Academic Portfolio Lead for Social Work

I am a qualified social worker with extensive practice experience in child care and child protection. I also have substantial practice and managerial experience in the field of foster care and working with children in the public care system.

I am a qualified practice teacher and have in the past trained, assessed, facilitated and educated many social work students on placement at my work settings. My skills in social work and practice teaching have provided me with a solid basis from which to teach social workers in an academic setting.

My current role as Academic Portfolio Lead for Social Work is one that I thoroughly enjoy as it enables me to contribute to the development of skills, knowledge and professionalism of future social workers.

I teach students on a number of units at both undergraduate and post graduate degree levels. My teaching passions are child care social work, anti discriminatory practice and social work legislation. I work hard to ensure that my lectures are interesting, informative, participatory and underpinned by the realities of current day social work practice and social issues.

I am undertaking qualitative research into the Role of the Supervising Social Worker in Foster Care for my Professional Doctorate studies. Knowledge from my research study combined with my experience as a child care social work practitioner enriches my teaching and embeds the realities of current day social work into my lectures.

Other References

• LinkedIn profile

Qualifications

• Professional Doctorate - University of Bedfordshire
• MA Interprofessional Social Work Practice - University of Luton
• BA Honours Sociology - Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University)
• Advanced Award in Social Work - University of Luton Partnership Consortium
• Practice Teaching Award - CCETSW
• Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) - CCETSW
• NVQ 4 Management Studies - FCA consortium
• D.32 Assessor Award City and Guilds - Dunstable College
• D.33 Assessor Award City and Guilds - Dunstable College

Teaching Role

I am Academic Portfolio Lead for Social Work. I also coordinate and teach on a number of units across the social work provision and post qualifying courses in the School.

My teaching expertise includes:

• Social Work Legislation
• Working With Diversity and Difference/Anti Discriminatory Practice
• Working With Children and Families(Core Concepts and Interventions)
• Safeguarding Children and Young People
• Adoption and Foster Care
• Advanced Reflective Practice
• Professional Development in Social Work

Research Interests

• The Role of The Supervising Social Work in foster care (Professional Doctorate Research)
• Support For Foster Carers
• Foster Care in the Independent Sector
• Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children in Foster Care
• Trans-racial Placements
• Children and Young People In The Care System, Policy and Practice
• The Education of Looked After Children
• Student Experiences on Social Work Placements
• The Experiences of Newly Qualified Social Workers in Statutory Child Care Practice

Recent Research Projects

• The Role of The Supervising Social Worker in Foster Care
• An Evaluation of The Implementation and Effectiveness of Restructuring of Staff into Integrated Teams In A Local Authority Children and Learning Department

Recent Publications

• A Support Model for Practice with Foster Carers (Forthcoming 2015)

Contact Details

Bedford campus
Polhill Avenue
Bedford
MK41 9EA
United Kingdom

E: lana.burroughs@beds.ac.uk