Staff Profiles

Madeleine Howe

Principal Lecturer/Chair of Academic Standards and Quality Committee

Email: mhowe@glos.ac.uk

Academic and Professional Qualifications

• 2001 - ILT /HEA Accreditation  
• 1993 - 1996 MSc (Econ) Cardiff University  
• 1986 - 1988 FAETC, Gloscat
• 1975 - 1976  Diploma in Applied Social Studies, CQSW University of Hull
• 1970 - 1973   BA Hons Sociology University of Sussex 

Previous Academic Experience (indicative)

• 2004-05 Joint Applied Health Studies Course Leader / Collaborative Partners Co-ordinator  (fixed term)
• 2004 Development Leader CPS : Mental Health in Primary Care
• 2004 Member of  Staff Team QAA Review of NHS Health care Provision at University of Gloucestershire
• 2003- 2004  Development lead for B. Sc ( Hons) Applied Health Studies
• University Development Co-ordinator Life for the World Trust CPS: Substance Misuse Care and  Counselling
• 2003 —ongoing External Examiner — M.Sc in Social Care, University of Hertfordshire
• 2002-04 Collaborative Partners Co-ordinator
• 1999-ongoing   M. Sc Health and Social Care Development and Course Leader
• 1998 - 2001 Head of School, Health and Social Care
• 1996 — 1999 Joint Field Chair, Community Studies, C&GCHE
• 1992 - 1998  Joint Course Leader/ Course Leader, Gloucestershire Partners DipSW
• 1990- 1992 Joint Course Development Leader setting up Gloucestershire  Diploma in Social Work Partnership
• 1986- 1990 Part time tutoring on professional social work programmes Severn and Avon Scheme 

Practice Experience

• 2005  Facilitator for ‘Joining it all up’  event with users of Cheltenahm and Tewkesbury PCT 
• 2003 — 2007  Chair of Gloucestershire Community Foster Care Assessment  Panel,
• 2003- 2007  Chair of  Management Board Gloucestershire Domestic Violence Intervention Project 
• 2003 -05  Consultancy work for Torfaen Wellbeing Joint Health and Social Care Strategy Learning Set Project
• 2002  Member of IMPACT team for Learning Set development commissioned by  Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 
• WDC
• 1986 —1991 Consultancy work with Gloucestershire County Council Social Services Department 
• 1982 - 1983   Acting Team Leader, NYCC
• 1979 - 1982   Senior Social Worker  NYCC
• 1976 - 1979   Social Work Practitioner, NYCC
• 1974 - 1975   Generic Social Worker ( unqualified)  NYCC
• 1973 - 1974   Field Social Worker covering rural area, ERCC 

Development contributions - bits in between  education and practice indicative examples

• 2002 and 2003 Member of Design team for Regional WDC Stakeholder Conference
• 2002  External panel member for North West Consortium Post Qualifying award accreditation event
• 2002 -  External panel member for University of Hertfordshire M. Sc Social Work Validation
• 2001 — Chair of Top South West Post Qualifying Social Work  Assessment Panel
• 1999 - Member of Top. South West Post Qualifying Assessment Panel
• March 1998 London ENB/CCETSW Inter Professional Education Conference- Presentation   on ‘Going Inter-    Professional’
• February 1997 York CCETSW Conference - Presentation and publication on 'Learning and Competence- the Use of Open Based Learning on a Diploma in Social Work Programme' 

Principal Teaching Areas

• Communications skills 
• Enabling Professional Development in Social Work 
• Approaches to learning
• Continuing professional development
• Collaborative/ partnership working   
• Interprofessional working

Research and development  Interests

• Facilitating  collaborative working between individuals and  organisations
• The contribution of professional socialisation to professional tribalism and social closure  
• Culture  in Higher Education and its impact on  women’s progress  

Brief Biography

I started in  social work in 1973, fresh from a degree in Sociology but not quite sure what social workers did — although the briefcase, mileage claim form and pencil written list of 63 names and addresses issued to me, were,  I suppose,   useful clues. I learned to knock on doors and mostly got invited into people's lives.  

Qualifying training largely confirmed my frustration with traditional psychoanalytic models of casework applied in what were largely welfare bureaucracies. I was fortunate though in being given  a lot of scope to develop different service responses- including group work with adolescents and family therapy work. Crucially though I learned to  how to   operate strategically to influence and change the ways of doing things in large organisations.

The experience of having four children, including a daughter who died, also developed my thinking and having left paid employment I put my energies into voluntary work to develop services to support families, including  recognition of the needs of families experiencing bereavement. Other  experiences of life’s traumas have also led me to recognise the importance of individual human helping relationships as well as practical support

When I was in practice, I was always being asked to give presentations to share knowledge  but was terrified of public speaking.  The experience of having a daughter die made me deal with my fears. Over the next few years, and between breast feeds, I started doing social work education tutorials and input to  large classes.  From 1990 I started earning a ‘proper salary’ when I job shared with Alan Howe to set up, in partnership with social work agencies,  the new qualifying course in Gloucestershire which we then led for eight years.

I became very interested in the role boundaries between different professionals offering a service and what can get in the way of collaborative working. I also undertook research into how students understand, or not, the relationship between theory and practice, and the contribution of organisational culture to that.

These days I tend to chair a lot of meetings. My proudest achievements are taking principled action based on the development of  workable strategies   to increase the diversity of  the qualified social work workforce, my family  and making a contribution to adult education. The common theme is that I enjoy seeing people develop and achieve .