Published on 02 January 2023
Frontline community workers who are being taught to think like academic researchers are using their new-found skills to transform lives in disadvantaged areas of the north-east.
Wallsend Children’s Community is a network made up of key people and services in families’ lives (like schools, child health and social care service, primary care services, housing, voluntary sector agencies and early years settings), who work together to improve outcomes for children growing up in poverty.
For the last four years, practitioners at Wallsend Children’s Community, have benefited from a project created by the University of Sunderland’s Dr Lesley Deacon, continuing to support them to be more research-minded in their work, which has resulted in improvements to some of the services they deliver.
From cataloging the stories of families using foodbanks, accessing emergency grants, to the impact of COVID-19 and understanding relationships between parents and schools – the practitioners got involved in their own research which has led to changes in some practices and even accessing more funding to improve services.
The Facilitated Practice-Based Research model (FPR) Dr Deacon introduced to the Wallsend team has been so successful that it was also
implemented with the homeless charity, Nightstop and is now being conducted with local authorities across the north-east region.
Drawing from her own career experiences, firstly as a social worker in Child Protection and then as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Applied Social Sciences, Dr Deacon says: “The model I’ve devised I have done very much in collaboration with Wallsend Children’s Community. The practitioners who work on the frontline of essential services, said ‘shall we go on this journey together?’ and we’ve now created a research culture within the team, giving them the tools and skills to research areas of their own work which can then improve the service.
“I've taught the model with people who have no formal qualifications through to those at master's level, getting them to reflect on their own practice and challenge their own views. This is not a quick fix, but it’s meaningful and is growing.”
Paula McCormack, Executive Lead at Wallsend Children’s Community said: “Dr Deacon's reassurance and articulation of what we were doing into academic speak was amazingly encouraging and gave us the confidence to invest further (financially and staff time). Her training then took our understanding to another level and gave us the necessary tools and language to bring our ideas to life and into practice.
“It also gave our funders the confidence that what we had bid for was possible and confidence that we would have the support of Dr Deacon. In turn, they doubled the original amount they were set to invest, from £25k to £55k so that we could do it over a two-year rather than one-year period. Subsequently the funder has given a further year's funding based on the success to date.”
She added: “I can't overstate enough, the positive difference working with Dr Deacon has had on our team and work, both in practice and in the credibility of our work to external stakeholders.”
Gill Gray, Senior Partnership and Innovation Officer, Wallsend Children’s Community, says: “The research we have been able to carry out has been so valuable to Wallsend Children’s Community and other organisations across Wallsend as we have continued to give insights into how our community was feeling throughout the pandemic.”
Dr Deacon explained that she devised FPR based on aspects of a particular way of teaching research, aimed at students on professional courses and practitioners, drawing on aspects of Emancipatory Practice Development used by nurses and health professionals, Participatory Action Research used in Community & Youth Work and Practice-based Research used in Social Work.
She is also training several University academic tutors in FPR, who could then take their training out into the community, creating a whole army of researchers.
Dr Deacon says: “It is early intervention I am interested in; improving the lives of the community, discovering more about the people within them, how the system can fail people and the barriers they face.”
The work has led to a number of journal publications, including: https://www.fons.org/Resources/Documents/Journal/Vol12No1/IDPJ_12_01_08.pdf
An article is forthcoming with the European Social Work Research journal; and Dr Deacon is due to present at the International Social Work Practice Research Conferences in Aalborg, Denmark.
To hear Dr Deacon discuss linking research and practice to Social Work – listen to her podcast: https://portalpodcastcouk.wordpress.com