Transparency in social work: Having the hard conversations

TitleTransparency in social work: Having the hard conversations
Faculty/College/UnitArts
StatusCompleted
Duration1 Year
Initiation04/01/2015
Completion03/31/2016
Project Summary

There is growing recognition of the importance of transparency in the ‘helping professions'. The ability to clearly and compassionately speak difficult truths to clients and colleagues reduces moral distress, underpins strengths-based relationships and supports effective teamwork. Social work teaching about transparency tends to be didactic, involve complex case simulations, or happen opportunistically during practica. In collaboration with students, we will develop easily implementable experiential learning activities that exploit naturally occurring "difficult conversations" as opportunities to help students safely practice transparency.

We hope to adapt the curriculum for social work graduates and associated disciplines and contribute findings to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The project utilizes student peer evaluations as a learning activity, thereby supporting the development of faculty expertise in this technique.

Funding Details
Year 1: Project YearYear 1
Year 1: Funding Year2015/2016
Year 1: Project TypeSmall TLEF
Year 1: Principal InvestigatorCarolyn Oliver
Year 1: Funded Amount19,229
Year 1: Team Members

Carolyn Oliver, Sessional Instructor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts
Elizabeth Jones, Senior Instructor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts

Year 1: TLEF ShowcaseYear 1: TLEF Showcase
Project ReportFinal-Report-2015-TLEF-SP-Oliver-WEB.pdf
Project Outcomes

Carolyn Oliver, Elizabeth Jones, Allyson Rayner, Jay Penner & Ally Jamieson (2017): Teaching social work students to speak up, Social Work Education, DOI: 10.1080/02615479.2017.1305348