module specification

This module is designed to develop a critical awareness of policy changes, professional approaches and contexts, professionalism, organisational functioning to promote effective partnership working. Students will be introduced to and explore key organisational theories and practices and develop a critical understanding of the impact of organisational culture and change and policies upon professional practice. The module also develops student skills in effective teamwork, collaborative decision-making and negotiation through a series of participative learning experiences.
Module Aims:
1. Provide an opportunity for social work and students from other courses to explore key theory, policy and practice elements of partnership working within a user-centred approach. This will involve a range of disciplines including social work, social care, health and housing
2. Enable students to experience, in a highly interactive way and within a safe environment, partnership working and organisational management relevant to partnership working, to inform present and future practice.
3. Develop student’s capability to reflect upon their own experiences of partnership working and explore factors that influence this, including finance and resource constraints, the ethical bases across the different professional groups and to examine how common values may underpin effective partnership working.
4. Locate the changing nature of organisations and evaluate the implications for effective inter-professional working within a theoretical and practice-based framework.

• Partnership working with stakeholders, customers, users, clients and carers  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Partnership working with colleagues within and across professional disciplines  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Interdisciplinary/inter-professional practice skills  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Interagency partnership working and policy  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Decision-making and negotiation skills  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Risk-management in partnership working  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Organisational contexts, theory and policy and practices  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Professionalism LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Professional codes of conduct/ethics  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
• Critical reflection  LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4

Students’ learning will be developed through their engagement with a range of individual and group-based learning and teaching methods including small group learning, exploring case-study analysis, debates and interactive workshops, problem based learning, personal reflection and reflective writing, use of Weblearn, service user reflections, video materials and other online educational content. Students will be expected to access educational resources independently and also to work with peers outside of the formal teaching contact hours.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Discuss the central concepts of partnership working, inter-professional learning and inter-professional working and be able to apply them to organizational contexts in practice.
2. Evaluate how different policies, professional codes, organisational frameworks, financial frameworks and approaches impact on partnership working with stakeholders, customers, users and carers within a context of policy change.
3. Discuss critically the factors that promote or hinder partnership working including vision, culture, equality and diversity, joint solutions, accountability, risk-management, information sharing, financial constraints and confidentiality.
4. Reflect on personal and professional self-awareness and critically analyse their practice and assumptions.

The purpose of the assessments is to reinforce students’ learning through a structured and time-bound process of reflection, structured learning activities and writing tasks. Students’ understanding of the module aims and learning outcomes will be assessed throughout the module through course work.  A range of assessment methods will be used for formative and summative assessment.
The modes of assessment include individual and group work exercises and self-assessments, reflective writing tasks, presentations, and a draft report plan. These are designed specifically to help students build the necessary knowledge and skills and so that formative feedback may be provided in a timely manner. These forms of assessment have been designed to test students’ knowledge of the key module themes and to demonstrate practice-based skills.  
The formal assessment is in two parts:
1. Students must participate in a group presentation on a practice example of partnership working in an inter-professional or multi-agency organization setting
LO1, LO5)
2. Write a 3000 words report which has two elements
Part A: a personal reflective account of individual learning arising from the process of preparing the group presentation and from their learning on the module (500-700 words) (LO4)
Part B: a critical review of relevant theory, policy and ethical issues in relation to a case report, organisational frameworks and partnership working (2500 words) (LO1,2,3,)

Where possible, the most current version of reading materials is used during the delivery of this module.  Comprehensive reading lists are provided to students in their handbooks.  Reading Lists will be updated annually.

Textbooks:

Core Text:
Glasby, J. and Dickinson, H. (2014). Partnership working in health and social care. 2nd ed.

Other Texts:
Cameron, A., Lart, R., Bostock, L. and Coomber, C. (2015). Factors that promote and hinder joint and integrated working between health and social care services. London, SCIE

Douglas, A. (2009). Partnership working. Oxon: Routledge
Journals:
Health and Social Care in the Community
Journal of Interprofessional Care

Websites:
The Social Care Institute for Excellence  http://www.scie.org.uk/
Electronic Databases: