3 Social work, social innovation, discretion and creativity: day-to-day innovation of practice
-
Tony Evans
Abstract
The European Commission frames social innovation as a top-down process and a product handed down to staff on the ground. It is an approach that sees invention as exceptional and privileges quantitative evaluation research that sets out models and specifications of practice. There is little space for discretion and creativity. In practice, though, discretion on the ground is central to the development of new and responsive social services. It bridges the abstracted world of models and specifications of practice handed down by evaluators and policy makers and the messy world of practice. But while practical creativity is widespread, it is liable to be denigrated as non-compliance. However, horizontal creativity reflects the imagination and pragmatism of day-to-day practice, where practitioners and service users negotiate needs and co-create services. It recognises that what works for one person or community may not work for another and may not work again for the same person or community at another time. Discretion is central to this approach – the context in which creativity is nurtured and can operate. Common criticisms of horizontal creativity are that it atomises practice, which means that practitioners constantly reinvent the wheel and that it cannot engage strategically with social issues.
Abstract
The European Commission frames social innovation as a top-down process and a product handed down to staff on the ground. It is an approach that sees invention as exceptional and privileges quantitative evaluation research that sets out models and specifications of practice. There is little space for discretion and creativity. In practice, though, discretion on the ground is central to the development of new and responsive social services. It bridges the abstracted world of models and specifications of practice handed down by evaluators and policy makers and the messy world of practice. But while practical creativity is widespread, it is liable to be denigrated as non-compliance. However, horizontal creativity reflects the imagination and pragmatism of day-to-day practice, where practitioners and service users negotiate needs and co-create services. It recognises that what works for one person or community may not work for another and may not work again for the same person or community at another time. Discretion is central to this approach – the context in which creativity is nurtured and can operate. Common criticisms of horizontal creativity are that it atomises practice, which means that practitioners constantly reinvent the wheel and that it cannot engage strategically with social issues.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of figures and tables x
- List of abbreviations xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Framing social innovation and social work
- Social work and social innovation: how the twain can meet 11
- How to change our neighbourhoods, regions and the world: using symptoms, systems and transformation as a framework for social innovation and social work 24
- Social work, social innovation, discretion and creativity: day-to-day innovation of practice 41
- Potential for social innovation in social work: applying the capability approach 54
-
Examples of social innovations in social work across Europe
-
Co-creation and co-production of social services: social innovation in practice
- The art of co-creation: service innovation in Europe 71
- Promoting social services innovation: regional and local examples from across Europe 84
- Co-creation in action: lessons from the CoSIE project 98
- Social innovation and service users’ involvement: enhancing the knowledge of social work 112
- Moderating processes of social innovation: insights from a case study on labour market activation 124
-
Education and learning: social innovation in social work education and learning
- Regional learning networks in the social welfare domain: drivers of social innovation in social work 139
- Putting learning communities into practice: innovation of social work education 150
- Learning from innovation processes: introducing Easy Language in adult protection services 164
-
Community work, community-led innovation and collective action
- The rediscovery of community: community development as social innovation 179
- Climate change from a green social work perspective: responding to a constantly evolving crisis challenging social work practice 193
- Co-creation of nature-based solutions: guidelines for citizen engagement 208
- Innovating social work practices to better address homelessness: participatory action research with community services in Italy 223
- Challenging the power status quo: paradoxes in grassroots social innovation 236
-
Social entrepreneurship: inclusive and regenerative models of social business and innovation for sustainable impact
- Social entrepreneurship as social innovation: what about social work? 251
- The growing rhetoric of entrepreneurship in times of crisis: future challenges of social work in the case of Portugal 263
- Unlimited incubators for belonging, cohesion and impact: nurturing ‘what is already there’ 276
- Developing the innovative power of social work: synthesis and future directions 289
- Index 298
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of figures and tables x
- List of abbreviations xi
- Notes on contributors xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Framing social innovation and social work
- Social work and social innovation: how the twain can meet 11
- How to change our neighbourhoods, regions and the world: using symptoms, systems and transformation as a framework for social innovation and social work 24
- Social work, social innovation, discretion and creativity: day-to-day innovation of practice 41
- Potential for social innovation in social work: applying the capability approach 54
-
Examples of social innovations in social work across Europe
-
Co-creation and co-production of social services: social innovation in practice
- The art of co-creation: service innovation in Europe 71
- Promoting social services innovation: regional and local examples from across Europe 84
- Co-creation in action: lessons from the CoSIE project 98
- Social innovation and service users’ involvement: enhancing the knowledge of social work 112
- Moderating processes of social innovation: insights from a case study on labour market activation 124
-
Education and learning: social innovation in social work education and learning
- Regional learning networks in the social welfare domain: drivers of social innovation in social work 139
- Putting learning communities into practice: innovation of social work education 150
- Learning from innovation processes: introducing Easy Language in adult protection services 164
-
Community work, community-led innovation and collective action
- The rediscovery of community: community development as social innovation 179
- Climate change from a green social work perspective: responding to a constantly evolving crisis challenging social work practice 193
- Co-creation of nature-based solutions: guidelines for citizen engagement 208
- Innovating social work practices to better address homelessness: participatory action research with community services in Italy 223
- Challenging the power status quo: paradoxes in grassroots social innovation 236
-
Social entrepreneurship: inclusive and regenerative models of social business and innovation for sustainable impact
- Social entrepreneurship as social innovation: what about social work? 251
- The growing rhetoric of entrepreneurship in times of crisis: future challenges of social work in the case of Portugal 263
- Unlimited incubators for belonging, cohesion and impact: nurturing ‘what is already there’ 276
- Developing the innovative power of social work: synthesis and future directions 289
- Index 298
