Teams interrupted: Social work teams as Communities of Practice and Coping during Covid-19

Cook, Laura L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9882-2365 and Carder, Sara (2023) Teams interrupted: Social work teams as Communities of Practice and Coping during Covid-19. In: Social Work During COVID-19. Routledge. ISBN 9781032215396

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Abstract

This chapter considers the functioning of social work teams during the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing research suggests that the team plays an important role in child and family social work. Informal conversations in the office act as a source of knowledge and supportive relationships with colleagues enable social workers to manage the emotional challenges of child welfare. However, during the pandemic mandatory home-working, coupled with increasingly hybrid working practices, presented both challenges and opportunities for social workers’ connection with colleagues. Drawing on research carried out by the authors, this chapter examines the impact of the pandemic on child and family social work teams in England. We introduce two concepts: Wenger’s (1998) Communities of Practice (CoP) and Korczynski’s (2003) Communities of Coping (ComC) as a theoretical framework for conceptualising teams. We consider the legacy of Covid-19 for social work teams, offering recommendations for supporting effective teamwork in the increasingly hybrid, post-pandemic world.

Item Type:	Book Section
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Social Work
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Child Protection & Family Support Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Research on Children and Families
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2022 11:30
Last Modified:	26 Jul 2023 09:55
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89047
DOI:

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