We look back on three successful days on learning from and working with experiential knowledge both in social work and nursing education and in practice. A special thanks to our host Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and partnership Experiential Knowledge.

Introduction

‘Mend the Gap’ is a model for the effective involvement of people who are at the receiving end of services, together with those who provide professional support. PowerUs is an international network of service users, students, academics, researchers and practitioners who use this model in education and practice. (www.powerus.eu)

The aim of this approach is to promote an equal learning environment where people can share knowledge and experiences about their roles. Mend the Gap courses have shown that when we identify ‘gaps’ between people we open up a dialogue which challenge barriers and discrimination.

This chapter is about a mend the gap programme with single asylum-seeking parents and social work students which was identified with the help of two local community organisations, Investing in People and Culture (IPC) and The Other Perspective CIC that exist to promote the social and economic inclusion and equal rights of marginalised communities including refugees and asylum seekers in the North east region. It is the third gap mending programme which took place in 2019 building on the work of the first programme in 2017 with adult refugees and asylum seeker groups and the second in 2018 with unaccompanied minors. The value of this approach to learning led to the establishment of ‘mend the gap’ as an educational model within the North East Social Work Alliance (NESWA) Teaching Partnership led by The Open University

The programme was co-delivered by an Open University educator who is including the work and findings within a broader research project as a part time PHD student at Durham University.

Fourteen parents took part in the programme out of sixty single parents living in two hostels with children under five years old. Ten other participants included social work students, a qualified practitioner, educator and IPC project manager. Key gaps had been identified prior to the programme commencing by parents which is a unique feature of the gap-mending approach, for those in the most marginalised position to set the agenda instead of professionals. The gaps identified informed the themes for dialogue.

The main gaps identified were around housing, finance, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, mental health, education and safeguarding. All contexts where social workers have a role and influence yet a general lack cultural understanding was seen to be the main reasons why parents were not accessing the support they need.

This chapter was written over the eight-week period when parents were participating in the gap mending programme, to explore in more depth gaps around their strong negative feelings and reflect on how this could change through the programme. It is written from the conversation which took place between four mothers, one father, a social work practitioner, social work educator and IPC project manager.

The starting point was agreement that everyone would least like to have a social worker coming to their home. The reasons for this were explored around the key theme of power. Parents described having a very clear perception in the community shared widely amongst refugee asylum seeker parents that even when struggling they would not want to see a social worker. They would rather struggle than put themselves in this ‘danger’.

Putting themselves forward to try to overcome these barriers with social workers and students, parents admitted that after the first session where people came together it was ‘an eye opener’, ‘not that bad’.  People began to explore some of the mis conceptions of the social work role. One woman had been contacted by a social worker to arrange a home visit, she decided that she would rather return to Syria than risk the social worker coming to her home as she believed to remove her son. This level of fear is very common. It is standard that a social worker will make contact with a Syrian family arriving in the UK to ensure they have the support they require but this is not understood. The Syrian mother was terrified of losing her son from the moment she was contacted. Such mis-conceptions of the social work role come from the community who believe that social workers hold the most power over them. If social workers were more immersed in the local community building relations with BME organisations they would be welcomed to come and meet with parents to explain their role. Social workers need to make time for this and be supported by their agencies.

Another example shared was of a parent who had left her children alone with the oldest eight in charge of the youngest, two. When she returned from the local shop with her baby she was met by a social worker and police officer in her home who removed all three children. The distress that followed and the long delay with getting her children back could have all been avoided had she understood that what was culturally acceptable in her home village in Africa was against the law in the UK. It is important that parents in the community are aware of safeguarding legislation to prevent problems.

