Pride in Practice

Shropshire Council

Enhancing Social Work Practice

• Shropshire’s story• Performance and Capabilities Framework – College of Social

Work• Opportunity to grow• Practice excellence• Our Journey so far• Advanced Practitoners and the difference made

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Professional Capabilities Framework

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Practice Excellence

• We want social workers in Shropshire to be confident about the skills they require in their role and to have access to and take responsibility for learning which will enable them to carry out their role safely and effectively.

• Learning culture

• A clear internal career path to allow employees to progress and feel valued.

• Budgets are tight, how can we achieve best value - developed our in-house expertise for disseminating skills and knowledge.

• In times of change – and when the pressure is on – bunker mentality can sometimes get in the way of practice developments at precisely the time when a robust, collective, innovative approach is vital

• If this is not positively addressed it can feel ….

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Journey so far

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• Where we have come from

• Increase in demand and complexity

• Challenge of resources & finding new ways of working

• Child’s journey

Structure

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Case Management x 4

Team ManagerAdvanced PractitionerSenior Social Worker

Social Worker x 9

Principle Social Worker

Learning and Development Unit

Service ManagerCase Management

The difference AP’s have made

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• Highlight good/innovative practice• Areas for support and improvement• Drive for consistency and best practice

across teams• Role Modelling• Quality assurance / Audits• Direct observations• Increased capacity• Supervision• Championing new ways of

working/introducing developments

Aims and aspirations

How we achieved this

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What are the outcomes

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What does professional wisdom look like in your organisation?

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