, lens and frame of meeting of the minds, if that makes sense. CLAIRE: Yes, it does. That's really good. CLENTON: When I talk about co-production and the three levels. I'm coming from, first, the individual level. Which is one to one. That's the most, I'd call it, a basic level that me and you are doing at the moment. We're having a dialogue. In adult social care, that individual dialogue is normally set and framed around care and supporter care and support plans. You know, depending on where you are along that line. Then you've got an organisational structure. And what I mean by organisational structure, that is in the form and function of how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goal of the organisation. In this case of adult social care, through activities that can include rules that the organisation puts up. The roles that the organisation does and also the responsibility. But then, thinking about the functional structure, which ultimately influences the relationship between management and the workforce and how communication flows, where responsibility falls and the conditions that enable the culture of co-production, what I call, to thrive. And we need to remember the good news, for me, and it is good news, that structures aren't written in stone. They're easily tweaked or altered as organisations grow or adapt with time. And that's done through co-production. It reminds me of it's not the strong that survive, it's the most adaptable to the changing times. And if you think about where we are right now, we're living through the most exceptional circumstances and times right now and we need co-production more, not less. CLAIRE: Definitely agree with that. CLENTON: The third element, I would say, I call that ‘systems’, or ‘community’, and what I mean by systems is addressing root causes of social problems which are often hard to control, and embedded in networks of how people live their lives. And how the external factors, such as social inequality, structural racism or underfunded support services play out. And that's where health, social care, housing, or public services play out. And it's understanding how we plan those processes and design those processes, fundamentally alter the components and structure for how people behave in that workforce in certain ways. So for me, again, and many of us, co-production can play a massive role. And it's a long term relationship. CLAIRE: And you can see how all those three levels, if you call them that, really are intrinsically connected. For that sort of structural change, you need that, kind of, individual involvement. So, do you have any thoughts or tips you can share with us around how practitioners can help people that they're supporting to understand co-production, you know, in the development of their care and support plans on really basic terms? CLENTON: In the basic terms, at an individual level, at a one-to-one level, when we're talking about care and support plans, the basic conversation for me should be framed around aspirations, wishes, dreams and we've got tools. We've got many tools that can do that. Sometimes called person-centred approaches, person-centred thinking or even, you know, person-centred planning. But they're all tools that can enable and facilitate practitioners to pull out what matters most to the individual. And the three words that I try and describe person-centred, because that could be see seen as jargon, person-centred, you know? And I'll say three words which are, ask what matters most to the individual, listen to what matters most to the individual and then do what matters most to the individual from your conversation. That's a person-centred care to me. But if you want to go into the theory, there's plenty of theory around. That's just a practical level that practitioners can sort of use in a very simplistic way to try and elicit how they build that foundation of what matters to the individual they're talking to and build that wellbeing that enables them to live a life. CLAIRE: It’s been very lovely to speak to you, Clenton. Lots of really brilliant things to think about for practitioners and people with lived experiences services and managers and leaders as well. Lots of really important messages there. Any other things you would like to mention before we sign off for today? CLENTON: I just think one of the things that we need to help practitioners is about exploring what vulnerability, the power of vulnerability. One of the things I must say, practitioners in this pandemic have been doing their best. We thank you all for doing what you do, you know? And what we would hope that back at the ranch, for a better term, you are supported to enable to refuel yourself to give your best. Again and one of the biggest issues is how we use curiosity. How do we make sure the curiosity of a fellow human being? Because sometimes that can get lost because of all the transactional elements of filling in paperwork. You know, we forget that it could be a human at the end of that discussion. And that's why, for me, when I talk about social care, to me it can change a life and, I guess, save my life. The hard work and hard yardage were done by practitioners supporting to enable me, educating and helping me to be aware and empowering me to do what I'm doing now. So I've got a lot to say thank you to practitioners. CLAIRE: Lovely. And I suppose that was all the things that were co-produced with yourself? CLENTON: Exactly CLAIRE: Brilliant. Lovely. Thank you so much, Clenton. Thanks for listening to this research and practice podcast. We hope you've enjoyed it. Why not share with your colleagues and let us know your thoughts on Twitter? Tweet us @ResearchIP. In this final section of the course, you will consider the feedback you have received on your work with a social work learner. This is a key element of the course, and may be an activity you wish to discuss in supervision. Reflecting on feedback In the introduction to this course, you were asked to prepare to complete a piece of work using your refreshed learning in working with a social work learner, and to receive feedback on this work. The activity could be any interaction between you and a social work learner. For example, a colleague in your team may be the practice educator for a social work learner. You may have completed one of their direct observations and sought feedback from either the PE, or from the social work learner themselves. You do not need to include this feedback anywhere in this course; the feedback is for you, and you are asked to outline this in the next activity. The feedback you receive can be from either a colleague, a manager, or from the social work learner themselves. It is deliberately not too prescriptive here to enable creativity in how this task is completed. Some examples of activities you could undertake with a social work learner: Completing one of their direct observations (whether formally as part of their portfolio, or as a supportive tool) Supporting a learner through a case discussion. Activity 9 Receiving feedback on your work with a social work learner Allow approximately 1 hour Activity 9 has four parts which will help you consolidate learning from the course and your work with a social work learner. Part 1 Please confirm that you have undertaken work with a social work learner. Write down 1-2 sentences outlining what you did with the learner. Part 2 Please confirm that you received feedback on this work – either from a colleague who observed the interaction, or from the learner themselves. You should record who gave you this feedback and your reflection on this. Part 3 Summarise in 2–3 sentences how your work in this course informed your interaction with the social work learner and how it will inform your future practice.  Part 4 In Activity 2 you completed a learning audit. Your responses to the audit can be found below. Review your comments and then complete the audit again. Are there any areas in which you feel you have made considerable progress? Are there any areas you will focus on to continue to develop as a practice educator?  Note down any learning that has been particularly important for you and your areas for focus in continuing development. Table 7 Revisiting your skills and knowledge audit (Domain 1)

