Promoting meaningful and honest service user involvement in social work education and research

Abstract: The very idea of involving service users in the education of social work students raises fundamental questions of epistemology. What type of knowledge does lived experience bring to students? Can this type of knowing stand up to the rigours by which more traditional knowledge is tested? Similarly, the idea of involving people with lived experience as peer researchers begs similar questions about the value added to research from these particular types of insights. These are the fundamental questions which this paper presentation will address. Based on extensive research conducted by each of the authors in England and Northern Ireland, evidence will be presented which critically analyses the contribution of service user/client knowledge to key areas of social work education and research. Duffy will provide a critical overview of the historical aspects of service user involvement and how this has developed in UK social work education as a mainstream aspect of social work education: concerning involvement in programme admission, curricula design, module delivery, assessment and programme management. McLaughlin will focus on the development of service user involvement in research and provide a critical focus on the key elements that are essential in achieving meaningful involvement whilst also highlighting ethical, practical issues and potential possibilities. This paper will therefore have a dual critical focus on social work education and research and will highlight ways in which this type of experiential knowledge can be utilised in a way which will maximise outcomes in regard to both domains whilst ensuring better outcomes for service users/clients.

Keywords: Involvement, lived experience, Service User Participation