Parents found that religious and cultural viewpoints are often dismissed during social work assessments which results in them being viewed as bad parenting. If social workers had better cultural understanding, assessments could be very different. Research conducted by Community Care supports this;

‘Culturally competent practice can result in positive outcomes for service users, particularly in areas such as mental health, where cultural competence has been found to have had positive impact on service users from ethnic minority groups. This is due to workers being able to understand every aspect of the person’s concerns, thereby enabling them propose interventions and care that are more likely to succeed (Thyer et al, 2010)’ in Community Care,(2018)..

Local authorities are seen by parents and organisations working to support the BME community to be institutionally racist due to a basic lack of awareness of cultural and religious importance. One mother described how upset she was that her social worker arranged her visits on ‘her way home’ on a Friday afternoon, presumably having the added bonus of an earlier finish. Fridays, ‘Jumah’ are the most important day of the week for Muslims to prayer. Why isn’t there a standard sign in every social services office illuminating such facts to ensure that visits aren’t arranged on such days? Parents feel too afraid to challenge anything the authorities do for fear this will impact negatively on them. Parents feel powerless when it comes to appointments and making arrangements, a good practice message echoed across all professions is to ask the person receiving the service  when would be good for them to meet. A starting point to empower parents would be to give options to meet, with information about the purpose of the meeting so that people do not feel terrified like the Syrian mother that they are coming to remove their children.

Only one male parent joined the group who explained how excluded men felt from conversations with social workers. He felt that focus was always placed on the mother as if men were in some way guilty of perpetrating something wrong. Where a family home is broken up i.e. where a child is removed, the father is asked to leave the home. Without any support it is very easy for fathers to become depressed, destitute. This parent described one father’s attempted suicide stating that there is an unreported growing number of asylum seeker fathers who have attempted to take their life and therefore a growing urgency to establish more support for men.

‘Men need to be involved in discussions affecting them and their families’.

Another gap explored was about banning the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. Social workers need to be able to have these discussions with men as well as women. Since the law was introduced banning FGM in 2003, the first prosecution in the UK took place in 2019. FGM is a much hidden taboo subject which continues to be practiced in many cultures.

A recent report has highlighted how FGM is ‘increasingly performed on UK babies’ – BBC News, (2019)

The discussion points for mending gaps centred on how do social workers raise the topic of FGM? It is important that practitioners have knowledge and cultural awareness of FGM and how girls and women can be protected. If someone is going away to a country where FGM is practiced, social workers can support them with having an emergency plan.

If it becomes suspected that a chid may be taken abroad to undergo FGM, social workers and the police can intervene and it is not uncommon for people to be stopped at the airport. People know this, therefore it becomes more hidden as people will be taken abroad without knowing why.

A scenario was discussed where someone wants to go abroad and arrives to discover a secret plan to take the child for FGM. What would you do? This opened up conversation about the importance of being prepared. Planning ahead should involve phone numbers for the foreign office, the local authority. It is important to have an escape route.

Housing was experienced as the biggest gap creating lots of stress, cultural clashes and other problems which could lead to social work involvement.

There are approximately 600 asylum seekers in Middlesbrough (asylum seeker statistics, 2018), three buildings of single mothers – approximately 30 women in each (two in Middlesbrough, one in Stockton) – with children under 11. Parents want their children to achieve more but would never seek help from social services.

‘Parents fear social workers and would not want their involvement at all’.

As on parent stated; ‘If you don’t have the language you cannot express your frustration. If you don’t have status you have no choices.’

This feeling of having no voice in processes was widely shared at the outset of joining mend the gap and over the weeks as people found their voices they expressed releasing their frustration and gaining more information about choices and their rights. The Immigration & Asylum Act 1999 (s95 & s4) entitles people to accommodation whereby people could be dispersed anywhere. Provision clearly states this is on a ‘no choice’ basis. This message of ‘no choice’ is one parents heard over and over again. They said they never heard any messages about their rights. G4S had a national contract with the government and they subcontract to private landlords. Experiences were shared of unsatisfactory accommodation, families being forced to share, cultural clashes and tensions which were not at all addressed or supported by the landlord.

