This case study describes stage 1 of a two-part research project which aims to explore the impact of an innovative learning and assessment process. The BA (Hons) Social Work / BSc (Hons) Nursing & Social Work Studies module focuses on partnerships and participation in social work. The study aims to evaluate the contribution to collaborative and individual learning and to explore skill and knowledge development across and within professional boundaries.

I have been leading a group of service users, tutors and social workers on the PQ in social work at London South Bank University in the use of poetry as a medium for expressing their creativity in learning. I wanted to invite tutors working with social workers following Leadership and Management and Practice Education Awards and practice assessors following the Enabling Others Unit to think about the relationships between service users, students and practice assessors.

This project was an intergenerational initiative developed via a partnership between London South Bank University Faculty of Health and Social Care and ‘1st Framework, 3rd Thought’, an older people’s drama company. Through the use of drama and film making, a small group of social work students worked together with older actors and film makers over a period of two days. As a result they developed a digital resource of 16 short clips that can be used as stimulus material in teaching and learning in health and social care on the theme of intimacy and sexuality in later life.

A national Special Interest Group called the Sexuality Symposium was established as a community of practice to enhance discourse and debate between practitioners, research, academics and students in social work. The Sexuality Symposium is a virtual and real support network aimed at providing mutual support, an increased knowledge base, growing confidence and enhancement of practice around sexuality.

This case study describes stage 1 of a two-part research project which aims to explore the impact of an innovative learning and assessment process. The BA (Hons) Social Work / BSc (Hons) Nursing & Social Work Studies module focuses on partnerships and participation in social work. The study aims to evaluate the contribution to collaborative and individual learning and to explore skill and knowledge development across and within professional boundaries.