Domain 1 – Working with others to organise an effective learning environment
Standard	Rating at start of course (1–5)	Rating at end of course (1–5)	Examples from start of course	New examples
(A1) Establish an effective collaborative working relationship with learners and manage the power and authority in the educator/assessor role skilfully.
(A2) Devise an induction programme that considers learners’ needs and their previous experience.
(A3) Create reflective spaces for learners’ growth and development and provide regular reflective supervision.
(A4) Ensure all those involved in supporting the student have clarity and understanding of each other’s roles.
(A5) Work openly and cooperatively with others in the planning of learning opportunities and key activities at all stages of learning and assessment.
(A6) Consider student confidentiality and ensure all student information is maintained in a secure environment according to General Data Protection Regulations.
(A7) Contribute to the learning and development of the agency as a learning organisation. This may include encouraging the student to make links with others in the team by working alongside, making presentations and contributing to team resources. It may also include showing leadership by helping to review and improve the provision, policies and procedures of the learning organisation and identify barriers for learners.

Table 8 Revisiting your skills and knowledge audit (Domain 2)

Domain 2 – Teaching, facilitating and supporting learning and professional development in practice
Standard	Rating at start of course (1–5)	Rating at end of course (1–5)	Examples from start of course	New examples
(B1) Demonstrate informed expertise in their practitioner role, e.g. an applied knowledge of contemporary issues in research and relevant policy, legislation and practice.
(B2) Using a range of learning methods, including modelling good social work practice. Teach and support the learning of relevant social work knowledge and research, and the integration of theory and research in practice. Knowledge taught should include the powers and duties, and policy and procedures of the agency.
(B3) Help students to understand their own learning processes and to develop different models and strategies for critical reflection and analysis.
(B4) Discuss and plan with the student the learning and assessment programme, the student’s particular needs and capabilities, and how best the learner can derive further support for learning.
(B5) Make sound reasoned judgements about the level of work the student can be allocated, and the support required to achieve both learning and the work goals.
(B6) Demonstrate an understanding of, and critical engagement with, learning theories, to make professional educational judgements about students’ needs and how to meet them.

Table 9 Revisiting your skills and knowledge audit (Domain 3)

Domain 3 – Managing the fair and transparent assessment of students in practice
Standard	Rating at start of course (1–5)	Rating at end of course (1–5)	Examples from start of course	New examples
(C1) Ensure that holistic assessment decisions are the outcomes of informed, evidence-based judgements, drawing on evidence, which is relevant, valid, reliable and sufficient from a range of sources, including direct observation. Clearly explain the decisions to students.
(C2) Encourage students to self-evaluate and seek service users, carers and work-based colleagues feedback to develop their performance.
(C3) Provide timely, honest and constructive feedback on student performance in an appropriate format. Review student progress throughout the assessment process, identifying strengths and any areas requiring improvement, making clear to students how they may improve to meet the acceptable standard.
(C4) Ensure that all assessment decisions, and the supporting evidence, are documented and recorded according to the required standard. Provide holistic assessment reports which demonstrate clear evidence for decisions. Demonstrate ability to work well with others in the assessment process, particularly if learner’s practice is marginal or failing.
(C5) Engage students in the design, planning and implementation of methods to assess students’ performance against the appropriate standards.
(C6) Extend the development of all students including those who already have strong skills or are experiencing difficulties. Ensure that disagreements about assessment judgements and complaints made about the assessment process are managed in accordance with agreed procedures.