Parents reported that the landlord’s employees enter the family’s rooms at any time unannounced which feels intrusive and disrespectful. The feeling is that they come to check up on them, catch them out to report them. The power they had over them, to determine whether or not they could stay in their accommodation made them live in a permanent state of fear.

One mother explained that her son has to go to bed early as he is up for school the next morning, but she shares a flat with a mother with a toddler who stays up all night and sleeps during the day. They each have a bedroom – mother and child sharing – the noise keeps her son awake so he is always tired for school.

Other parents described regular scenes where fights broke out due to insufficient space especially the kitchen which children witnessed. The police are called out regularly to deal with such disputes, but; ‘Nothing happens and nothing changes. No-one intervenes and helps’.

Unsuitable accommodation arrangements put huge stress upon parents and children. We identified through the gap mending programme that whilst it is a ‘no choice’ basis this does not mean parents do not have any rights. Further, social workers are best placed to support parents with understanding and gaining their rights. Social workers are best placed to fight, to challenge, to mend these gaps by referring to housing policy which stipulates that ‘people should receive fair treatment’. Clearly when they are not this should be reported;

 ‘Social workers need to find the right information and use their power to help those with no power’ .

The local provider housing policy is underpinned by the Home Office guidance on accommodation for asylum seekers. This was a very timely conversation for our group as the Home Office were about to review their guidance on accommodation also their guide to asylum seeker life in the UK. Hearing about our programme via the local migration support service who were most supportive of mend the gap, we were contacted by the home office so that parent’s experiences could inform their updated reports.  Also, the decision had been taken to end the Government’s national contract with G4S, three years after they were exposed for making people highly vulnerable by painting the door of properties where asylum seekers are placed red; The Guardian, (2016).

The Governments new contracts with a range of new providers provided an opportunity to end the local landlord contract and find a new local provider. Women’s voices informed this process as conversations took place over who would take this on in the region. There is a saying in Eritrea;

‘When the wolves are fighting the antelope escapes’.

In this context whilst landlords wrangled parents got an even better deal as the home office determined to ensure their situation improved. All parents have escaped the unsuitable, cramped housing conditions they had suffered for so long and have been provide with single housing accommodation, one house – not room – per family.

This outcome demonstrates how the biggest gaps can be mended when people come together to share their lived experiences. Home Office guidance makes many positive efforts to ensure people access suitable accommodation and exercise their rights to fair treatment and have their complaints heard and resolved within reasonable time periods. Unfortunately, the reality for parents on our programme was very different to this. The Home office listened to parent’s experiences and new solutions were found. Mending gaps with policy makers is an essential way forward to improving outcomes for some of the most marginalised people in our society

‘Whatever the perceived or actual challenges associated with cultural competence, social workers are required to acknowledge the importance of it in their engagement with service users and also recognise their professional commitment of ‘respect for diversities’ and promotion of social justice and human rights, themes which are embedded in the global definition of social work’. Community Care ibid (2018), which is;

Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work.  Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional levels. IFSW (International federation of Social Workers), 2014.

One of the underpinning principles of this definition is that social workers advocate and uphold human rights which is seen as the ‘motivation and justification for social work’. This requires social workers to have an ‘understanding of particular cultural values, beliefs and traditions’ and ‘via critical and reflective dialogue with members of the cultural group vis-à-vis broader human rights issues’. IFSW, ibid.

It is our view that the gap mending approach is the way to achieve this global aim. People from the asylum seeker and refugee community who have participated in mend the gap programmes have found out about their rights for the first time. Social work students and practitioners have developed their knowledge of human rights. Everyone has said they have a significantly improved cultural understanding which has led to co-produced knowledge and learning. The poor image parents had of social workers at the beginning of the programme was changed in a matter of weeks.  Parents stated that they no longer fear social workers now that they understood that the role of a social worker is to keep families together, be a support to them, to fight for their rights.

This five minute recorded evaluation demonstrates this; https://vimeo.com/333943592/5bd335ecab

Unless students, lecturers and educators get out into the community to learn together with people the barriers between people will remain.

One further outcome of the gap mending programme has been the establishment of a drop in which is co-facilitated by a social worker and community project manager based at Investing in people and Culture. This ensures that parents from across the community can come to find out about the way in which they can be better supported.

Conclusion

Final message from parents;

‘There is a lack of trust, an imbalance of power in communities. Social workers need to make links with community leaders and organisations. Parents, students, practitioners, educators and policy makers need to work together, sharing power and promoting rights in order to mend the gaps between us.’

References;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47076043, accessed 14/12/2019

https://cityofsanctuary.org/2018/08/23/latest-asylum-statistics-to-june-2018/ accessed 14/12/2019

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2018/10/24/tips-social-workers-cultural-competence/ accessed 14/12/2019

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/26/g4s-jomast-bosses-admit-number-asylum-seeker-red-doors-too-high-select-committee accessed 14/12/2019

https://www.ifsw.org/what-is-social-work/global-definition-of-social-work/ accessed 14/12/2019

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/33/part/VI accessed 14/12/2019

www.powerus.eu

A new dimension in personalized inclusive education

Welcome to the third newsletter and third year of the Erasmus project!

We are delighted to start our new year with a special edition newsletter which comes from the experts by experience who have been involved with our project. We invited contributions from across the work packages, to give us a better understanding of the diversity of lived experiences people have of social work and nursing education. Wibbeke starts us off;

At the University of Agder, we are fortunate to have Wibekke Adele Grønlund as a permanent employee Expert by experience in a 20% position. This text is based on a conversation with Wibekke, where she talks about her experiences in this position.

From being interviewed about personal experience to independent work with student learning

Our collaboration started in the fall of 2014, where Wibekke participated as an experience consultant at a seminar organized for students in their third year of bachelor’s degree in social work. We agreed that we would like to have more teaching with students where experiential knowledge was central, preferably in smaller groups, and preferably earlier in the study. From this conversation, we created a teaching program entitled “Dare to Ask.” In this program, we challenged students to talk about abuse issues in small groups with Expert by Experiences. The goal was to give students increased insight into abuse issues, especially late effects related to this, as well as increase their skills related to ask about difficult things. We carried out this program together several times and made small and bigger changes along the way.

In 2019, Wibekke was offered a 20% position at the University, and we got the opportunity to expand our collaboration. The employment gave us much greater continuity in the collaboration and allowed Wibekke to become much more familiar with larger parts of the study, both the various subjects and the curriculum that the students go through. Wibekke says that it gives her greater confidence in her work, and this knowledge also makes it easier for her to link her own experiences to the students’ learning goals in different topics.

Wibekke meets the students several times during their first year of bachelor’s degree in social work

Wibekke meets the students several times during their first year of bachelor’s degree in social work. Already after a few weeks of study, we have a joint lecture on user participation, where Wibekke shares her own experiences of both being heard and not being heard. Students get to participate in Wibekke’s experiences with both good and bad social workers. She shows students how she has experienced being received in the waiting room through a demonstration of body language, and thus clearly emphasizes the importance of being met with respect and recognition, and how to gain trust.

This first lecture is about user participation, and Wibekke always asks students to inquire: “Is there anything in your history that I should know, to be able to help you?” After the lecture, Wibekke meets the students in smaller groups, where they talk about user participation and how a social worker can work to contribute to the user feeling heard, seen, and taken care of.

This year, Wibekke has also participated in a writing seminar where students have submitted journal notes and decisions, and based on her experience, she focuses on the user perspective when she gives students feedback on what they have written.

