IRISS hosted a series of workshops around the theme of What Works in delivering positive outcomes in the social services. The workshops were intended to be practice oriented, with the aim that attendees took home at least one strategy on how to apply research and evidence effectively in their practice. Professor Fergus McNeill discusses compassion & social skills, can they be learned? The audio recording of the talk is available from iriss.org.uk/​resources/​youth-justice-professor-fergus-mcneill

Paper Presented at 2010 JSWEC Conference. One of the specific work areas for the SSSC is to drive and support the implementation of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) as a key element of the skills strategy and to increase potential benefits to the learning and development of the social services workforce. At degree level in terms of shaping the learning and teaching experience the drivers have been: - The report prepared for the SSSC by Bellevue Consultancy and Critical thinking which suggested that each course should be able to show, and should take steps to explain as appropriate, its levels of practice within the SCQF - The IRISS report, 'New Degree New Standards' which explores methodologies to be more explicit about what and when students learn in their degree programmes. The SSSC has commissioned materials and pilot work to benchmark the Standards in Social Work Education against the SCQF level descriptors. Project Definition: - To write illustrations of practice for selected outcomes (Learning Foci) of the social work degree; to write these descriptors at SCQF Levels 9 and 10; to do this within the context of case studies - To consult with stakeholders about how this work can potentially be used - To undertake a pilot use of the illustrations - To review the practice illustrations in light of the pilot. Outcomes of the work will be - The development of a language through which to assess applied knowledge in practice at different SCQF levels - Materials to make this possible - The testing of language and materials in practice - Feedback from stakeholders about the usefulness of the approach. The workshop will outline the process,content and outcome of this work and offer considerations about how to take it forward with stakeholders. It will include small group consideration of the materials, particularly the case studies and feedback about their usefulness. References SSSC/Bellevue Consultancy and Critical thinking www.sssc.uk.com/nr/rdonlyres/245afd96-2bbd-437c-af02-dac55423ab44/0/qacommissionfinalreport.pdf IRISS 'New Degree New Standards' www.iriss.org.uk/publications