Blog: BASW England’s 80-20 campaign - Five lessons, five CPD opportunities
By BASW England Professional Officer Gavin Moorghen
As 2020 nears its end, it’s clear that it has brought both challenges and opportunities related to how we deliver children and families social work in England.
From speaking with members across the country, we have noticed four key trends:
- The pandemic and social distancing rules have reduced direct contact with families
- Food poverty for children has increased and poverty is rising daily
- The Black Lives Matter movement makes us question the fundamentals of our practice
- Digital working means our professional lives often take place in our homes
Introducing the 80-20 campaign
The 80-20 campaign is all about getting back to our social work roots by creating more time for relationship-based practice and the last nine months has taught us this remains as pertinent as ever.
Next week is the 80-20 campaign’s week of action – as part of this we will be running Continued Professional Development (CPD) opportunities, exploring how we can learn from the challenges of 2020 to improve the way we work with children and families in 2021.
I’m particularly proud to be part of these events, as they represent some of the best examples of what BASW is about, namely that we’re a profession which actively challenges oppression and puts people at the centre of what we do.
As a member of BASW these events are free to attend. Please do book onto the following events and encourage your colleagues to take part in this crucial campaign:
Mon 30 November: Introduction to the E-Kitbag and the models of best practice
Tom Stibbs, PSW from Brighton and Hove, will share insights as to how to effectively implement relationship-based practice in social work teams. Gillian Ruch from the University of Sussex be giving a demonstration of a new digital kitbag and its benefits when working directly with children during a time of the Covid-19 lockdown.
This event is free to both members and non-members. Book your place here
Tue 1 December: Relationship-based social work during pandemics
For World AIDs Day, we will be running workshops where we reflect on a vodcast by Heidi Henderson, Head of a Children’s Service in the West Midlands.
Heidi practised relationship based social work with children with AIDs and HIV during the 90s pandemic in South Africa. The workshops will be an opportunity to consider how we apply that learning to working with children in England during a pandemic.
This will be held on Tuesday 1 December at 10-11am, 12-1pm or 2-3pm.
Wed 2 December: Anti-racist practice
The session will examine and the importance of anti-racist practice when working with children and families from ethnic minorities.
People with lived experience of children’s services will give their own unique perspectives including insights into how we can adopt anti-racist approaches in practice. Social workers who are not from an ethnic minority are particularly encouraged to attend this session.
Thu 3 December: Time for relationships
Andy Gill, BASW England Chair; Angela Fraser Wickes, co-chair, Your Family Your Voice Alliance; and Stephanie Attalla, West Berkshire Council will be reflecting on why social workers need more time to work with families, proving examples that you can apply to your practice.
Fri 4 December: Better recording in social work
Jane Herd, Orb8 and Jacqueline McCartney, care-experienced campaigner, will be reflecting on what good recording looks like.
Jacqueline will speak about the barriers she faced trying to access her file so she could piece together her past and Jane will consider how can ensure children can access a jargon free file. This session will also be an introduction to the BASW England top-tips for better recording.