The “Dare to Ask” program has developed into a program where Wibekke has a lecture where students get to know more about her experiences, then we have a joint lecture on trauma-conscious care, before the students meet Wibekke again in smaller groups. When Wibekke is asked what she likes best about her job, she says that it is the opportunity to meet the same students several times that she values the most. When Wibekke enters a teaching situation, she likes to know what the students are going to learn, so that she can even more intricately link her experience to the students’ learning goals.

This first lecture is about user participation, and Wibekke always asks students to inquire: “Is there anything in your history that I should know, to be able to help you?”

Our partners at UCCL, Belgium shared with us the valuable longstanding role Caro Bridts has had on the social work education course.

‘Caro’s assignment today is very diverse. She works 10% as a co-teacher within the social work course within different course units, so her role and involvement also vary per phase. In the first year, she is involved as a co-teacher in different lessons within the social work subject in a global perspective. In addition, in the second year she supervises students working together on specific research assignments on the theme of human rights. In the third year, she is involved as co-teacher in the subject learning from cases, where she prepares the lessons, co-teach, co-test and co-assess exams. She is also a co-teacher in the elective subject KOPO, where the aim is experiential learning as a guide. Finally, she also accompanies a three-day study trip to Utrecht that takes place annually within the social work programme.

Since this academic year, she has also been 10% extra active within UCLL’s inclusive society research centre. Here she is involved in a project researching the inclusion of the lifeworld perspective of people in poverty situations into the Leuven narrative around socially just climate transition. Finally, her involvement within the ERA+ project Experiential Knowledge is also worth mentioning.

can work as a co-teacher in higher education

Being an expert by experience is not always an easy role Caro admits. Especially the practical barriers such as geographical distance, transport expenses, restrictions, are annoying. However, Caro’s greatest motivation is that she notices that her involvement really does have an impact on the way social work is viewed, as well as on the way students and colleagues view people in poverty situations and poverty reduction at different levels (micro, meso and macro level).

Caro dreams that experiential knowledge will be recognized as equivalent knowledge within the entire education system and that co-teaching will be increasingly structurally embedded in the higher education system/policy. In an ideal world, everyone would retain their own specific function and expertise and be able to use it in the interests of the students, trainees, but also in the interests of the people themselves with whom they will work in practice. This of course requires a good framework from the higher education institution and a well-defined competency profile for the experience expert as well as a well-defined range of tasks. If this can be proven, Caro’s biggest dream for higher education will come true, namely that if she quits or disappears, the structure and knowledge within the college makes it possible to immediately send out a concrete vacancy for an experienced expert who works in an equivalent way. can work as a co-teacher in higher education. In other words, her dream is to perpetuate and make sustainable experiential expertise within the Social Work program and with expansion within the entire higher education landscape.

Our partners in Spain shared information about working with The KSEMAN association: ‘a non-denominational and non-profit association that offers comprehensive support and accompaniment to patients and families in processes of chronic, advanced illnesses, death, and grief.’

The association has participated in the undergraduate training of students of the Degree in Nursing of Talavera de la Reina (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain), since the 2021-2022 academic year workshops for students on end-of-life and mourning processes in which experts by experience and volunteers from the association have participated in teaching. The students’ evaluations of the workshops have been incredibly positive, highlighting the reflection on the end-of-life process, and the naturalisation and normalisation of death and mourning. According to the members of the association who participated in the workshops, it was very gratifying for them to provide a different vision to future nursing professionals, about life and death, grief, compassion, listening, empathy, and presence, highlighting the interest they managed to awaken in the students regarding these topics which comes from their own experiences.

Workshop in action at the ….

Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Our partners in Windheim shared experiences of two lecturers whose words inspire us to think about the different creative ways we can work together.
First we hear from Margreet Groothuis.

