Teamworking Skills for Social Workers

Ruben Martin is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Kent, where he was previously Director of Studies for the BA (Hons) Social Work programme for seven years. Since his retirement from his full-time post, he has continued work as a part-time lecturer, consultant, freelance practice educator and writer.

What is your optimal role in a team environment? How do teamworking skills differ between various contexts and groups?
Written by a highly-experienced lecturer and practitioner of social work, this book explores the dynamics of teamworking in the context of social work, whether in collaboration with colleagues or professionals from other fields. It provides a practical and applied overview of the different types of teams that social workers encounter and outlines in an accessible format the core teamworking skills social workers must develop in order to practice effectively.

This is achieved by way of specific links to the Professional Capabilities Framework, checklists for self-evaluation and reflective social work practice, activities and case examples. Together, these resources make this guide to teamworking a must-have for students of social work and practitioners involved in continuous professional development.

Topics covered include:

The characteristics of individuals within a team, including the formal and informal roles they play and leadership.
Emotional intelligence and resilience.
The application of teamworking skills to working in organisations, multidisciplinary teams, and interagency collaboration and partnership.

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This book forms part of the Social Work Skills in Practice series. The series focuses on key social work skills required for working with children and adult service users, families and carers. The books offer both theoretical and evidence-informed knowledge, alongside the application of skills relevant for day-to-day social work practice.  They are an invaluable resource for pre-qualifying students, newly-qualified social workers, academics teaching and researching in the field, as well as social work practitioners, including practice educators, pursuing continuous professional development.

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At a time when social workers are being castigated for failures in team-working in recent child abuse enquiries, this book is extremely timely. I am not aware of a similar book which is able to convey the basic tenets of team-working as well as the necessary skills to do team working well. It is an important book which should be on the course lists of all early stage social workers. The book brings together social work theory relating to team work within an ecological framework. Students are given activities to reflect on their current level of skills. Excellent case studies illustrate the issues. The book is totally up-to-date, linking into recent material from the College of Social Work. I strongly recommend this book. I think students will find the material engaging and accessible, but they will also learn much about the essential team working skills for social work.
Ann Buchanan, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, University of Oxford, UK