Group work is central to social work, whether it be work with individuals and families, residential care, community work, management or social work education. Despite, however, the upsurge of interest in this aspect of social work method at the time Group Work: Learning and Practice, originally published in 1978, represented the first attempt at providing an up-to-date and carefully integrated source book for students – in the form of a series of mainly original and British papers on social group work: its knowledge base; the possible varieties of practice settings and objectives; and its implications for social work education and training models.
For new directions in social work education suggested that the small group was to become the core system around which much future social work teaching would be based. The main concern of this new National Institute for Social Work reader – the development and demonstration of intervention skills in practice – would be particularly relevant. The book draws attention to the opportunities for work with groups in the community, in residential institutions and with families, where the emphasis was rapidly shifting towards the need for greater understanding and use of the small group dimension.
Group Work: Learning and Practice would have been widely welcomed both by specialists in group work at the time and all those more generally interested in social work methods – as teachers, students, practitioners, supervisors and as local authority training officers. It would also be of interest to a wider readership of teachers, youth workers and those concerned with the group dynamics and counselling fields.
Foreword by David Jones. Acknowledgements. Notes on Contributors. Part I: Frameworks for Practice 1. Introduction: A Framework for Thinking about Group Work Nano McCaughan 2. Continuing Themes in Social Group Work Nano McCaughan 3. Choice of the Group as a Target of Intervention Anne Vickery, Charlotte Rawcliffe and Veronica Ward 4. Group Work as a Process of Social Influence Peter B. Smith 5. Working with Groups in the Residential Setting Chris Payne Part II: Aspects of Training 6. A Model for Teaching Group Work Tom Douglas 7. Fantasy and Reality in Group Life: A Model for Learning by Experience Barry Palmer 8. Group Supervision in Fieldwork Placements Hilary Davies 9. The Development of Group Work in a Social Service Department Herbert Laming and Sheila Sturton Part III: Aspects of Practice 10. Work with a Parents’ Group: Individual and Social Learning through Peer Group Experience Lorna Walker 11. Group Work in a Hostel for the Mentally Handicapped Alice Breslin and Sheila Sturton 12. Family Therapy: The Family Group as the Medium for Change Rosemary Whiffen 13. Journey into the Acting Community: Experiences of Learning and Change in Community Groups David N. Thomas 14. Programme Activities in Social Group Work Catherine Briscoe. References. Index.
Biography
Nano McCaughan