“In my work, I use experiential knowledge in different ways. I provide information about working with experiential knowledge. For example, we created an interactive performance to let first-year social work students experience the impact of ‘experiential expertise’. In guiding the personal and professional development of students, I help them to learn from each other’s experiences and use my own as examples. I am also a co-trainer in training professionals in healthcare and social work to become experts by experience. I first followed this training myself. Now I am participating as a co-trainer, and I am working towards becoming a trainer myself next year. I am constantly looking for ways to make more use of experiential knowledge and experiential expertise in education. This also means, for example, that I work with students to find opportunities to let their specific experiential expertise shine. I am very proud of a social work student with autism who now works in an organization that consists of experts by experience, where he is completely at home. Looking at people from their strengths and not from their limitations, which is what experiential expertise stands for to me.

In the new year, I would like to do more with physical and body-oriented working methods in the development of experiential knowledge. In the expert pool (of experts by experience), I am now working together with a lecturer from the Psychomotor therapy program. I am very much looking forward to working with her on that.”

Also, from Windesheim we hear from Annemieke van Zwol.

“I am working with experiential knowledge in education in various ways. I use my own experiential knowledge and that of students in the personal and professional guidance of my students. I am supervisor of students who are in training to become social workers with experiential expertise, and I teach professionals in health care and social work who want to develop into experts by experience. If it can help someone else, I share some of my own experiences, about how my disruption and recovery interfere with my work and my personal life. I always carry my experiential knowledge with me, those “ so called feelers` are constantly on.

In the new year, I will start again with a group of professionals in the training to become an expert by experience. I am now doing the intake interviews for that. It makes me happy that the experiential knowledge they bring to the table is so diverse. Experiential knowledge is so much more than just mental health care. Experiential knowledge can also be found, for example, in living in poverty or experiences with transgressive behavior. That experiential knowledge is also valuable. Experiential expertise is mainly about being human, about human experiences from which you can learn.”

These accounts provide us with invaluable insights into the benefits of experiential knowledge which is why our project is so important. As reported in our last newsletter we had the opportunity to share our learning through the PowerUs partnership with IASSW (International Schools of Social Work). Throughout 2023, many partners from Erasmus co-presented critical reflections on involvement. Currently the written reflections from these sessions are being compiled into a ‘Social Dialogue Journal’ which will be released online later this year. The success of our collaborations is being noticed, Social Work England, (regulator) invited our contribution as keynote speakers to present for the first time as part of their series of activities and events for world social work week.

Hameed Khan, from the Open University lived experience is one of the presenters who has expressed for a long time the value and importance of international connections.

‘As someone with lived experiences of receiving services and support and as a carer for my mum, I am fascinated to hear the other countries experiences of people who use services as well as social workers and educators. We can learn a lot from each other.’

Hameed’s quotes sum up what the Erasmus international partnership is about. We are listening to each other and learning together about our different experiences and how they can underpin higher education.

Coming up….

On March 19th, 2024, 10.3-12pm, there will be a presentation on: ‘Exploring the international context for mending gaps in social work education and practice’.
Do sign up and join us: Social Work Week 2024 Programme: Tuesday 19 March – Social Work England

We bring this newsletter to a close with news of our next conference and international event;

Experiential knowledge, peer support and education 13-15th May Sweden

From 13 – 15th May, our next international event will take place at Lund University in Sweden. We have an exciting programme, and you are kindly invited to join!

The theme of the conference on the 13th of May is Peer Support and Experiential Knowledge. Key niote speakers are Alie Weerman (experiential knowledge in education), David Tobis (transforming child welfare) and Nicolas Lunabba (peer support and the importance of relationship with vulnerable youth). On 14th and 15th of May there will be seminars in which the results of the different work packages of our project are presented and discussed. The programme includes workshops on didactical methods to work with experiential knowledge, the role of experts by experience in education, teachers experiences, what it takes to include experiential knowledge and experiential learning into the curriculum of social work and nursing.

