Professor Jermaine Ravalier invites you to attend his lecture ‘At first they clapped: what has happened to our public sector and how do we fix it?’ on March 23 in Bath

John McGowan and Professor Jermained Ravalier in front of a "Campaign for better working conditions and wellbeing for social workers" poster

“If we can make work better for these key workers, we can also improve the lives of the students, patients, and service users that they work so hard to support.”

You are invited to attend Professor Jermaine Ravalier’s public professorial lecture ‘At first they clapped: what has happened to our public sector and how do we fix it?’ Tickets are free and the event will take place on March 23rd at 6pm at Ustinov Studio, Bath. You can book your free place here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/lectures-and-talks-at-bath-spa-university/t-ealrmrr

Since the new year we have seen unprecedented strikes across the public sector. Nurses, ambulance drivers, teachers – all of whom have sacrificed wages and drawn the ire of many in the media. At the same time we are seeing the biggest ever levels of staff turnover and absence in social care, those who are charged with looking after some of the most vulnerable in this country. But why is it happening? Is it all about pay? And how do we make things better?

This event will draw on evidence and real stories of those affected in an attempt to answer these questions, and present the actual voices of social workers and public sectors workers who are having such a difficult time right now. If you want to share your experiences of working through the pandemic in a confidential and anonymous way, then please get in touch with Jermaine at: j.ravalier@bathspa.ac.uk

Jermaine is a SWU Ambassador, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Social Justice at Bath Spa University, and Director of Programmes at What Works for Children’s Social Care (WWCSC). He also leads the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) convened group researching the impact of the working environment on social workers. Jermaine’s research looks at the public sector workforce across the UK and the world with particular focus on aiming to support education, health, and social care workers at work.

Jermaine and SWU General Secretary John McGowan recently contributed a research paper to the British Journal of Social Work called ‘A Rapid Review of Reflective Supervision in Social Work’. Reflective supervision can be used to support social worker wellbeing and their practice but, for many spoken to during the research, supervision was often described as a tick box exercise designed to keep an eye on case progression rather than to support and help develop social workers. This rapid review is free to access and is the first step of a project that Bath Spa University, SWU, and others are working on to support the use of best practice reflective supervision.

John McGowan highlighted:

“When I first met Jermaine back in 2017 to discuss the possibility of collaboration between SWU and Bath Spa University I had no idea where this journey and relationship would go. Remarkably, over this period, Jermaine and his team have been instrumental in developing the largest study of UK working conditions covering social work with quality research and an analytical framework that is clear to read and use as evidence-based research for SWU, BASW and the wider social work profession. I am personally looking forward to attending Jermaine’s inaugural professorial lecture and celebrating what he has achieved as an academic and now as Professor of Organisational Psychology and Social Justice at Bath Spa University.”