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Dr Carmel Halton occupies the roles of Director of Practice, Director of the MA/ Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Supervision and the Director of the Masters of Social Work Program in the School of Applied Social Studies. Her career at UCC spans a period of 27 years. Since 1999 she has worked full time as a college lecturer. Between 1996 and 1999 she occupied a job sharing /part time college lecturer position. Throughout her career Dr Halton has been committed to progressing teaching, learning and research agendas in social work education. Her work demonstrates her efforts to respond to the learning needs of students and to the changing and evolving requirements for professional competence. A key objective is to uphold excellent standards in professional education and practice, thus producing competent and ethical professional practitioners who are equipped to serve the needs of service users and the community.

Teaching:

 Responsibilities include curriculum design and programme development encompassing the broad areas of knowledge, values and skills for social work practice. She teaches across all programmes in the School. A full range of pedagogical methods and modes of assessment are utilised. Specialised subject areas include; social work theory, practice skills, research methods, continuous professional development (CPD), reflective practice, supervision, practice teaching, probation, criminal justice policy and youth justice.

Administration:

 All duties associated with the posts of Director of Practice, Director of the MA/Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Director of the Master of Social Work Programmes.

Research:

Activities span a broad range of educational, practice and professional interests including, curriculum development and assessment in social work education and practice teaching, application and evaluation of reflective inquiry and reflective practice, inquiry based learning i.e. ‘knowing in action’, supervision practices e.g. professional peer supervision, the portfolio as a teaching tool and method of assessment, inter professional education and probation practice. Recently she has been researching and writing with an international colleague, Professor Nona Lyons. Their research is entitled 'Learning Over Time' and a book publishing their research is currently being planned. She is a recipient of grants from a variety of funding sources in support of her research endeavours i.e. IRC, IRCHSS, Dept. of Health, CACSSS, NAIRTL and the National Forum for Teaching and Learning.  She has acted as external examiner for PhD and Doctorate students in the School and in other 3rd level institutions.

Contribution to the University:

Over the course of her career she has served in various capacities on University and College committees. Dr Halton is a research member of ISS21, a member of the youth justice cluster group and a leader of the cluster group ‘Educating for the Professions’. She was on the university advisory 'Fitness to Practise' policy development committee. She is currently a member of the University's Promotions and Establishments Committee. She has presented on her research and teaching interests at numerous National and International conferences, seminars and workshops. As a member of CACSSS she is a member of the Graduate Studies Committee, the Teaching and Learning Committee and the CACSSS Employability committee . She is working with colleagues in CACSSS and ACE to promote and develop opportunities for CPD within the College and between various Colleges in the University. She received two UCC Presidential Awards, one for excellence in teaching (2008) and another with colleagues for researching innovations in teaching (2002.)

Contribution to the School:

 Responsibilities span all areas of curriculum design, development and assessment across the professional social work courses i.e. BSW, MSW, MSoc Sc (by portfolio), PhD in Social Work and the MA/Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Supervision (Social Work) . She is Chair of the Practice Unit, the Practice Advisory Board, the Placement Allocation Committee, Fitness to Practise Committee and the Placement Redress Committee. She is a co-founder of the Practice Development Unit, the School Research Committee, and the Social Work Journal club. She is also an active member of the School Council,  and the School Executive Management and Finance Committees. Dr Halton has been actively involved with  the organisation and presentation of quality review inspections in the School.

Contribution to the Professional and Academic Community:

A former member of many NSWQB committees and of the CORU non-national committee. Dr Halton is the nationally elected social work education representative on the Statutory Social Work Registration Board. She is a panel member for CORU'S panel of assessors. She has advised  CORU on CPD developments. She has led a number of successful program accreditations in the School and has  also been involved with external accreditation panels in other universities. She was Chair of the first School Quality Review Committee and Rapporteur on quality review panels for other Schools and Departments across the University. In addition, she participated as an external reviewer in quality reviews in other 3rd level institutions. Dr Halton is a reviewer for the Child and Family Social Work Journal, Qualitative Research Journal and the British Journal of Social Work. She was a member of the Editorial Board of the Social Work Education the International Journal 2009-2014 and is currently a reviewer for this journal. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Irish Probation Journal and is a reviewer for the journal. Over the span of her career she has been actively engaged with the management and social work staff in voluntary and public service agencies progressing partnership agendas with the School of Applied Social Studies in research, continuing professional development (CPD) and social work education and training. Forging links between the School, the University, professionals, professional agencies and service users is a primary endeavour.

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Research Interests

Dr Halton's research interests are in the areas of offending, social work education and practice, professional supervision, professional peer support in social work and CPD. In social work education, her research activities have focused on researching the application of reflective teaching and learning within professional and post qualifying social work education programs. In 2016 she was successful in an application to the IRC to undertake a research project. She is working with TUSLA on a two year research project that involves a social and economic analysis of the use of legal services in TUSLA [SEALS].