For more information about the Erasmus project contact;
Jean Pierre jean-pierre.wilken@hu.nl project co-ordinator
Iris van ‘t Wout iris.vantwout@hu.nl project manager

Some initial thoughts and ideas:

• The term Experiential Knowledge was not known as such by the students.
• Reciprocity is considered a key element. It is essential to give a space to think, to generate a space where the participants and the facilitators of the activity think and talk.
• Even if you have a script, creativity is important, you have to be guided by the creative spirit according to what the participants say.
• Differences must be cared for, protected and respected.

By Beatriz Rodríguez Martín, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

By Sascha van Gijzel, University of applied science Utrecht.

The master Experiential Expertise is meant for professionals who wish to take their experiential expertise a step further. During two years, students can discover how to sustainably implement experiential knowledge within organizations, how to creatively work on practice issues and how to manage a destigmatisation project. Students’ own experiences with disruption and recovery form the basis from which they work. With this master, experiential expertise is exported to other sectors besides care and welfare. The chosen research design is Participative Action Research (PAR), making it possible to learn, research and develop knowledge at the same time. This happens interprofessionally, together with fellow students from different domains. There is plenty of room for critical reflections and philosophical en theoretical questions concerning experiential knowledge.

The master revolves around three core tasks, with an emphasis on the second and third:

1. Supporting individual recovery processes
2. Organizing working processes which support recovery
3. Promoting emancipation, preventing stigma and creating societal opportunities

Students learn how to shape, manage and renew these core tasks in complex circumstances, while weighing practical, theoretical and ethical dilemma’s against each other. Three interlinked parts of the master entail:

• Knowledge and leading concepts: studying literature, watching knowledge clips and following classes
• Personal-professional development: coaching each other – with and without supervision – in small groups in processing new perspectives on experiential expertise
• Participative action research: learning how to work with PAR in one’s own practice

The master is meant for students with a minimal of three years work experience in a person-focused profession (care and welfare, education, management, economics and law, or sports), who have a bachelor’s degree. It is also important that students have experience with disruption and recovery and have a certificate proving their experiential expertise.

By Rosalie Metze, University of applied science Windesheim

My name is Nicole and I am a student in my final year of Social Work at the Hogeschool Utrecht University of applied sciences (HU). Last year I participated in the “Mend The Gap” course where I learned a lot of things in regards of working together on an equal footing with experience experts. Experiential knowledge is one of the most valuable forms of knowledge in my opinion and that’s why I think it is so important that we value the collaboration with experts by experience. I have experienced that working and learning together find such simple and valuable solutions in how we as students can make small adjustments for the better in our future work as a starting professional.

While I was working together with experts by experience, in my case the STERK-students, I found out that there were a few obstacles they encounter in their work which, at times, made it more difficult for them to fulfill their job at HU. My experiences had left me wondering about the way HU supports the experts by experience and if there is a way to improve guidance by aligning with the needs of them.
In my research I am going to take a closer look in how HU can support the experts by experience in the guidance and if there are any necessary requirements the school can commit to or improve. In order to improve collaboration with experts by experience and to ultimately deploy more of their knowledge in the education system.

The first insight from the interviews with the experts by experience showed me how much they appreciate working together alongside the teachers or coach. The collaboration shows to be really useful while preparing the lessons together with the teachers or coach. They can both set expectations towards each other which helps them out later when they are teaching in front of the class. The experts by experience know in advance what to expect from the class and perhaps where to complement each other best, one explains theory and the other complements it with an additional experience story. After class the expert by experience and teacher can discuss how it went, this is experienced as very useful and instructive. The equal cooperation is also emphasized as necessary by the experts by experience in the interviews I had with them. An outcome of the interviews is that the teachers and coach at HU do that really well which makes the experts by experience feel very welcome and free to indicate what they need within the collaboration. I think this is a big compliment for the teachers and coach at HU.

There are also some things the HU can work on in order to better the workspace and how to better support the expert by experience. I am planning to collect the results in a booklet where I write recommendations to share with HU in hope they can even better the collaboration with the experts by experience. The booklet will contain stories and tips which are gathered from the interviews. This will be done in June 2023.