Using arts‐based methods to develop service user led learning materials for social work education

Theories transmitted to students about professional practice in health and social care come traditionally from the perspective of practitioners, often as a heroic narrative, inevitably casting the service‐user in a passive role (Wiltshire, 2006). Post‐modern theorists like Foucault (1973) call this the authoritative 'gaze' that objectifies the user of public services, generating a power relationship between the professional and the service user. New perspectives are needed to redress this imbalance, drawing on the narratives of the service‐users themselves (Greenhalgh, 2006). Since 2007, a project led by service‐users at London South Bank University has been experimenting with new approaches to developing learning and teaching materials for social work education using opportunities afforded by the recent accreditation of awards within the General Social Care Council’s new Post Qualifying Framework. This paper outlines some of our experiences to date of experimenting with creative arts‐based approaches to facilitate the development of learning materials as ‘inherently creative acts’ (Sagan, 2007). This paper documents the experiences of a small group of service users and academics as we have all worked in different ways to co‐produce it using different mediums and media in order to contribute our views.

Organised by the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services in association with PEPE (Practical Experiences in Professional Education).