EXPERIENCES OF SERVICE USER INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND SLOVENIA

In this article we discuss the nature of service user involvement in Higher Education (HE) social work programmes in both England and Slovenia. This discussion is based on our experiences of supporting such programmes alongside evidence derived from the literature. Firstly, we present a discussion of the effective development of service user involvement in the respective HEIs in our two countries. Secondly, we explore how the involvement of experts-by-experience in HEIs benefits the learning of social work students. Thirdly, we investigate how the emergence of Covid-19 has influenced the delivery of social work education and the involvement of service users in our respective social work programmes. We conclude by noting that our social work programmes have been forced to adapt to the needs of students in an online community and have embraced inclusive education. As a result of this, we suggest that the needs of experts-by-experience should inform the development of social work education and that they should be consulted on how they choose to be involved in educational practice.
U ovom radu raspravlja se o prirodi uključivanja korisnika usluga u visokoškolske programe socijalnog rada u Engleskoj i Sloveniji. Rasprava se temelji na našim iskustvima u pružanju podrške takvim programima te na dokazima iz stručne literature. Prvo se izlaže rasprava o učinkovitom razvoju uključivanja korisnika usluga u visokoškolske ustanove u ove dvije države. U drugom dijelu se istražuje kako uključivanje stručnjaka po iskustvu koristi obrazovanju studenata socijalnog rada. Zatim se analizira kako je pojava COVID-19 utjecala na obrazovanje u socijalnom radu i na uključenost korisnika usluga u nastavnim programima socijalnog rada u obje države. Zaključuje se da su oba nastavna programa socijalnog rada bila prisiljena prilagoditi se potrebama studenata u online okružju i prihvatiti inkluzivno obrazovanje. Kao rezultat toga predlaže se da bi potrebe stručnjaka po iskustvu trebale utjecati na razvoj obrazovanja u području socijalnog rada te da bi se trebalo savjetovati s njima o tome kako oni odabiru da ih se uključi u obrazovnu praksu.