This book is an original way to introduce students and practitioners to reflective learning and knowledge-based practice, both of which are key aspects of a social worker's role. Readers will consider the impact of social work practice from a life course perspective by using extracts from topical research, theory, academic texts and national strategy and policy. Numerous activities prompt personal reflection and help readers to develop skills in critical analysis, as well as providing ways in which they can evidence the impact this learning has on their professional development.
Does counselling have to be long-term to be helpful? Should only women counsel women? How can you evaluate counselling? Is it easy to start your own private practice? In this text, some of Britain's experts offer answers to these and many other frequently-asked questions. The resulting discussion ranges over all aspects of counselling, from practical and theoretical issues to personal and ethical matters. Some questions have straightforward solutions, others prove more controversial. In both instances, the views represented in this text are intended to encourage deeper consideration of the the principles and practice of counselling. This text is designed as a resource for both trainee counsellors and more experiences practitioners of all approaches and disciplines.
The Development of Literacy in the Early Years of School
`The aim of this book is admirable. Despite the preponderance of texts on the development and teaching of literacy, a book which is driven by psychological theory but succeeds in combining this theory with suggestions for classroom practice is long awaited' - Child Language Teaching and Therapy The Teaching of Reading combines theoretical and practical aspects of literacy, and is intended to be informative and practical in its classroom application. The author shows that informed practice can only develop from a genuine understanding of the literacy process, and the book charts the way in which the young child progresses from the first glimmerings of the purpose and recognition of print, through to a state of fully developed fluent reading.
"Constructing the Social" provides a clear overview on how to do social constructionist research and analysis and an understanding of the concrete implications of social constructionist theory. Each chapter analyzes the historical and cultural contexts of a wide range of key issues including anxiety, the family, intelligence, ageing and depression. The contributors demonstrate that human beings are social agents rather passive reactors or mere processors of information.
Simone de Beauvoir is the subject of the second book in the series "Women of Ideas". This, and succeeding volumes will: provide succinct introductions to the ideas of women who have been recognized as major theorists; make the work of major women of ideas accessible to students and those who wish to know more; appraise and reappriase the work of neglected women of ideas and give them a higher profile; and provide a full bibliography of its subject's writings, where they are easily available. In this volume, Mary Evans demonstrates the importance to feminism of de Beauvoir's ideas. She shows how de Beauvoir's work resists simplistic readings and cannot be reduced to opposition between masculine and feminine, rational and irrational, or social and natural. She argues that de Beauvoir's work is autobiographical and presents an analysis of the complex relations between fact, faction and autobiography. This book also demonstrates that de Beauvoir's profound political agenda for a "New Woman" is a vital legacy for feminism today.
This exploration of the theories of contemporary feminism covers all the major variants of feminist political thought, from the "traditional" schools of the women's movement - particularly radical, liberal and socialist - to today's postmodern texts. It also examines: the epistemological challenge from critical legal theory and postmodern thought; the divergences within, as well as between, feminist schools; and the protests from women marginalized by the feminist movement, including those who are lesbian or black. This work seeks to interrogate the dialectic of equality and difference, and reconceptualize this pervasive tenet of feminist thought. In addition, it documents the changes in socialist feminism from its revolutionary origins to its current focus on modifying liberal democratic forms.
What relevance has IT to a social worker? The GSCC demands computer literacy to the level of the European Computer Driving Licence. This book enables students to identify their standard in the seven core areas and through carefully planned activities mapped to social work skills, it helps them to reach the required standard and to enhance their professional practice. Ideal for self-directed study, it could also form the basis of a course in which the students create an e-portfolio of IT skills.
This volume aims to bring together the wide range of approaches which characterize research in cultural studies. It is aimed at novice and practising researchers, and the student planning to do research. These approaches seek to illustrate the distinctiveness and coherence of cultural studies as a site of interaction between the humanities and social sciences. Topics covered include: the relationship beween critical theory and cultural studies; the pragmatics of cultural research and education; ethical questions and research purposes; the role of feminism in cultural studies; the uses of autobiography; the analysis of city cultures; textual analysis and ethnographic procedures; constructions of identity in relation to "race", sexuality and nationhood; the use of qualitative and quantitative data; and some of the main issues involved in generating research findings for a thesis or other publication.
Foucault's work presents a challenge to orthodox, habitual forms of belief and practice. This text, with an interdisciplinary focus, argues that one of the keys to understanding Foucault is his political thought. It is this which he expressed in his last writings and which pulled together his earlier interests in power, agency and subjectivity. In this volume Foucault scholars and commentators on politics explore the significance of these last writings. They examine such issues as the question of Foucault and human rights; his relationship to ethical thought, power and freedom; his relationship to feminism; and comparisons for his work with Levinas and Rawls.
