Social work/Critically discuss how community development (i.e. community work and community action) and group work have been used to seek improvements in the social situation of a specific social groups/community.

Instructions:

€¢ It is for you to choose the community and group(s) you discuss in your essay. In most cases the group will have a local focus which should be related to the national context as appropriate.

€¢ Your essay should include a brief description of your group/community; i.e. what their particular needs are, their socio-economic conditions (e.g. poverty, housing, health, etc.) and demographics etc. If as is likely, your group live in a particular geographical location (borough or neighbourhood, etc.) then it would be helpful to give some information about that.

€¢ In discussing community and group work you should show an understanding of anti-oppressive practice as it relates to the situation you are discussing in your essay.

€¢ It might be that you are unable to give equal weight/space to community and group work in your essay. While it is acceptable to focus more on one aspect than the other, to achieve the learning outcome you must discuss both.

€¢ You must maintain confidentiality in your essay; in particular if you discuss practice you should make sure that no individuals can be identified.

Learning outcomes

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

€¢ Critically analyse the use of group work with service user, carers, or multi professional teams.

€¢ Analyse the potential role of community led action to promote inclusion and well-being.

€¢ Demonstrate critical understanding on community and community work, identifying the political and social factors that shape practice.

INTELLECTUAL, PRACTICAL, AFFECTINE AND TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

€¢ Demonstrate critical awareness of differences in identities and cultures and relevance of anti- oppressive practice in empowering community and groups

Although you make some good points here generally this is a very weak essay. There are two major problems with it;

1. The discussion of community and group, and often vague. Although you say you will relate the discussion to older people and adults with cerebral palsy you do this in only the very general terms. When, for instance, you look at Tuckman’s stages theory you mention these people but give no detail at all about how the stages relate to group work with them.

2. The last part of the essay (pp. 9-12) is not related to community or group work at all and could be written for another essay. This is about a third of the essay. A further problem is that quite often your sentences are unclear. The essay starts quite promisingly; the paragraph on pp. 1. About what a community is, is good. But unfortunately you don’t maintain that standard. You do need to discuss key points in more detail and make sure that what you’re writing does aIDress the requirements of the assignment. Critically discuss how development (i.e. community work and community action) and group work have been used to seek improvements in the social situation of a specific social group/community.