This is a four nation UK research project funded by the ESRC that explores how social workers communicate with children in their everyday practice and how social workers and children involved in these encounters experience and understand them.
The research is a collaboration between Cardiff University, the University of Sussex, Queen’s Belfast University and the University of Edinburgh. The research aims to generate new knowledge that will enhance the quality of social work education, practice and policy and in doing so improve children’s experiences of policy and practice outcomes. Specifically the research will:
- Identify how social workers communicate with children in practice, from early encounters
to established relationships, encompassing the high priority areas of child protection
and ‘looked after’ children - Enable practitioners and children to reflect on specific practice encounters,
helping to identify the barriers to and enablers of effective communication - Identify how practice in this domain could be improved and develop paper-based
and video/digital resources to enable these improvements to be realised.
Access our resources
The TLC materials are designed to support a range of professionals in the social work arena. We’ve taken a visit with the child as our starting point, dividing the visit into four key stages. Films in each module include real-life examples adapted from our research, practical approaches, social workers discussing their practice and theoretical insights.
