Jenny Bigmore
My name is Jenny Bigmore and I have been teaching at Bournemouth University for nearly twenty years. My background is as a social worker working with Children and Families and currently this is my main area of teaching on the qualifying programmes. One of my aims is to encourage and prepare our students to work in this complex and challenging area of social work practice. The work can be tough and demanding but with this comes the knowledge that you are safeguarding some of the most vulnerable children in society and promoting the best possible outcomes for them. My greatest pleasure in practice has been working with children and young people in the care system and the most important thing that I have learned is that the moment you meet a young person, you become part of their personal history and narrative. With this comes great responsibility and the way that you work with them can change their life course.
A key area of my work since joining the university has been in the development and delivery of post qualifying courses for both social workers and allied health professional. This is a great way of keeping in touch with current practice issues.
More recently, I have taken a leading role in the development of our Ant-Racist Steering Group. You will find details of this elsewhere on the website. The group was set up in response to what was going on in society at the time, including the death of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. It also reflected the experience of some of our students who experienced racism whilst on practice placement. There are many strands to the work of the group, and we have taken great strides in creating an environment for study and a curriculum which is actively anti-racist.
One of my current areas of research and professional development is looking at how we can support social workers from overseas when they come to work in the UK to assist them in the acculturation process, where they bring the best of themselves and their experience to practice in the UK.
Research and Recent Publications
Publications
Lee, S. & Oliver, L. 2023 Social work with adults: Learning from the Lived Experience. London: Learning Matters.
Hughes, M. 2019. A Guide to statutory Social Work Intervention: The Lived Experience. London: Learning Matters
Galpin, D. Bigmore, J. & Parker, J. 2012. The Survival Guide for Newly Qualified Workers in Adult and Mental Health services. Hitting the Ground Running. London. Jessica Kingsley.
Davey, J. & Bigmore, J. 2009 Introducing Childcare Social Work. Contemporary Policy and Practice. Exeter: Learning Matters.
Keen, S. Gray, I. Parker, J. Galpin, D. Brown, K. 2009 Newly Qualified Social Worker: A Handbook for Practice. Exeter: Learning Matters