Table 10 Revisiting your skills and knowledge audit (Domain 4)

Domain 4 – Developing knowledge and continuing performance as a practice educator
Standard	Rating at start of course (1–5)	Rating at end of course (1–5)	Examples from start of course	New examples
(D1) Seek feedback from students on their experience of being assessed and the consequences of the assessment programme for them. Incorporate the feedback into future assessment activity.
(D2) Show understanding of, and the ability to apply, models and theories of supervision, knowledge and research on assessment, teaching and learning, and critical reflection.
(D3) Establish and maintain effective resources for their own support and supervision in respect of their role in workplace learning. Demonstrate the ability to consult and work with others in contentious and challenging contexts such as dealing with struggling students and formal appeals and complaints.
(D4) Demonstrate critical reflection on their own development as practice educators, including the use of feedback from direct observations, colleagues and HEI tutors and other assessment sources.
(D5) Apply learning to subsequent practice education experience using a range of methods.

It’s now time to complete the End-of-course badged quiz. This quiz will test your understanding of what has been covered in the course. End-of-course compulsory badge quiz Remember, this quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again 24 hours later. Open the quiz in a new tab or window by holding down Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) when you click on the link. Return here when you have finished. You have now reached the end of this course. We hope that you have enjoyed reflecting on your experience as a practice educator and refreshed your skills and knowledge. If you haven’t already done so in the Intoduction to the course, in order to obtain your badge you will need to select ‘Yes’ in the Declaration at the link below. Access Declaration now. There continues to be a demand for practice educators across England. It would be helpful to consider how you will now continue to support practice learning. Discussing this course and the opportunities available to you can be done in supervision or with relevant learning and development colleagues in services. You can also use your learning as part of your CPD for continuing registration with Social Work England. Where will your work on this course lead you? BASW (2022) Practice Educator Professional Standards. Available at: https://new.basw.co.uk/sites/default/files/resources/peps-review.pdf (Accessed: 21 October 2024). Burnham, J. (2013) ‘Developments in Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS: Visible-invisible, voiced , unvoiced’, in Krause, I.B. (ed.), Cultural Reflexivity. Karnac, pp.139-160. Department of Health (2002) Requirements of Social Work Training, Department of Health, London. Ferguson, G. (2021) ‘When David Bowie created Ziggy Stardust’ The Lived Experiences of Social Workers Learning Through Work. Doctor of Education (EdD) thesis. The Open University. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0001306a (Accessed: 16 January 2025). Ferguson, G. (2022) The Importance of Workplace Learning for Social Workers, IRISS, Scotland. Available at: https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/insights/importance-workplace-learning-social-workers(Accessed: 16 January 2025). Ferguson, G. and Sicat, S. (2024) ’Practice education in social work’, in Wareing, P. (ed.), Practice Supervision and Assessment in Nursing, Health and Social Care. Routledge, pp. 116–126. Available at: https://oro.open.ac.uk/98566/ (Accessed: 8 May 2026). . Finch, J., and Tedam, P. (2023) ‘Failure to fail or fast tracking to failure: a critical exploration of social work placements’, Social Work Education, 43(7), pp.. 2024–2039. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2023.2236153(Accessed: 16 January 2025). Gregory, M., Cook, L., Butt, T. and Shakespeare, J. (2025) ‘Practice education in social work: a scoping review of existing research’, Social Work Education: The International Journal. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2024.2448478. (Accessed: 8 May 2026). Laird, D. and Tedam, P. (2019) Cultural Diversity in Child Protection: Cultural Competence in Practice. Red Globe Press. Moriarty, J., Baginsky, M. and Manthorpe, J. (2015) Literature Review of Roles and Issues Within the Social Work Profession in England. Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College. Papadopoulos, R., Tilki, M. and Taylor, G. (2001) Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor Model for developing cultural competence. Middlesex University. Available at: https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/82yx6 (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Pearl, R. et al. (2018) ‘Service user and carer feedback: simply pass/fail or a genuine learning tool?’, Social Work Education, 37(5), pp. 553–564. