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Society and Societal Work

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These free resources are organised into categories aligned to the College of Policing Curriculum and in agreement with police experts. You can study them at any time and anywhere.

Select the duration of study below and you will be taken to resources that match that duration

An hour or less of study 1-7 Hours of study More than 7 hours of study

An hour or less of study

Interview with a social worker

The focus of this course is to explore the role of a support worker. It helps to identify what is expected within a working environment, and the skills and qualities they need in order to perform their roles effectively. You will be encouraged to think about the skills and qualities that you consider important in your own role.

Type of activity: Course

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1-7 hours of study

Public health in community settings: An introduction

This course introduces you to some key aspects of community-level engagement, in particular how to get to know the locality in which you want to work and how you might work in partnership with local people. You will learn about the skills required to work constructively with communities. In doing so, it gives you a sense of the nature and approach of community-based public health work.

Type of activity: Course

Social care, social work and the law - England and Wales

This course is made up of four extracts related to social care, social work and the law in England and Wales. You will be introduced to five main themes that shape practice in the field of social care and social work. The aim of this course is to enhance your understanding of the relationship between social work practice and the law.

Type of activity: Course

Social work learning practice

This audio course focuses on the importance of people's backgrounds and experiences in the field of social work. It identifies the diverse ways in which service users and social workers define themselves, helping you to understand how the two groups perceive each other and relate successfully to each other. An understanding of how people make sense of their experiences will help you to define yourself, and your own place within the process.

Type of activity: Course

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More than 7 hours of study

An introduction to social work

Do you want to learn more about the social work role and develop your understanding of some of the theory associated with social work practice? This course begins by introducing key ideas, values, the social work process and the skills needed for social work practice. You will then move on to look at social work with individuals, and finally consider the benefits of reflective practice. 

Type of activity: Course

Becoming a critical social work practitioner

What does it take to become a critical practitioner in social work? This course will guide you through some important concepts. An understanding of 'critical perspectives' will help you take a positive and constructive approach to problems that arise in social work practice. You will also explore the relationship between justice and care and control, and the practical and ethical dilemmas in this relationship.

Type of activity: Course

Diversity and difference in communication

Interpersonal communication in health and social care services is by its nature diverse. As a consequence, achieving effective communication between service providers and service users, or among those working in a service, means taking account of diversity. This course explores the ways in which difference and diversity impact on the nature of communication in social care services.

Type of activity: Course

Social problems: Who makes them?

Anti-social behaviour, homelessness, drugs, and mental illness: all problems in today's society. But what makes a problem social? This course will help you to discover how these issues are identified, defined, given meaning and acted upon. You will also look at the conflicts within social science in this area, through examples of inequalities that result from particular social constructions. 

Type of activity: Course

Social science and participation

This course looks at how social science investigates participation, and uses this topic to look at how social science helps to enact social worlds. You will see that social science enactment of participation is related to social science descriptions of, for example, voting or other citizenly practices, and related also to social science understandings of, for example, how to define and evaluate poverty.

Type of activity: Course

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