Welcome to our ‘Spotlight Sessions’ – events designed to raise awareness of an idea, approach or research that we believe could interest and inspire those involved in Social Work, Social Care, Health and related Third and Voluntary sectors. These sessions are open to all and recommended for anyone across all sectors interested in understanding more. As Leading to Change, we are delivering a series of awareness sessions relating to core themes within Social Work and Social Care with the intention of ‘shining a light’ into the areas of the sector that others may know very little or nothing about. We want to give people insights into roles and functions and the impact on ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ with a view to reinforcing the message about collaborative leadership and the difference it can make.
This spotlight session hosted by Dr Gillian Ferguson, The Open University, will focus on leadership for learning. The session will explore ideas from research in Scotland and the notion that everyone is a learner, an educator and a leader (whether they think so or not). We will reflect together on what this means for our influence on developing practice in extraordinary jobs across health and social care.
Dr Gillian Ferguson
Role:
Lecturer in Social Work and Programme Leader for the Doctorate in Health and Social Care at The Open University
Dr Gillian Ferguson is currently a Lecturer in Social Work and Programme Leader for the Doctorate in Health and Social Care at The Open University. She is an educational researcher interested in professional and practice learning. Her research “When David Bowie Created Ziggy Stardust: The lived experiences of social workers learning through work” has helped reconceptualise how we understand social workers’ learning and its complexity. Gillian has worked across practice settings, in learning and development roles, in regulation and Higher Education across disciplines.
