Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career. It is part of Community Care’s ongoing Choose Social Work campaign, which aims to champion the brilliant work social workers do every day and inspire the next generation of practitioners.
In this entry, the team behind University of Staffordshire's social work course celebrates Rebecca Ford, their course director and social work lead, whom they describe as a leader whose "compassion, empathy and commitment shines in everything she does".
As our course director and social work lead, Rebecca's job role is endless, yet she keeps her social work values at the centre of everything she does. We are lucky to have her consistently and passionately advocating for us, the course and the future social workers enrolled with us.
She's always pushing staff to achieve their potential, a prime example being her introducing supervision for the team to make sure they have dedicated time to speak with her about any challenges that may arise.
For students, she co-ordinated a redesign of the curriculum focusing on simulation-based learning and decolonisation, by exploring literature from other ethnicities, cultures and genders to improve equality and diversity. This was a significant undertaking and she made sure student feedback was at the heart of all decisions, including a move to block teaching, where we teach one module at a time rather than multiple ones, to improve student experience.
Her dedication towards students also shows in her determination to teach and undertake tutorials - whether on planning, wellbeing or placements - alongside her main work.
Rebecca's compassion, empathy and commitment shines in everything she does. Despite all that her role entails, the wellbeing of her team and the development of the profession she loves so much remain her main focus.
While she finds it so easy to share our successes as far and wide as she can, sometimes she doesn't acknowledge just how much of that is down to the person, colleague, friend and social worker she is. She truly deserves to be recognised as an inspirational social worker and academic.
Thank you for all you do, Rebecca - you are a powerhouse!
How to nominate a colleague
You can nominate anyone who has inspired you in your career – whether current or former colleagues, managers, students, lecturers, mentors or prominent past or present sector figures whom you have admired from afar.Nominate your colleague or social work inspiration by filling in our nominations form. This could be with a letter or a few paragraphs (100-250 words) explaining how and why the person has inspired you.
*Despite the need to provide your name and role, you or the nominee can be anonymous in the published entry.*
If you have any questions, email our community journalist, Anastasia Koutsounia, at anastasia.koutsounia@markallengroup.com.
