Partnership projects

SWAP is currently involved in several projects with other partners:

Evaluation of Social Work Outcomes (OSWE)

OSWE was set up to build capacity in evaluating the outcomes of social work education. Funded by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and SWAP, six Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) offering social work programmes joined the first phase to work together until July 2008. Subsequently the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) (now called Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS)) funded an extension to include three Scottish HEIs in a second phase, also to run until July 2008. Professor John Carpenter (University of Bristol) and Hilary Burgess (University of Bristol and SWAP) are facilitators and consultants and are also researching the process.

The aims of the project are to enable social work educators to:

  • gain information about ways in which their teaching and learning may be effective, and ways in which it might be improved
  • test the feasibility of outcome measures and research designs
  • make use of opportunities to compare and contrast practice between programmes.

Further details about the project can be obtained by visiting the OSWE project Blackboard site at: www.ole.bris.ac.uk

Everyone can access Level 1. Go to the website and click the link Guest Login (scroll down); enter 'oswepublic' for both username and password. Information about joining the project as an 'Associate Member' can be found at 'Join Us' in the left-hand menu of 'My Courses'. Associate Members contribute information about their own outcomes-base evaluation and can access detailed information about the other projects.

Two articles by Hilary Burgess and John Carpenter, Evaluating the Outcomes of Social Work Education (OSWE), are available in issue 10 and 11 of SWAP's Newsletter. The team also presented at JSWEC 2008.

European Interprofessional Education Network (EIPEN)

EIPEN aims to establish a sustainable inclusive network of people and organisations in partner countries to share and develop effective interprofessional learning and teaching for improving collaborative practice and multi agency working in health and social care. EIPEN has two interlinked aims:

  • To develop a transnational network of universities and employers in the six participating countries
  • To promote good practices in interprofessional learning and teaching in health and social care

This project built on work on interprofessional education (IPE) undertaken by three Higher Education Academy subject centres (Health Sciences and Practice; Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine (MEDEV) and SWAP). Since 2005, EIPEN has received European funding and now includes partners in Finland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Eire, Belgium, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

The first EIPEN International Conference Learning together to work together, was held on 12-14 September 2007 at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

The EIPEN project website also includes an array of resources on interprofessional education. www.eipen.org

For information about EIPEN activities in 2008 (PDF, 258KB), please download the flyer.

Mental Health in Higher Education project (mhhe)

This project aims to enhance learning and teaching about mental health across the disciplines in UK higher education. Activities and outputs include:

  • A project website (www.mhhe.heacademy.ac.uk) with a wide range of resources about teaching and learning about mental health
  • A bi-monthly e-bulletin with the latest information and changes in policy, practice, together with new resources and events
  • A discussion list for mental health educators
  • A series of workshops on different aspects of mental health education
  • Support for the Developers of User and Carer Involvement in education network (DUCIE)
  • A group for people directly employed by HEIs in user and carer involvement development posts
  • Publications and reports

mhhe was created through a partnership between five Higher Education Academy subject centres (Health Sciences and Practice, Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Medicine (MEDEV), Psychology, ESCalate, SWAP) and three Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) (the Centre for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health (CEIMH), the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Mental Health and Social Work and the Centre for Clinical and Academic Workforce Development).

The project has received funding from the Higher Education Academy subject centres, the Higher Education Academy (national collaboration funds), the Department of Health and the two Centres for Excellence in Mental Health at Birmingham and Middlesex.

SWAP works with a wide range of partners. For more information about any of the projects detailed above please contact swapenquiries@soton.ac.uk or access each project website.