Hilary Lawson

Hilary Lawson is a registered social worker and lecturer in social work and post-qualifying social work at both the University of Sussex and the Open University. She is also director of Hilary Lawson Partnerships, a training and consultancy company focusing on work-based learning.

She worked for 12 years in local authority social work before becoming a lecturer and initially taught social work theory and practice, and child and adolescent development, on qualifying social work programmes. She currently delivers post-qualifying courses for social workers and other social care practitioners who want to develop their skills in facilitating the learning of social work students. She also teaches supervision and management courses at post-qualifying level.

Hilary’s work spans both social work and also the nature of learning and being a student. She has worked as a counsellor and advisor of students, and been instrumental in the development of university student support systems. Her doctoral research was a qualitative study of young people making the transition to university and the effects this had on their developing sense of self. She has expertise in adolescents’ experiences of starting university and the nature and effects of learning.

She is now exploring the concepts of identity and transition more widely as they relate to people’s personal and professional lives.

She has recently completed a contract with the “Fostering Changes Training Centre” based in the Specialist Adoption and Fostering Team at Maudsley Hospital where she contributed to the development of parenting materials for the use of foster carers (now published by BAAF 2011).

She also trained local authority and independent social workers and foster carers in the use of these parenting strategies throughout the UK. She has researched and published on effective supervision of staff, developing reflective practice and all aspects of practice education.

Her company, Hilary Lawson Partnerships, works with local authorities in a consultancy and training role to develop work-based learning throughout the organisation, including training social work and social care staff to offer high quality student placements, mentoring and supervision.

Publications include “Practice Teaching-Changing Social Work” (2001) and “Learning, Identity and Learning about Identity: the role of connectedness” (2008) Contact and more information: Dr Hilary LawsonHilary.lawson4@gmail.com Hlpartnerships.net