Current research activities include:

2016: A comparative research initiative on health and social care professionals’ engagement with CPD initiatives.  

2016:  Commence a 2 year social and economic analysis of the use of legal services in TUSLA [SEALS] 

2016: Undertaking research into the learning experiences of MA graduates and their use of reflective learning tools on a MA programme. This research paper is due to be presented as the European Social Work Research Conference in Lisbon in March 2016.

2016: Completing research with colleagues on the use by professional field work educators of a variety of assessment tools when completing assessments of social work students on fieldwork placement. 

2013 and 2014:

Successful in funding applications for 2 National Seminar Series on Teaching and Learning.   A research exercise with graduates of the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Supervision (Social Work). This research has been part funded by NAIRTL. The research focuses on tracking the experiences of course participants in relation to various approaches to teaching and learning that are utilised on the program.

An on-going research and practice project that is being undertaken with colleagues involves the establishment of peer support groups with social workers and team leaders working in the HSE. This research is similar to a previous research project undertaken with hospital based social workers in 2006.

 2013/14 Dr Halton's research set out to identify the continuing professional development needs (CPD) of social workers in Ireland, a topic of considerable importance in Ireland, where the registration of social workers has been mandated (2011). Dr Halton has in association with colleagues Professor F.W. Powell and Dr Margaret Scanlon completed a national survey of social workers on their experiences of continuous professional development (CPD) in their places of employment. The work has been published by Policy Press; related publications are currently being drafted.

Dr Halton is currently developing a book/ set of articles with Professor Nona Lyons in the USA, that sets out to interrogate professionals experiences of learning over time and to document the meta cognitive processes of their coming to know and understand in professional education and into professional practice. 

Educational research activities completed in recent years include a series of studies that tracked the experiences of students on the UCC MSW program, with follow up data collected as they moved out into employment, and six years post-qualification. An action research project on the use by social workers, in a hospital setting, of reflective tools in peer supervision groups. The findings from these studies have been presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journal articles.

Research Funding/Grants 

2016-2018

Dr Halton is PI for a 2 year IRC funded 100,000 Euro funded research project that will involve a social and economic analysis of the use by TUSLA of legal services [SEALS] 

2013/2014

Project: Developing CPD initiatives in  CACSSS  

Role: Developer

Amount: E 5,000

Funder: CACSSS

Project: Researching Learning over Time Project

Role:

Conference Presentaion

Amount: 500 Euro Conference Grant   

Funder: CACSSS

Project: Continuing Professional Development in Social Work. Empirical Research project in association with Professor Fred Powell and Dr Margaret Scanlon

Role:  Researcher and Co Author of Study

Start/End December 2010/Dec 2013

Amount: 100,000 Euro

Funder: Dept. of Health

2010/2012 

Project: Methodologies for a new era in the social services - Developing capacity, skills and knowledge for research.

Role: Committee member

Start/End Dates: 17-DEC-10 / 31-JAN-12

Amount: E16, 365

Funder: IRCHSS

Project: Methodologies for a new era in the social services - Developing capacity, skills and knowledge for research.

Role: Organising committee member

Start/End Dates: 17-DEC-10 / 31-JAN-12

Funder: CACCSS matched funding E 8,182.50

Project: North/South Educators Forum (2012)

Role: Organising committee member

Funder: Vice-President’s Research Fund: E200

Project: North/South Educators Forum (2012)

Role: Organising committee member

Funder: School of Applied Social Studies Research Fund E500

Project: North/South Educators Forum (2012)

Role: Organising committee member

Funder: CACSSS E500 

Project: North/South Educators Forum

Project: ISS21 Educating for the Professions ‘Ethical Issues for professional education’ (2010)

Role: Organising committee member

Funder: ISS21 E500

2009

Project: Researching Social Work Post qualifying Education

Role: Principle Researcher

Funder: NAIRTL: Received 5, 000 Euro Research Award

Project: Researching Social Work Post qualifying Education (2009)

Role: Principle Researcher

2007

• 
  The President’s Award (5,000 Euro), for researching Innovative Forms of Teaching.

• NAIRTL grant in association with an international colleague Professor Nona Lyons 1,000 Euro to pursue research on reflective teaching and learning in social work education.

• NAIRTL interdepartmental grant of 1000 Euro in association with 2 colleagues, to examine methods of assessment in social work education.