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2017.1420768 (Accessed: 17 January 2025). SCIE (2022) Working together, learning together: A lived experience guide to co-production. Available at: https://www.researchinpractice.org.uk/adults/content-pages/podcasts/working-together-learning-together-a-lived-experience-guide-to-co-production/ (Accessed: 1 November 2024). Sue, D., Rasheed, M. and Rasheed, J. (2016) Multi-Cultural Social Work Practice: A Competency-Based Approach to Diversity and Social Justice. Wiley and Sons. Tedam, P. (2013) The MANDELA model of practice learning, The Journal of Practice Teaching & Learning, 11(2), pp. 60–76. Tsui, M. (2005) ‘Social work supervision context and concepts’. Sage Publication. You may find the following resources helpful: National Organisation for Practice Teaching England (NOPT) Feedback loop-tools and tips for the student and supervisor Videos from Bournemouth University:Making Service User and Carer Feedback Count Part 3Making Service User and Carer Feedback Count Part 4A key part of being a social work student is service user feedback - why does this stop after qualification? What is Neurodiversity? - Do-IT Profiler OpenLearn:Neurodiversity: What is it and what does it look like across races?Understanding ADHD: Brain circuits and selective attentionOpenLearn’s Neurodiversity hub Anti racist supervision The following list is further reading you may be interested in: Asakura, K., Miller, J., Nakash, O., & O’Neill, P. (2023) ‘Toward “decolonizing” clinical social work practice and education’, Smith College Studies in Social Work, 93(2–4), pp. 73–82. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00377317.2023.2279389 (Accessed: 16 January 2025). Anka, A. and Taylor, I. (2016) ‘Assessment as the site of power: A Bourdieusian interrogation of service user and carer involvement in the assessments of social work students’, Social Work Education, 35(2), pp. 172–185. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2015.1129397 (Accessed: 21 July 2026).. Beresford, P. & Boxall, K. (2012) ‘Service users, social work education and knowledge for social work practice’, Social Work Education: The International Journal, 31, (2), pp. 155–167. Caffrey, B. (2020) ‘An exploration of issues affecting the assessment of social work students on practice placement in England’, The Journal of Practice Teaching & Learning, 16(1–2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v16i1.1267 (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Cook, S. (2020) If Social Work Knowledge is Still Based on Western Vales, Can Practice Really be Anti-Oppressive? Available at: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2020/02/03/social-work-knowledge-still-based-western-values-can-practice-really-anti-oppressive/ (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Dreissens, K., McLaughlin, H. and Van Dorn, L. (2016) ‘The meaningful involvement of service users in social work education: Examples from Belgium and The Netherlands’, Social Work Education: The international Journal; 35 (7), pp. 739–751. Duncanson, K.  Gillieatt. S., Mahboub, L. & Martin, R. (2023) ‘The integration of service user perspectives in social work student supervision’, Social Work Education, 4 (7), pp. 1831–1847. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2023.2222004 (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Finch, J. and Taylor, I. (2013) ‘Failure to fail? Practice educators’ emotional experiences of assessing failing social work students’, Social Work Education, 32(2), pp. 244–258. Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2012.720250 (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Reid, W. (2020) Anti-Racism in Social Work Practice – No More Questions Please, Just Answers. Available at Anti-racism in social work: no more questions - just actions please - Community Care (Accessed: 17 January 2025). Social Work England (2020) Qualifying Education and Training Standards. Available at https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/media/1642/socialworkengland_ed-training-standards-2020_final.pdf (Accessed: 16 January 2025). Stevens, S. and Tanner, D. (2006) ‘Involving service users in the teaching and learning of social work students: Reflections on Experience’, Social Work Education, 25, pp. 360 – 371. This free course was written by Sarah Brown, Lindsay Giddings, Gillian Ferguson and Ann Flynn. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence. The material acknowledged below and referenced in the course is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course: Images Course image: wildpixel/IStock/Getty ImagesPlus Course digital badge: ©The Open University Figure 1: in Fig. 2 Learning in the workplace as a complex web (Ferguson, 2021, p154) https://www.iriss.org.uk Section 4: narvo vexarGetty Images Plus Section 5: illustration only: Pixabay Section 6: DrAfter123/Getty Images Section 8: LoggaWiggler/Pixabay Text Activity 1: Practice Educator Professional Standards for Social Work Executive Summary. BASW (2022) Practice Educator Professional Standards for Social Work Birmingham: BASW. © BASW July 2022 Audio Audio 2: https://soundcloud.com/rip-ripfa/working-together-learning-together-a-lived-experience-guide-to-co-production www.researchinpractice.org.uk Open Access Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Don’t miss out If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses.

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