Thinking in Practice Seminars

Ensuring Quality in the Supervision of Offenders in the Community

This is a series of seminars run in partnership by DeMontfort University, KWP, Midlands Consortium and Birmingham University and attended by practitioners and managers from probation and youth justice.  The aim of the series is to promote thinking and debate about the professional task of supervising offenders and of managing those people who supervise offenders.

Next seminar

Details soon.

Past seminars

Thinking in Practice Seminar 3: Responsivity in Supervision          25 June 2010

The Seminar was held at the Midlands Consortium New Premises – Fort Dunlop.  It was introduced by Sarah Winwin Sein, Director of the Consortium.

Jenny Roberts, Chair of Trustees – Asha Women’s Centre, Worcester talked about Choice and Empowerment.

Charlotte Knight, Principal Lecturer – De Montfort University talked about ‘Soft Skills for Hard Work: the Importance of Emotional Literacy in Building Relationships with Offenders.’

Judith Sawbridge, Information and Communication Manager – Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust talked about Listening to Offender’s Perspectives.

Mark Farmer, Head of Sex Offenders Unit – West of Midlands Probation talked aobut Sex Offenders Regional Persistence, Desistence and Good Lives.

 Download Presentations and Papers: (all pdf)

• Jenny Roberts – PowerPoint Presentation
• Charlotte Knight – PowerPoint Presentation
• Judith Sawbridge – Additional Information
• Mark Farmer – PowerPoint Presentation

In the afternoon participants took part in three workshops and discussed questions relating to both practice and the management of practitioners.

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Plenary.

Thinking in Practice Seminar 2: More Than Just Compliance
15 December 2009

The seminar was held at DeMontfort University and it was a great success. It was introduced by Heather Munro Chief Officer of Leicestershire & Rutland Probation Trust.

Dr Gwen Robinson from Sheffield University talked about ‘Dimension and Dynamics of Compliance within Community Supervision‘.

Professor Fergus McNeill of Glasgow School of Social Work talked about ‘Probation, Desistance and What Works’.

Download presentations and papers (all PDFs)

• Dr Gwen Robinson’s presentation
• Professor Fergus McNeill’s presentation
• Paper ‘Towards Effective Practice in Offender Supervision’ by Professor Fergus McNeill
• Diagram ‘A Dynamic Model of Compliance with Community Supervision’ by Professor Fergus McNeill and Dr Gwen Robinson.

In the afternoon workshops discussed Practice and management issues. This was followed by a panel plenary where Gwen and Fergus were joined by Sue Rex from NOMS.

Practitioners Issues

Management Issues

Plenary.

Thinking in Practice Seminar 1: Engaging with risk: limitations and opportunities of risk assessment tools
11 May 2009

Speakers:
Professor Hazel Kemshall, DeMontfort University
Dr Kerry Baker, University of Oxford
Jason Wood De Montfort University
Paul Mason Senior Consultant GHK Consulting Limited.

Papers now available (PDF 124k)

Future seminars being planned for 2010 (provisional titles)

• Telling or listening: offenders as service users.
• Working in a challenging culture: Surviving versus influencing the organisation.

To be added to the mailing list please contact maureen.nicholls@swm.probation.gsi.gov.uk