• Arts Faculty Conference Fund 2007/2008 received 1,000 euro

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Teaching Interests

As a social work educator, a primary obligation is to ensure that social work students, on graduation, have achieved a level of competence necessary for beginning practice. The challenge for me as an educator is not only to impart knowledge but also to ensure that students have a good understanding of the material and that they are prepared to implement it in practice. I support the view that students are most likely to learn by doing. In this regard I have worked over many years to develop appropriate teaching and assessment tools and to improve my teaching practices. In constructing a philosophy of teaching and learning, I have been guided by the work of important writers in the field, Dewey (1933), Schon (1983), Kolb, (1984), Fook (2002) and Race (2007). Their advocacy of a more inclusive, experiential and integrated approach to teaching and learning, as represented in reflective practice, supports my teaching philosophy, which is student centred and incorporates aspects of students’ prior learning. The explicit acknowledgement and valuing of students’ prior learning is key to my work as a social work educator, and it aligns with the interactive approach to teaching and learning that I adopt in the classroom. I employ the Kolb cycle in the classroom to  promote  a more experiential learning environment, incorporating aspects of doing, reviewing, feedback and revision (Kolb,1984) Kolb’s framework is congruent with the promotion of a more reflective pedagogy and is supportive of engaging the different learning styles of students. Inviting students to continually reflect and critically assess their practice is an educational imperative (Fook, 2002) and my teaching practices are firmly grounded in this belief.

I invite students to participate in class, using learning material that assists and promotes their participation. I have developed numerous case studies, role plays and small group discussion guides that help to further students’ reflective engagement and that promote the application of knowledge in situations of practice.  Feedback forms a critical part of the reflective learning agenda.  Students receive verbal and written feedback from me and they are encouraged to invite feedback from their peers.  Critical reflection is supported by reflective journal writing.  Students are required to write in their reflective journals and they are invited and supported to share their written reflections in class and in tutorials.  The underlying belief is that students will come to a deeper knowledge and understanding of theory and its application in practice through the process of writing, reading, reviewing and revising; the feedback loop that is encouraged in reflective inquiry and promoted by Kolb (1984). Problem based learning, supported by written assignments i.e. portfolios, learning journals, critical incident analysis are all essential to developing a more reflective pedagogy. Role play, small group teaching, classroom discussion contribute to the formation of an experiential learning environment, where students are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning. The concept of critical friends is developed and promoted in the classroom and beyond into fieldwork placement.   

In the School I have developed the concept of micro skills teaching and I designed the original ‘practicum’ for social work students. I have  constructed a course on Probation and Offending  that is built on a sound conceptual and theoretical base and that strives through innovative approaches to teaching and learning, to address some of the often competing and conflicting demands in the world of probation practice and juvenile justice e.g. care and control, use of power/authority, conflict mediation/resolution. This course is taught to professional social work students and on the MA in Criminology. 

Assessing students learning over time is also a very important part of professional education. The challenge exists for professional social work education in determining that students know and understand the course material and that they are able to transfer the learning beyond the classroom and to implement it in situations of practice. As an assessor my role is to inform students of learning outcomes needed for modules and to assist them to achieve the learning outcomes through appropriate learning activities and assessment methods. Summative assessment in the form of exams can determine the extent and level of students’ knowledge, however, formative assessment methods are regarded as more useful in determining both the content of student knowledge and the process of their coming to know and understand relevant material. Formative assessment methods include essays, projects, case study inquiry and portfolios, they are used to assess the content and depth of students cognitive and practice knowledge.  In association with Professor Nona Lyons and other colleagues we have worked together to develop appropriate learning outcomes for each taught module. We have designed appropriate assessment methods that are congruent with identified learning outcomes. Currently, we apply a simple assessment rubric to our portfolio assignments and critical incident analysis that involves assessing work against the following criteria, description, enactment, analysis, reflection, evaluation and revision.  In social work practice various levels of knowledge and understanding are required for different contexts and different activities, therefore it is important to include all levels of knowledge acquisition and understanding within our methods of assessment. Currently, the MSW team is developing an asessment  rubric in assocaition with educationalist Dr Anne Rath that meets the  challenges associated with assessing  professional, reflective, academic assignments.  
I have constructed a comprehensive curriculum for a social work program  in practice teaching and supervision in the School , MA/Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Fieldwork Practice and Supervision. (Social Work), this program fits with the CPD requirements of the IASW,  it remains the only accredited post qualifying course in social work in southern Ireland.  I have also developed a curriculum for the teaching of social work theory, methods and skills on undergraduate and postgraduate social work courses in the School.  I have also been invoved with curriculum design for the teaching of research methods on the Social Work Research Masters (by portfolio). I worked with colleagues in other departments to develop a new interdisciplinary MA in Criminology which commenced in 2010. I have also worked with colleagues to develop a new structured PhD in Social Work that  was launched in 2014. 

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