Skip to content

Toggle service links

Inaugural Lecture

From Barnsley to Guangzhou: Key themes for Social Work in a national and international context

Prof Monica Dowling
This event took place on 18th May 2009 at 4:00pm (15:00 GMT)
Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
15.30 Tea/Coffee Berrill Foyer
16.00 Lecture Berrill Lecture Theatre
17.00 Reception Berrill Café

Professor Dowling will discuss two significant interconnected themes which contribute to our understanding of current practice and policy in social work. Firstly how are people who receive social care services involved in the evaluation of these services? Professor Dowling will review qualitative studies she has conducted over the last twenty years which have involved over 500 individuals in the UK, Eastern Europe and China, utilising an approach that has allowed them to explain their experiences of the public care sector. These studies have contributed to evaluations of: local and national initiatives, policy debates in a national and international context and theoretical issues that have developed alongside practical and policy outcomes.

The second theme is concerned with understanding how globalisation has contributed to our thinking about social care services and to the welfare policy and practises of nations. The debates concerning International Adoption from China to the UK will be analysed to demonstrate how ideas, practices and procedures that were not dreamt of fifty years ago contribute to how we understand the world today.

The webcast was open to 400 users
Click below to play the event (70 minutes)