Social work practice education

Three social workers in Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust ran a workshop to figure out which teaching methods actually help student social workers learn communication skills. This matters because social workers rely on communication to assess risks, build trust with vulnerable people, and coordinate care. Yet practice educators—the experienced social workers who supervise students on placement—often lack clear evidence on which training techniques work best. The team examined a systematic review of interventions for teaching communication skills and found that role-play and simulation-based training were effective. If this work succeeds, it will produce a practical commentary for practice educators across the Trust, highlighting both the useful interventions and the real-world challenges of implementing them—such as time constraints or access to simulation resources. The Rapid Conversion of Evidence summaries (RaCES) process itself is designed to turn research findings into actionable guidance quickly, without waiting for lengthy academic publication cycles. The immediate impact is local: better-informed supervision for social work students in Lancashire and South Cumbria, which could improve the quality of care those students later deliver to service users.